O2 Healthy: The pedometer with a personality

They say the best cure is prevention, and walking might just be the best prevention: a regular stroll can stave off heart disease, boost your metabolism and even reduce cancer risk. And with O2’s friendly new iPhone app, O2 Healthy, it’s now even easier to perambulate and have fun at the same time. Read on for everything you need to know about it.

What is O2 Healthy?
It’s simply an iPhone app from O2 Health that keeps track of your footsteps. Fire it up and it’ll log your steps as you make your daily travels, tot them up for you and even tell you how many calories you’ve burned. Even just putting a number to what you’ve achieved can help spur you on to go further and further each day – and get healthier and healthier.

How does it work?
With the power of a smartphone, it’s easy to keep a log of your steps. The phone’s in-built sensors combined with the O2 Healthy app can keep track of your pacing, while GPS means it can record where you walk too.

What makes it smarter than a regular pedometer?
O2 Healthy doesn’t just keep count of your walks, but remembers where you walk too. That way, it’s easy to save your favourite routes and share them with others via Facebook. It’s also a motivator: hit the “Keep Me Walking” button and it’ll regale you with jokes and facts about walking to help pass the time, while you can earn badges for tasks completed.

What is O2 Health?
Launched last year, O2 Health uses technology to help improve care, and put people in control of their wellbeing like never before. O2 Healthy is its first consumer product – but not its last. “Healthy is the first consumer-focused product from O2 Health and represents our commitment to using technology to help people live healthy and more active lifestyles. It’s an important first step for O2 in the important wellbeing space and the start of many more exciting things to come,” says Keith Nurcombe, managing director of O2 Health.

Who is it for, and how much is it?
It’s free! Whatever network you’re on, you can download the O2 Healthy app from the iPhone App Store: any iPhone or iPad with a 3G connection running iOS 4 will work. That’s not all either: O2 is working on a version for Android smartphones as well.