We have long-term plans to add the ability to manually track things like a habit tracker app does that our service integrations don’t support, like number of coffees, or migraines, or whether you’ve meditated today. Unfortunately it requires a bit of a large architectural rejigger (technical term) on our end so while we’re conscious of it being a pretty nice feature to have, it’s going to take a while.
This one receives an extra 50 votes from a vaguely worded suggestion called “arbitrary data tokens” which seemed to be about the combo of custom tracking + our now-available write API.
If you added Beeminder integration then you could effectively outsource this feature… Or any other habit tracking app. Habitica comes to mind as well. To-do list apps like Todoist might work too, if they have good enough support for recurring to-do items.
I’d be on board for Habitica, I use it daily.
Whatever external habit tracking services we end up supporting, we need to add a large list of attributes to match, ie. “things you can track”, as well as the architectural changes to support this. It’s unfortunately not as simple as “outsource this to X service” or we would just be asking you to vote those up and this suggestion wouldn’t exist :) please vote for this suggestion if you’d like us to be able to support custom tracking at all, and vote for other specific service suggestions if you’d like those to be integrated once this is done.
I think custom variables are a necessity at some point. There will always be some variable beyond what you’ve thought of that will be applicable to some user, and it could be something very valuable for them to understand. An example would be that my dentist made me a nightguard, which I almost always use when I sleep, but I suspect that I sleep better without it. I need the ability to define {var=wearing_nightguard;type=boolean;desc=”blah blah”} etc. and then I can just set it, forget it, and look at the data in a couple of months to validate my hypothesis. This kind of thing shouldn’t be surprising to anybody reading this, we’re all here buying into the concept…
oh, and bonus points for building the ability to log these variables directly in the exist app… :)
@stephenanspach I appreciate that, but Exist just doesn’t work that way. We can’t create all the data around attributes, for example putting them in a sentence to make a correlation, if we aren’t the ones defining the attribute, or variable as you say. Plus, it’s just very hard to go there architecturally at this point, as Exist was never designed for that. I do understand that it’d let people track anything they want, which would be great. But at least for the foreseeable future, attributes will have to be managed by us.
We are planning on adding a big list of new ones when we support custom tracking, though.
Will this feature allow us to manually track those attributes that were added back in April? If so, that’s pretty exciting. If not, how will it work?
@elmcityfree right! That’s the plan.
I gather you’ve just started working on it, but do you have a projection for when this will be completed? As someone who is currently writing his dissertation, I’ll understand if you’d rather not say. ;)
@elmcityfree it’s a big architectural change so it’s hard to know. A few months?
Hi Josh. Any news on this feature? thanks.
@davidpeach sorry, it’s a big one! It’s still on the way. No firm ETA.
Like it is a big job, I can imagine, it would be a big up for the use of the app. the continues use of the app. So, with the risk of sounding to pushy, could you give us a wage hint on what year? It would actually help.
@alexanderlindemann2 which year? Hopefully this year!
Just signed up for my free trial, but I don’t currently imagine myself continuing without manual tracking. I want to find out whether all the supplements I’m taking are making a difference.
@derekgurney hey Derek, I’m sorry if you got the impression anywhere that we currently support manual tracking. We list all of our supported services on the home page but deliberately do not mention manual tracking anywhere, as we don’t do it yet. If you don’t find Exist useful without manual tracking, you’re welcome to give it another try later when this development is completed.
@joshsharp :thumbsup:
So we could use the Exist API to write to the existing “manual” fields until you have this feature on your own site? Do I understand that right?
That’s right, Jamie. You can use the API to write data for any of the current attributes we support.
I’d love this to happen soon! TMI but I’ve noticed my HR rises at ‘certain’ times of the month so being able to track my period manually with exist and correlate it against my RHR would be amazing, especially considering Clue can’t be integrated :(
Any progress on this? I’d like to be able to track my alcohol intake and see how it affects things like heart rate/mood next day, etc
This would be the only features making me using the app permanently and have a complete tracking for everything
Just as an update to everyone following this, we’ve chosen to implement something similar but not exactly the same we’re calling “custom tracking”. We talked about it a little on our last podcast if you’d like to hear more about how we arrived at this decision. Custom tracking is currently in beta testing, and if you’re an Android user you can help test it by joining the group here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/exist-for-android
The next step will be to get this done in the iOS app also, then it’ll be ready for everyone to use!
Just listened to the podcast and custom tracking sounds amazing. Hopefully this will make it into the API as well. I’d use it with Workflow on iOS and the IFTTT maker channel. Maybe IFTTT would consider custom tracking sufficient reason to finally grant access.
