iPhone as a Heart Rate Monitor?

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WanderingPomme
WanderingPomme Posts: 601 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So, I've been wanting a heart rate monitor so I could accurately measure my burns. I also wanted sa new galaxy for the same reason but I've seen iphone apps which does the same! Apparently you put your finger on the lens and it can use the lens of your iphone and flash to detect your pulse! :noway: I never knew my phone was capable of doing that! I'm not sure about the accuracy though. Based from what I've read, it's pretty accurate. There are different apps Runtastic, Cardio Buddy, HRM by PlusSports and surprisingly a lot more!

Has anyone used their iphones to measure their heart rates? How accurate was it compared to a real HRM?

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  • WanderingPomme
    WanderingPomme Posts: 601 Member
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    bump
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    You are talking about two separate things. HRMs measure HR. Some offer calorie estimations but they are not calorie counters. Accurately reading your HR at the time you take it is one thing - accurately estimating calories burned is another thing.

    When looking for a HRM to be used to estimate calories burned, it is recommended you get on with a strap that constantly records HR. The ones that that you HR intermittently are far less accurate (which is essentially what you will be doing here).

    I'm sure it will work. And there are formulas and calculators out there that will give you calorie estimations based on average HR. Will they be more accurate than other calorie estimation formulas - probably not.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    I tried a free one for awhile. I will say it didn't always work, it would have a hard time getting a reading. Not sure if that has something to do with having a cover on it or what, but maybe now that I have a different cover I'll try again.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    The pulse taking apps take only a snapshot ... they do not provide continuous heart rate monitoring. All of the fitness apps you mention require continuous monitoring that is only available from a dedicated monitor that connects and continuously streams data to your phone via bluetooth or ANT+ technology.
  • HWeatherholt
    HWeatherholt Posts: 283 Member
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    I had a polar HRM/watch but when it started acting goofy, I bought just the new HRM that works with Bluetooth and connect it to the polar app on my iphone.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    My experiments were terrible with it being accurate compared to taking on wrist at same time.
    And that was resting HR - I'm sure it scales worse as HR goes up, and attempting while exercising, forget it.

    Even if they had great calorie burn formula's and all your lab measured stats and you used it for only the correct type of exercise - I'm betting that terrible accuracy would make it pretty much worthless.

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