Six Months With a Jawbone UP24
The world of fitness tracking has changed dramatically since I shared my disappointment with the fitness tracking app, Moves. After deleting Moves, I purchased an UP24 from Jawbone and asked you all to keep an eye out for a review. Six months of wearing my UP24 have passed, and now I’m sharing my thoughts.
Purpose & Functionality
The Jawbone UP24 and UP app provide three primary functions.
- The UP24 tracks your daily activity (step count, calories, etc.) and encourages you to keep moving with Idle Alert. Idle Alert can be completely customized so I’ll use my settings as an example: Monday through Friday from 8am to 6pm my UP24 will tell me to get up and move (by vibrating) every time I’m seated for over 30 minutes straight. This is perfect for a desk job.
- The UP24 records your sleep patterns and uses Smart Alarm technology to wake you up at the best possible time in your sleep cycle.
- If you're willing to manually input data, the UP app can also keep track of your mood, weight and diet; and Smart Coach suggests ways to improve your health based on all the data in the app.
The UP24 Band
Rating: simplicity, usefulness, beauty and necessity
- Simplicity. (9/10) The band is incredibly simple. Once it has been set up, changing modes (sleep, awake and workout) just takes a button press.
- Usefulness. (9/10) I’ve only forgotten to wear my UP24 once in the past six months. The 14 day battery life and quick charging helps me keep it on all the time. I’ve found that charging it every day for the few minutes while I’m in the shower is enough to keep it powered.
- Beauty. (10/10) I love the design of the band. I think it looks good with a suit or in workout clothes, and that’s a pretty impressive design feat in my opinion.
- Necessity. (7/10) Fitness tracking isn’t necessary. But I have seen it help me make better decisions about keeping active and sleeping right, and to me, that is worth the cost.
- Stickiness. (7/10) I’ll probably wear my UP24 until it falls apart, but if I do want to change, Jawbone makes it incredibly easy to export my data to be used with another system. This reduces the stickiness score, but it’s a huge plus in my mind.
The UP app
Rating: simplicity, usefulness, beauty and necessity
- Simplicity. (9/10) Setup and sync is as easy as opening the app and turning on bluetooth. Checking your progress, viewing trends and using the app in general are simple and easy, but I find that I only open it a few times a week.
- Usefulness. (9/10) The UP app proves helpful when you want to see your data or get advice about your habits. I’ve followed the advice given by Smart Coach several times.
- Beauty. (6/10) Although I love the look of the band, I don’t really like the style of the app. It’s easy to use and consistent throughout, but it doesn't fit my personal style.
- Necessity. (7/10) Much like owning a band, a fitness tracking app isn’t a necessity, but if you want an UP24 you will need to use the app.
- Stickiness. (6/10) I don’t find the app incredibly sticky on its own, but one positive thing about the UP app is that it connects with a bunch of other popular apps like Runkeeper, MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness, Nest, IFTTT, Strave and Fitstar just to name a few.
Alternatives
Instead of listing out every possible band option, I’m going to share the different companies that I researched before deciding to buy the UP24 from Jawbone. Keep in mind, Jawbone and its major competitors have release new bands since I decided. Similarly, smart watches have been release by seamingly everyone. With that being said, I really have enjoyed the UP24 from Jawbone. I believe it is well worth the cost.
You can purchase the Jawbone UP24 from the Jawbone website, Target and other retailers. The UP app is free from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.