Amazon is updating its Halo fitness band today with the ability to share live heart rate information with third-party devices and fitness apps over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The company is currently partnered with NordicTrack for its iFit service, along with Openfit and CLMBR.
Live heart rate has been available to view since launch in the Live tab of the Halo app, but connecting it to display in other apps and devices is just as easy. Amazon says you can turn on heart rate sharing by going to the Halo app’s Settings, selecting Heart Rate Sharing, switching it to on, and then following the on-screen prompts to share your heart rate with the other app or device.
Showing on-screen heart rate is a fairly common feature for fitness services to motivate you while exercising and help explain why you might feel strained during a specific part of your workout. In some cases, on-screen heart rate is a feature that also sells other devices, like how Apple Fitness Plus requires the use of an Apple Watch for features like its “Burn Bar.”
The Halo band already working with a few more services is a real plus if you don’t want to be locked into a specific service. Flipping the switch on live heart rate monitoring is also just the latest way Amazon has supported its device post-launch with software features. In June, Amazon added the ability for its app and band to monitor “movement health.”
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