Microsoft Health Is Coming To the Desktop, Explore Tile Headed To The Band

It seems like this should have happened a long time ago, but Microsoft is finally bringing its Health app to the desktop in the form of a UWP. In addition to the new app, the Band will also be receiving an ‘Explore’ tile that allows you to track your hikes.

The Health App is the same one that is on your Windows phone but scaled up to your desktop. But, it’s far from perfect because if you want to sync your data, you have to plug it into the PC via USB, according to Microsoft.

This seems like a shortcoming of the app as syncing data on the back-end between apps should be a trivial process for Microsoft as they do this with nearly every other app. I’ve asked Microsoft for clarification on this to see if it’s a poorly worded post or if this is a true limitation and will update once I hear back. [Update] Microsoft has said that the data will sync between the phone and your PC, no need to manually sync to your PC each day.

The new Explore tile on the Band makes it easier to track your hikes including elevation, GPS, calories burned and setting points of interest; using this feature, the band can run for up to twelve hours. The app will also give you alerts for when the sun is about to set so that you can either take in the view, or end your hike so that you don’t get stuck out in the wilderness overnight.

The Health app will be rolling out this week and the Explorer tile update for the Band will be arriving ‘in the coming days’; you can see the announcement post, here.