Xbox Fitness now synchronizes your exercise routines with Microsoft Health

Xbox Fitness has received an update on the Xbox One, introducing support for Microsoft Health, enabling users to have their exercise routines synchronized with the service. The Microsoft Band is also affected by this update, connecting through the company's health and fitness platform.

If you've yet to check out Microsoft's Xbox Fitness, we'd strongly urge you to do so, especially with this latest release installed. The added Health integration is a real neat addition to the experience and one we're sure many users will take advantage of. Now, get ripped with INSANITY.

Download Xbox Fitness for the Xbox One (opens in new tab) (free for Xbox Gold members)

Thanks, Paul O., for the heads up

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

56 Comments
  • I think this and dance games are the BEST use of Kinect. I played D4 on it...great game, but it's better with the controller for me. 
  • Well the band is not everywhere. Kinda useless to most of us.
  • Comgateway. Mine is on its way now. Screw region limiting.
  • I thought D4 with Kinect was vastly superior to D4 with a controller. Glad to see they finally connected all of their fitness platforms. They are in a superior position than most wearable-fitness companies as none of the others have anything like Xbox Fitness.
  • Unfortunately Windows Phone is still the turd that is Health and Fitness.
  • There's always that guy.  You know the one that stands in the group photo with his middle finger up... SMH.
  • D4 is better with Kinect for me too. The fight scenes are very organic with the device, it loses all its physicality with a controller.
  • I tried playing the game in Kinect mode first, but wasn't too fond of it and continued with the controller. I agree that fight scenes are probably the best use for it in the game, but I had trouble with it recognizing some of my movements. For example, I have tried 3 times to catch the baseball...I stretch out to reach it, but never catch it. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, I don't know. Other than that it seems fine, and in a way easier than using the controller during those events.
  • D4 is so much better with kinect to me.
  • I don't use this word often, but this warrants it......Amazeballs!! Been waiting and hoping they would do this for a while now.
    Also gives me more reason to purchase the band.
  • Deffo another reason to purchase the MS Band when it releases in the UK. Going to try and get one when I get back from the US, unless I can pick one up there at a better price (Not sure if it will mean missing out on anything UK specific if I do this though)
  • I was going to say ....your in the land that beat down your kin folk...so get if you can while you are here....
    ...
    I'M ONLY PLAYING WITH YOU REGARDING "BEAT DOWN" .....just smile...lol.
  • And what about Xbox 360 users?
  • That 10 years old console? What about?
  • That 8 months old console mate. Bought from Microsoft store.
  • I'm sad for you. It's the price so much different?
  • They should upgrade to the X1.
  • Xbox Fitness isn't on the 360 is it?
  • You get the same functionality of original Xbox users.  Butkus.  Nada.  Seriously though, the Xbox 360 launched in 2005.  Where's your computer or laptop from 2005?  Where's your smartphone from 2005?  It probably ran PalmOS or Windows Mobile 6.0. Buy new shit, get new functionality.  It's a novel concept.  You should try it.
  • I have pre ordered the band, but I can't download the health app. Says it is not available in my region (in the UK). If I can't download it, how will I make proper use of the band? Do I need to change the phone region to download an essential app?
  • Yes, that's how I did for mine (imported it in France for Christmas).
  • That was fine when the band was not officially available in the country. Now it's officially launched in the UK. We should be able to it without workarounds
  • Agree
  • It's not officially available until April 15 in the UK. So there's no real reason for the Health app to be available yet. They'll have to release by the 15th for sure, but there's still a little less than a month until it launches
  • Change region to US, reboot, download app, change region back to UK, reboot.
  • Hang on, just to clarify....there is Microsoft Health and there's the Health and Fitness app....does Xbox Fitness sync with both? I don't have a band and correct me if I'm wrong but Microsoft Health is really just a companion app for the band....so....if Xbox fitness syncs with just that, meh. If it syncs with health and fitness, yay. Can anybody clear up my confusion?
  • Screenshot shows Microsoft health logo, so health and fitness is probably a description of that. I'd try it out but unlike my last place this current one has no room for Kinect games. Enjoyed this program at my last place.
  • Ya Xbox fitness definitely requires more space. I had to stop using it when we got a new L shaped couch that just took up way too much space but we recently reorganized our living room so now I'm back in business.
