The launch of Apple Watch in April is renewing the interest for wearable devices and popular sport tracking apps.
The good news? Now you can track your steps with WeChat!
What does the service do?
The service is offered by an official Tencent WeChat account called Weixin Yundong (微信运动). It counts the steps you walked in a day and automatically creates a score board of the top 10 winners among your WeChat friends. The service is only available in Chinese for now.
This extremely simple application of connected objects is a good illustration of the advantage of WeChat connected objects. Beside the potential drawbacks that we discussed in a previous article, they give provide the outstanding opportunity to share, compare and discuss data collected by the object with your friends.
How to set it up?
The function is currently available for iPhone 5S or above. Other phones might receive implementation later on, depending on the phone’s ability to detect movements.
In order to activate the function, follow the instructions bellow:
1. You first need to add the account 微信运动.
2. You then need to activate the function that’s receiving your motion signal.
As mentioned earlier, the process could be different depending on the type of phone and OS you are using
- For iPhone5S/6 users
– Upgrade to the latest version of WeChat (6.1.1 or newer)
– Turn on your Motion Activity to allow WeChat to get your motion information (You will find it under Settings -> Privacy – > Motion Activity)
- If you are not an iPhone user, you might have an alternative:
– Get WeChat smart wristband at JD.com here, starting from 89 RMB.
That’s it, you just setup WeChat connected objects to track your steps. Have a good walk and compete with your friends!