The UP24 is Jawbone's latest fitness tracker that pairs with your iPhone in order to track steps, calories, distance, and even sleep. The companion app breaks down all that data into easy to understand information. With support for advanced reminders, timed sessions, and more — can the UP24 help you get healthy and stay healthy? Let's find out!
After unpacking the UP24 I immediately noticed that it's not only lighter than other fitness bands I had previously used, it is also a lot easier to put on and take off. The true test for me was the first night I slept with it on. I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up in the morning and completely forgot I even had it on. That's always a good sign when it comes to wearing a fitness tracker.
Moving on to using the UP24 — there is no physical display for you to view. All the data is accumulates lives in the UP by Jawbone app. The only control you have on the actual band is a solitary button. Push and hold to toggle between sleep and active modes. Tap lightly to view what mode the UP24 is currently in. Tap twice and hold on the second tap to enable stop watch mode. Tap once to end it. Stopwatch mode lets you track activities and log them easier. For example, if you're going for a run just start stopwatch mode when you begin and stop it when you're done.
Another one of my favorite features of the UP24 is the ability to create reminders. Whether you need to remember to work out, take medication, go to bed, or anything else, you can set custom reminders within the app that are then synced to your band. The reminder comes in the form of a light vibration on your wrist. You can also set alerts for when you hit certain step increments or when you sit idle for too long.
When it comes to tracking sleep, no other band breaks down data as well as the UP24 does. Just wear it to bed and put it in sleep mode. If you forget to change modes on your band, that's okay. The sleep recovery feature lets you go back and mark sleep manually. As long as you had the band on, it tracked your data and can decipher it afterwards. You can also set an alarm with the UP24. The Smart Sleep feature lets the UP24 wake you up within so many minutes of your chosen alarm time. This is so it doesn't ever interrupt deep sleep, otherwise known as REM sleep. I've personally found the vibration to be a much more pleasant way to wake up than music blaring from my iPhone. It also doesn't wake up my partner, which is another plus.
Tracking fitness activity is easy with the UP24 but I wish there were more activities to choose from. There's only about 20 or so types you can label workouts as which won't always fit everyone's needs. Other offerings such as Nike and Fitbit offer much more variety. For example, I take a calisthenics class three times a week and there is no option for that. I must either enter weights, stretching, and an ab workout separately or choose something I think would be the equivalent. It gets the job done but it probably isn't as accurate as it could, or should be.
If you're dieting you can also use the UP companion app to track food by scanning bar codes or manually searching. I haven't found it to be that intuitive though and typically stick with a dedicated tracker app such as My Fitness Pal. Since the UP app ties in with many third party apps, it seems to be the best way to do it. It simply imports your data into your timeline from My Fitness Pal, RunKeeper, IFTTT, and many others.
The good
- Most comfortable fitness tracker I've ever worn
- Battery life is great due to the lack of physical display, about a week on one charge
- Reminders are completely customizable and more advanced than other trackers
- Stopwatch mode is ideal for tracking workout sessions
- Best sleep tracker currently on the market
- Lots of third party support including My Fitness Pal, IFTTT, RunKeeper, and more
The bad
- Not many activities to choose from when categorizing your workout
- Food tracking logs aren't great - but third party integration makes it not so much of an issue
- Bad track record for hardware and band issues
The bottom line
I've been using the UP24 by Jawbone on a daily basis for over a month now. It's been my favorite fitness tracker of all the ones I've used for one main reason — comfort. I don't want to know I'm wearing a fitness tracker. Since I have to wear it all the time, it's important that it doesn't get in the way whether I'm working on my computer, working out at the gym, or sleeping. It's the first tracker I've been able to wear continuously and not feel bothered by it. For that reason alone, I plan on keeping it on my wrist for a long time to come.
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