  • It's Microsoft Health. Instead of tracking your workout with the MS Band's "Workout" mode, if you sign into Xbox Fitness with your proper MS Account/Gamertag and do a workout, the Kinect functions as your workout tracker and feeds the information to MS Health. This is great for people who don't have the Band (yet), but have an Xbox One and work out to it. The MS Health platform is developed to be fed information from lots of sources, not just the Band, going forward. =)
  • Today, I tried this on my xbox fitness with same account on my Microsoft band and Microsoft health. but nothing happen on my health dashboard and not on Microsoft health app on my lumia.
  • Health is the new platform going forward. Health and Fitness is a single app, and is terrible.
  • Terrible for you perhaps but I'd be surprised if I'm the only one that uses it. Considering the fact that its MS's health and fitness app it would make sense for it to sync up with Xbox fitness as well. I downloaded MS health before (now I can't even see it in the store) and without the band it was useless. Since MS health is the choice platform "going forward" does that mean its been updated to more than just a companion app to the band? Really not trying to rain on the parade. Id love to have this functionality between Xbox fitness and a windows application. Assuming I can find it in the store will I be able to sync it with Xbox fitness without the band? If so...anybody have a link to the app in the store? (fyi, I live in Canada)
  • I use Xbox fitness all the time. I'll look at this new feature later today. Very exciting. I LOVE INSANITY AND P90X TOO!
  • Those are some tough workouts....suppose that is the intent...
  • They certanily are.  I've done P90X, P90X2, P90X3, and Insanity.  I haven't done the T25 yet, but it looks just as insane as Insanity.  Anyway, I just purchased both of the new P90X and Insanity workouts exclusive for Xbox fitness.  Just started the Insanity.  If anyone felt that the original insanity wasnt challanging enough (which would be crazy because the original IS insane), definitely try the new Insanity for Xbox Fitness.  It combines a bunch of new moves and some original moves but the pace is definitely faster.  Once I finish the new Insanity, I'm gonna give the new P90X a whirl! 
  • You should go to the Xbox Fitness Sub reddit.  There's a few of us on there that are active. I did 30 days of P90x this year and am currently doing back-to-back Insanity & Mossa work outs.  I'll probably hit 4 million fit points this month.  It's fun to see everyone's comments and successes.  I'm switching back to P90x in 2-4 weeks, just need to lose 5 more lbs. https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxFitness/
  • Love the Xbox One fitness !   Insanity is outstanding !   Uh.. just looked.. I'm at 26 million fit points   :) :) :)  and over 212 hours logged :)   Not bad for an old man... (47) Anyone serious about getting fit.. this is an awesome way to do it !  My question is whether the Xbox or Band should be used.. I would expect the Band to do a better job of monitoring  AND will Heath be smart enough not to duplicate the results recorded by each device???  
  • I had the Nike Fuelband and the Nike workout game for Xbox 360 and it would duplicate my results, but I'd expect it to workout with this.   In MyFitnessPal, it can import my Jawbone data or I can enter my stuff manually.  If there is duplicate I can remove one or the other.
  • Can someone pls help me out here, it seems like all of you are having a great experience with xbox fitness. How does the tracking work for you guys? For me it it tracks maybe 2/5 of the routines during a workout, which is nothing less than infuriating. I have moved it around the living room to see if anything works, I've used the "i moved my Kinect option" every time. I can always see myself and my movements completely fine in the top right square during workouts. It almost never says "Kinect can't see you"... Any help or tips? Please, i'll take it all. I am getting fed up with this POS Kinect not able to deliver on its (very old) promises.   Thank you. /rantover
  • Mine is closer to 3/4 accurate, but I have the same issue. It can't seem to figure out when I'm doing some exercises even though I can see my full body in the pip view. Typically this is when it needs to see my feet for a particular exercise. It's especially frustrating when you're doing well and it just goes dark during a challenge. I still do the work, that's the goal of the thing anyway, but the whole point of adding motivation with real-time feedback goes away when the system fails to recognize you.
  • Even worse is the fact that if there's a connectivity issue at the end of a workout, it doesn't save your progress.  Nothing is more deflating than beating your high FP and meeting a boat load of challenges only for it to get wiped out by an Xbox Live problem.  They need to cache the workouts on the Xbox or at least the progress.   I don't have many problems with tracking, but that's probably because my Kinect is about chest to neck level.  It has a hard time with some of the floor stuff though.
