Google Health 5.01 improves nutrition, sleep and fitness tracking

Google is releasing version 5.01 of its Google Health App on Android and iOS. This is the first update to the app after its recent name change and redesign.

The latest Google Health update features a mix of new nutrition tools and bug fixes to improve food tracking, fitness data accuracy, and sleep information.

from google community post notes that the update begins rolling out today and will continue to expand over the next week, with availability varying by device and carrier.

One of the biggest additions is support for viewing and logging pre-created custom foods. While users can’t create new custom foods within the app yet, Google says that ability will come in a future update. The company has also added guidance for setting macronutrient goals, which should make it easier for users to understand and set nutritional goals.

Food logging is also seeing several quality of life improvements. Google has fixed issues that caused some foods imported from third party services like MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and Lose It appear in the wrong food category. The app also handles duplicate records more intelligently when users connect the same service through multiple integrations, and now assigns default names to unnamed food entries imported through Apple Health.

As for fitness tracking, Google notes that it has fixed a bug that incorrectly labeled some runs as other types of training, and that both new and historical runs are now displayed correctly. Users should also see missing split data restored on affected race summaries, and GPS-based training maps now load more reliably.

Sleep tracking is also getting attention, with Google fixing an issue that prevented some users from seeing sleep scores in the Sleep tab.

Elsewhere, the company resolved the issue of outdated information appearing in the Today feed on Android, Fitbit account migration failures on iOS, and slow loading friends and family screens. Accessibility improvements for VoiceOver and TalkBack users are also included.

While there aren’t many new features here, the update should improve the Google Health experience in general. Google too previously revealed a huge list of changes, new features and updates coming to Google Health in the coming months.

Full changelog (as provided by Google)

Nutritional improvements

• Custom Foods: You can now view and record previously created custom foods. New custom foods will be added soon.
  Macronutrient Goal Guidance: Added explanations and guidance for setting macronutrient goals.
• Third-party food registration improvements:
  Fixed issue where some meal logs from MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and LoseIt via Apple Health were labeled as “Other” meal type, instead of the correct type.
• Improved handling of meal records received from the same third-party app when that app is connected to Health Connect and Google Health directly.
• Added default food names when Apple Health records are unnamed.
• More controls when signing in on iOS: Made it easier to switch between units of measurement when recording food from search results.
• Chart improvements: Nutrition and calorie charts are now more consistent in the Today, Health & Nutrition deep views.

Activity and fitness updates

• Fixed Workout Labels: Fixed issue where some runs were being labeled as other types of workouts. New and old runs will now be correctly labeled as runs.
• Missing Splits: Resolved issue where splits were missing from some run summaries.
• Map Loading: Improved loading states for GPS exercise maps.
• Mobile Step Counting on iOS: Fixed an issue where steps were being counted twice for some users who had turned on Apple Health and Mobile Track.

Sleep updates

• Sleep score reliability: Resolved issues where the Sleep tab was not displaying sleep scores for some users.

General updates

• Today tab on Android: Fixed issue where some users were not seeing updated information in the Today feed on Android. Updated defaults for Cardio Load compatible devices for new users.
• Account Migration on iOS: Fixed issue that prevented some users from migrating their Fitbit account to Google Account. If you start the migration flow again, you will be able to switch to a Google account.
• Friends & Family on iOS: Fixed issue where the Friends & Family screen was slow to load or unable to load for some users.
  VoiceOver on iOS: Improved buttons and graphics for VoiceOver and TalkBack.