iHeartRate Monitor

Developer: Endloop Systems Inc.
Category: Healthcare and Fitness
Version: 1.2
Release Date: Jun 15, 2009
Size: 0.9 MB
Price: $0.99
Rating 7/10

One of the myriad proliferating apps for fitness buffs, iHeartRate Monitor offers a simple and effective way to track your resting heart rate and compare it to your training heart rates, to get a better idea of how exercise affects your pulse and weight loss.

The interface is simple. You find your pulse on your body with one hand, and tap the rhythm of your pulse on your iPhone with the other. After about ten taps, the program extrapolates your heart rate, so you know where you stand. The idea is to know your resting heart rate so that when you go exercise, you can take your pulse again and know approximately how many calories you're burning.

The application recognizes five training zones: "warmup," "fat loss," "aerobic," "anaerobic," and "V02 Max." It automatically times you at each heart rate and counts the approximate number of calories you burn at that rate, which is great for timing your workouts. You input your current height, weight, and age, which allows the app to determine your current calorie expenditures and Body Mass Index.

It's a simple, elegant interface, and a useful application for quickly determining your heart rate before, during and after a workout. It's a little awkward to stop your workout mid-stream to check your pulse, and you need to be aware when your heart rate is rising or slowing for the calorie counter to be accurate. It's not a replacement for a real heart rate monitor, and shouldn't be used as such. But if you want to become more aware of the rhythms of your body during a workout, iHeartRate Monitor can help.