Argus Is Here To Help You Stay Healthy And Fit
Argus by Azumio (Free) by Azumio Inc. will turn your iPhone into a complete health and fitness tracker, without the need for expensive hardware. It is very similar to Moves, which I reviewed a few months back.
Living a healthier lifestyle is something that everyone should strive for. However, it can be pretty difficult to do without the proper tools. Lately, there are many fitness tracker devices available in the market, such as the Fitbit Flex, Jawbone UP, and Nike+ FuelBand. While all of these are great (and trendy), the problem is the fact that they all cost at least $100. If that’s a bit out of your budget right now, then good news: Argus by Azumio does the same thing that these devices do, without having to spend a Benjamin.
I’ve been using Moves for quite a while now, and for the most part, it covered the one thing I was wanting to keep track of: how much I moved. But of course, there’s more to being healthy than just moving around — you have to track what you eat. I was attracted to Argus because of the fact that the app kept track of both of these things, as well as so much more.
You will need to create an account in order to use Argus. This is done by signing up with an email address, or you can just use Facebook Connect. Once you are logged in, you can edit your details in Settings, including adding your height and gender. You can also choose US or metric units, and toggle automatic run detection.
The main view in Argus is the Timeline. On this screen, you will find a honeycomb of your activity, organized by date. As an added bonus, Argus displays the day’s temperature next to the date, so you know how the weather is before you start walking. By default, Argus will always keep track of the number of steps you take, which is represented by the green hexagon. Argus shows the total steps you’ve taken so far, and the perimeter will be darkened as you move towards your goal. You can also have Argus track the routes you take, though be aware that this will have a bit of an impact on your battery.
That’s right — unlike Moves, users can set various goals in Argus. To set them up, access the side panel menu by either sliding to the right or tapping on the “hamburger” button, and then going to Goals. You can set up goals for how much you walk, sleep, or drink water. These goals can be changed at any time, and pulling the screen all the way down will reveal your goals on the timeline.
There are many more views that can be found in Argus. You can view Food entries only, see what your Friends have been doing, and even view trends about your health data in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly bar graphs.
While Argus will automatically keep track of your steps, you can also monitor a wide variety of activities. To add a new entry, just tap on the + button or slide the screen to the left. You can search for an activity in the search bar or select from the most popular choices, which include: cups of coffee, sleep, glasses of water, running, workout, cycling, heart rate, body weight, and more. There are actually a lot of options available, so the app is definitely comprehensive.
Argus will also track food intake, although it’s not like Lose It, which counts calories. Instead, Argus has users take a photo of their food (the center button on the top header bar), add optional notes, and then select which food groups that item belongs to. If you’re unsure, you can even double-tap a food group to view details.
Once you have an activity in your timeline for the day, you can change the amount by tapping on it. Also, each piece of data can be viewed in further detail with a single tap. For example, steps will show the distance and time, as well as a bar chart timeline so you can see how active you were during different parts of the day (just like the Nike+ FuelBand app). Cups of coffee and water will show the time that you added a count, and food will show the food groups you’ve selected. Additionally, Argus has several privacy options for the type of activity you track. Each one can be set to Private, Argus Friends, Friends, or Public by dragging on the bar on the activity detail view, and comments can be added by users.
Even though Argus itself is a good replacement for many of the health and fitness tracker devices, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work with other hardware. If you currently own LifeTrak, New Balance LifeTRNr+, or the Withings Smart Body Analyzer, then Argus can integrate with them. It would be nice to see support for Fitbit, Jawbone UP, or the Nike+ FuelBand added in the future, if at all possible.
If you have been wanting an all-in-one solution for keeping track of your health and fitness, then Argus by Azumio is a great option. It has more data than Moves, without the premium cost of buying hardware.
You can find Argus in the App Store for your iPhone for free. For more apps to help keep you healthy and fit, make sure to check out this AppList.