Jawbone’s UP and UP24 app adds contextual health data, food tracking

Jawbone has announced an update for its iOS companion app that allows users to track their diet as well as their exercise and sleep. Launched in 2011, Jawbone’s Up hit the market ahead of the wearables craze. The issue is now that we have Android Wear, the Galaxy Gear, and Pebble, devices like the UP and the UP24 start to look a little one dimensional in terms of functionality.

When you’ve got these bigger, better devices with developer platforms and dedicated app stores that hold so much potential, a dedicated activity tracker jsut isn’t all that appealing. Jawbone has been combating this by adding functionality via the app, like sleep monitoring, which is great progress, and the company is upping the ante with a major update that allows you to track your calories and nutrition in conjunction with the wristband.

Released today, UP 3.2 allows you to log your meals via its extensive food database. However, it will also use other people’s logs to predict what else you’re going to be eating making for a less labour-intensive experience overall. Think bread and butter, peanut butter and jelly, toast and jam, chicken and rice. It’ll also use the time of day to offer more accurate suggestions. Spinach in the morning? You probably had it in an omelet with eggs, and maybe some tomato. Fries in the evening? The app will suggests cheeseburger.

Perhaps most important aspect of the meal tracking update is that it offers you contextual feedback based on all that juicy data you’re sharing. The app will take the nutritional information of what you’re eating, rate the kind of foods you’re eating on a regular basis, and give you over-all food scores for each day. What’s more, the UP Insight Engine will now give you suggestions on how you can improve your overall health, incorporating what you’ve eaten, how much you’ve been sleeping, and your workouts.

[source]Jawbone[/source]

[via]SlashGear[/source]