  • I used Xbox Fitness loosely since the release of XB1, but I have been using it 5-6 days a week all year. Kinect is really a double edge sword that is love / hate.  It keeps me motivated to do the workouts by keeping score, having session and personal challenges, but when it doesn't read you correctly when you know you're doing the workouts fine it's maddening.   For your issue, I'd hard reset the Xbox (unplug the console, hold the power button in, plug it back in, go to settings and calibrate the Kinect again to see if that helps.  You may have to try a different location for the Kinect. I've never had problems like yours, just the random issues.  
  • askerrep, The kinnect is definitely not perfect...  One thing that seem to help is to be sure to forcibly exit the fitness app every so often.  Remember the Xbox One is using Hyper-V virtualization which means when you "soft exit" the app it pauses that VM running the fitness app.  Then when you open the app it just resumes the VM.  This sometimes causes the Kinnect to not get a good reading on your movements or at least thats my experience.  So go to the menu and do exit app.. so it kills the VM.. then next startup will be fresh with fresh kinnect connection.. .02
  • One thing that seem to help is to be sure to forcibly exit the fitness app every so often.  Remember the Xbox One is using Hyper-V virtualization which means when you "soft exit" the app it pauses that VM running the fitness app.  Then when you open the app it just resumes the VM.  This sometimes causes the Kinnect to not get a good reading on your movements or at least thats my experience. 
    100% agree. Most of my tracking issues stopped after adding the routine of forcible closing the app from the Home Screen. I also sometimes just start another app to be sure Xbox Fitness isn't still in the running, as it wre. 
  • I have found that direct sunlight can cause problems with tracking. I usually work out in the morning so the direct sun was a problem. Lowering the blinds fixed this. Also try calibrating Kinect in the same conditions/time that you have during your workout. The more conditions you calibrate Kinect(different lighting, sunlight, etc) it gets more accurate. Another thing I did is I found the sweetspot for where I should be during the workout. I do the CORE workout so I found where I stand and where I place my bench was critical for accuracy. Lastly before lying down on the bench/floor for an excercise, stand facing Kinect and make sure it can see you first. Lastly, I found that if I left the screen for a quick drink and then jumped back into the routine, Kinect would struggle to lock in on me as I was moving around. You should stand there first and allow Kinect to lock on you, otherwise it won't track you properly or will confuse you with your bench/floor.
  • Love Xbox Fitness, nice to see the integration moving forward with Windows devices.
  • I just went into Xbox Fitness to set this up. It seems like a step toward integration but it's not there yet. When you go into settings there's now a "Microsoft Health Partners" section and a Connect button. That takes you into IE and the MS Health Dashboard which does not yet have an Xbox Fitness link. It does have a statment though: "If you connect your other accounts to your Microsoft account, Microsoft will exchange fitness data (e.g. activity duration, calories burned, heart rate, run distance) with the connected applications. This may include activity and fitness data from all current and future Microsoft fitness services you use such as Microsoft Health and Xbox Fitness. "
  • Ok.. did my workout today.. and noticed it says on the new  "News and informaiton" window that if you have a Band your account will automatically be connected to Health...    But still dont see it in Health yet.. . soon I imagine...
  • I have same problem. nothing change in my Microsoft Health.
  • Anyone know if you can stream the xbox fitness app to your PC.. errr... tablet ?     One thing that would be nice would be to have xbox fitness on a tablet with offline mode to do workout when away (traveling etc..) from the xbox one..   Especially since the Band can track the work outs :) Integration between two would be tops !
  • I dont ever expect an offline mode for Xbox Fitness.  It's tied to Kinect and I'm betting licensing deals are requiring to stream to prevent pirating.  Many in the community have been loudly voicing their want for an offline mode due to streaming issues, but don't see it happening.
  • I would use Xbox Fitness more if it didn't take 20 minutes to load every time I open it
  • I have same problem with Xbox Fitness.
  • I suggested this feature !!! Thanks MS :D
  • I started my xbox fitness. it says if you have Microsoft band with same account just do workouts. we connect it with Microsoft health. I complete my workout but nothing happen on my Microsoft health dashboard on web and Microsoft health app on my windows phone. any help or suggestion please?
  • Same here. It doesn't seem to actually work. Unless it only syncs once a day? *sigh*