Introducing Version 10.2
This summer I’ve been fortunate enough to have reasonable time availability to work on bringing Heart Analyzer forward. Back in June Apple demonstrated some fantastic new capabilities available across their platforms. I wrote in July about my efforts to embrace that with a new Watch app design. This is only part of the story though.
Heart Analyzer V10.2 introduces the following main key features:
The all new iPad app, Heart Analyzer arrives on the big screen for expansive charts and extensive metrics
A brand new Apple Watch app optimised for a full screen experience with fast performance
Updated Watch faces complications with a new Resting HR Trend widget and support for the Smart Stack
Supercharged widgets on iPhone and iPad
Improved Resting Heart Rate support
New workout icons throughout the app
A brand new shiny app icon!
I’m going to try and cover every one here!
Bringing Heart Analyzer to iPad
The writing’s been on the wall for several years that Apple Health on iPad would one day be a thing. With iPadOS 17 this year that day has arrived. I’m thrilled to have a fully optimised iPad version of Heart Analyzer ready to go on day one. You need to enable Apple Health to sync over iCloud first but then you should be good to go. I’ve seen generally pretty good performance of the sync of Health data. I hope users find the iPad version of Heart Analyzer a great tool to really dive in deep to their Heart Rate and other Health metrics. Whilst updating the app for iPad I also took the chance to improve landscape support in the iPhone app. Now if you want to view charts in a larger display this option is available to you.
The new Watch app
It’s worth reading my previous blog here to learn more about the design of the app. Essentially I wanted to embrace the new design patterns offered in WatchOS 10 and modernise the Watch app to make it even faster and fluid. By starting afresh with a blank app and also adopting new technologies such as Swift Async the Watch app really is fast. It’s actually been developed almost entirely on the oldest supported Apple Watch for the app. This way I could ensure it was quick and easy to navigate for all users from Apple Watch Series 4 to Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Watch face complications
Heart Analyzer already offers unmatched complications letting you track your Heart Rate, Blood Oxygen Saturation and Heart Rate Variability all at a glance. In this update I’m adding a new one to that list, your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) trends. This chart lets you see right away how your RHR values are trending over the past week with the current day’s value highlighted.
All complications have also been optimised for WatchOS 10 and are available in the Smart Stack. This feature means that whatever Apple Watch face you select, you can always scroll the Digital Crown and bring up your favourite Heart Analyzer charts.
Behind the scenes the Apple Watch complications now use WidgetKit for WatchOS 10 users. This will hopefully bring in a more reliable update system and better resilience to the complications. It also makes them more independent from the Watch app letting you use either or both as you wish.
Supercharged widgets
On iPhone and now iPad Heart Analyzer offers widgets! These can be placed anywhere on your home screen and let you keep up with a variety of Health metrics. The backend system for widgets has been updated with the latest WidgetKit features to keep them running efficiently on your device.
Apple Resting Heart Rate support
Heart Analyzer has been helping users track their RHR values for nearly as long as the app has existed. In the early days Apple’s method for calculating this metric was flawed. For users who wore their Apple Watch at night it would take Sleep Heart Rate values and then include this data and output it as part of the RHR value. This approach was problematic as it meant there could be significant discrepancies in the RHR for an individual depending on the wearer’s habits. It was because of this that Heart Analyzer offered daytime and nighttime RHR values as a workaround. In WatchOS 7 Apple finally updated their RHR algorithm to not include readings if the user is sleeping, it’s just taken since then for me to get round to migrating Heart Analyzer to take advantage of this. All RHR values in Heart Analyzer are now taken from Apple Health data and a new Sleep Baseline HR value can be tracked in app. I hope this change will offer a simpler approach for most users whilst still giving unique data insights for advanced users.
New icons for Workouts
With the SFSymbol library offered by Apple for developers continuing to expand, it seemed there was another part of the app that needed modernising. With this update for users running iOS 16 and newer I’m pleased to say goodbye to the old icons and bring in new ones with a much more clean and polished finish.
A new app icon
Heart Analyzer has been served well be its existing icon for the last 3 years. With the version 10 update I had some ideas of new designs I wanted to try but never quite got round to finishing them before the release in April. With this work done I’m thrilled to unveil the new icon for the app. I hope you like it and find it up to date and modern on your home screen.
Other things…
Heart Analyzer still offers support for iPhones running iOS 15. This means if you have an iPhone 6s (launched 8 years ago) or newer, you can run the app.
Heart Analyzer still offers support for Apple Watch models running WatchOS 8. This means if you have an Apple Watch Series 3 (launched 6 years ago) or newer, you can run the app.
Heart Analyzer premium has been updated. This is primarily a branding update with some simplifications. All users who previously purchased any premium feature will maintain the existing features.
Extended Data has become Data Plus offering you the ability to view beyond the past week on the Dashboard back up to four years.
App Customization has become Reports Plus, building on the capabilities the unlock offered to let users personalize their Heart Reports and enhance them with a variety of options and features.
Deep Analytics has become Analytics Plus offering advanced users even more long term metrics on their Health data.
Improvements to the Heart Analyzer Dashboard and calendar let you select metrics from any day to get more details into the days preceding them. The calendar has been updated to give you fast access to any day from the past four years.
I hope you enjoy this significant update to the app. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the beta testers who volunteered to try out the new releases of the app even through it’s glitchier moments in the summer! That work is so important for making the app great for everyone and so if you tested the app through TestFlight, Thank You. If you provided feedback, Thank You again!