MIUI is a heavily skinned Android operating system by Xiaomi. Since the beginning, it has been probably offering more features than any other alternative. However, most of these features are exclusive to the home country of China. One such feature is the built-in MIUI Health app. This application now gets a makeover ahead of MIUI 13 release.

Xiaomi is currently beta testing MIUI Health app in China. The new version of the application can be only used by the official testers with their accounts logged in. However, @miuibetainfo found a way to bypass this. This helped Xiaomiui in reporting on the changes.

According to the findings, the new MIUI Health app is almost identical to the Xiaomi Wear app. Looks like Xiaomi is trying to replace the dedicated Wear app with the stock MIUI alternative on its own smartphones.

The current stable MIUI Health app only has two sections, namely dashboard and workouts. But the upcoming version, which is under beta testing, also includes devices and account sections. The design language is moreover indistinguishable with options like avatar and others.

Talking about devices, users can now pair all the Xiaomi and Redmi wearable products that are compatible with the Xiaomi Wear app. The list includes Mi Wach Color, Mi Watch Color Sport, Xiaomi Watch Color 2, Redmi Watch, Redmi Watch 2, Mi Smart Band 5, Mi Smart Band 6, and Redmi Band.

Xiaomiui suggests that the new MIUI Health will be part of MIUI 13. When this application enters stable in the future, Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone users need not install the Xiaomi Wear app for their Xiaomi group wearables.

Just like before, the new MIUI Health application is also expected to remain exclusive to China. It should be uninstallable like most system apps on MIUI.

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At the MIUI 12 launch event earlier this year, Xiaomi announced a number of features for the MIUI Health app that would normally require a fitness tracker or a smartwatch. These features are now finally available for users in China seven months after the announcement.

Xiaomi has recently updated the MIUI Health app to v2.9.12 in China. This latest version of the app can be installed on supported Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones from the first-party app store.

The new update for the MIUI Health app finally brings the sports modes that the company showcased at the MIUI 12 launch conference back in late April. Interested users can now use the app to track the following four activities.

• Outdoor Running
• Walking
• Cycling
• Treadmill

In addition to tracking, users can also set goals and share their results with friends and family.

Having said that, we are not sure how accurate the readings from the app is. However, it is worth noting that the same app added a function to measure heart rate using the phone’s camera and LED flash in September. In our testing, we found it to be on par with Xiaomi’s own Mi Band 4.

Therefore, we expect the app to provide similar readings for the sports modes as well. Anyway, we would not recommend it for daily usage as fitness trackers and smartwatches also provide other stats like heart rate and blood oxygen levels while working out, which is not possible using the MIUI health app.

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Last year, Xiaomi introduced a new MIUI system app called MIUI Health. This app offers a number of features such as step tracking with support for running, cycling & stair-climbing, sleep monitoring via user’s movements & snoring, and menstruation cycle tracking. Now, with version 2.7.4, the app gets a new heart rate monitoring feature.

Up until a few years back, Samsung used to provide heart-rate sensors on its flagship smartphones. But with the increase in fitness trackers and smartwatches in the market, the company stopped including them. Another reason for dripping them is to save space for some other components.

On the other hand, Xiaomi has now implemented heart rate monitoring in its MIUI Health app without relying on a dedicated sensor. The app users phone’s camera and LED flash to measure heart rate.

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MIUI Health v2.7.4 and the new heart-rate monitoring feature were first shared by a Telegram channel called @MiuiSystemUpdates (via XDA Developers).

According to the screenshots and a video shared by the channel, to measure their heart-rate, users will have to block the camera and LED flash of their phone with one of their fingers till the progress bar fills in. Then, select their current state from a pop-up, which includes General status, Resting state, and After exercise.

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Just like in Mi Fit app, users will have access to a dashboard showcasing the history of their heart-rate measurements. That said, we are not sure how accurate these readings will be.

The MIUI Health app was initially limited to the Chinese version of MIUI 12. But now, it is also available in other regional builds of the software for certain devices.

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