It’ll be available via the API as we use the same API for mobile apps as we provide for everyone else :) I’ll document how to do it in the docs once it’s live.
I forgot to add the link, but for everyone else the podcast is here: http://blog.hellocode.co/post/podcast-21-apple-health-custom-tracking/
Just signed up! Ignore my email if you see it come through. I’ve requested access to the android test group!
Just to keep everyone updated, the main hold-up on this right now is the iOS app, which I’m working hard on! I’ve only got a couple of big, main sections of this feature to add before I start focusing on design and fixing bugs. I’m hoping to get it to beta testers by the end of June, but I’ll keep you all updated here along the way.
Oiseau Bleu, I’ve just added you to the iOS beta, so you’ll get the custom tracking update as soon as it’s released in TestFlight.
I’m currently working on final polish and bug fixes for this feature before it goes out to beta testers—looking on track to get it into beta testing before June is over!
Hey Belle - any chance you could add me to the iOS beta too? :) Thanks!
I’d love to help with the iOS beta as well, and custom tracking through API
James - done. Ben, can you please email me at belle@hellocode.co so I can make sure I’m adding the right Ben to TestFlight? Thanks!
The first iOS beta of custom tracking has been submitted to TestFlight for review. As soon as Apple approves it we’ll start testing! Keep an eye on the TestFlight app if you’re an iOS beta tester!
The first iOS beta of custom tracking is now available in TestFlight. If you’re an iOS beta user, please update to the latest beta of Exist and test it out!
Hey Belle!
I’d love to test the beta also and report back! Is it still possible? Do i need something special on my phone?
Felix, I’m still looking for more iOS beta testers, but you’ll need to be a paying customer (not on a free trial) to join the beta.
Would love to be apart of the iOS beta, if you still need testers!
Hi! I’d be interested in being a beta tester if it’s not too late.
You’ve both been sent invites!
iOS Beta test request please. Just started with Exist, can see so many possibilities. Excellent stuff. Thanks
Hey Greg, beta testing is only available to users who have finished their free trial, either by waiting through the trial period or upgrading to yearly earlier from your account page :)
It would be very nice if this also had the option to rate/enter a count for the event with a number as well, not just a choice of yes or no.
I’m also interested in the iOS beta. :)
Gunnar, I’ve just added you to the iOS beta :)
I’d be interested in the iOS beta too!
Hey Nicole, beta testing is only available to users who have finished their free trial, either by waiting through the trial period or upgrading to yearly earlier from your account page :)
Hooray, this is live and available for everyone! The announcement blog post is here: https://exist.io/blog/custom-tracking/
Thanks to all our beta testers for their help.
Great progress! What I’d also like is the ability to track numbers against the tag. So if I did 50 pushups today, I want that recorded in the data, not just the fact that I did pushups. Then I can start tracking against a goal. I use an app called “Strides” for this at the moment, which does it really nicely - would be great to get this all in one place in Exist.
We deliberately made custom tracking simple binary yes/no tags because it’s the best way to accommodate custom data. Manual numeric values are a whole different kettle of fish and would be something we built separately I think, a long way into the future :)
I’d support Stuart on this wish. For instance now I have a tag called coffee which is virtually always tagged which means there is no variation even if I some days drink 7 cups of coffee and others only 3. Its hard to come up with a good cut-off point for what I should be tracking - coffee3+ or coffee5+. So custom tracking of interval data would be a great improvement - e.g. also if you want to track your blood pressure.
Sure, I totally understand that use case :) For some things custom tracking will not be a good fit.
I’ve made a suggestion for manual tracking of numeric values which may be RTYI: https://changemap.co/hellocode/exist/task/1828-manual-tracking-or-adding-numbers-to-custom-tags/
First, I love the custom tagging feature and super excited that you added it.
some things i would like to see in the future as possible are included below.
Custom Tagging tweaks,
I have found that there is a limit of 250 characters for creating tags in the mood tool. This limits a number of things that I would like to track. It would be nice to be able to track more than this limit.
It would be great to be able to select and deselect custom tags from the goals window.
It would be nice to be able to rename a tag but keep all the associated information. == I started tagging things that were common with the additional letter to indicate a “category” example. Med Trileptal With Med being the category and Trileptal being the medication. That way these things display next to each other and can be easily selected. Another example I used S = symptom so that S Cough, s runny nose is next to each other. however because I didn’t start with this process some tags aren’t associated.
Hey Shem, at least for #1 and #3 we are planning to implement these, just working out the best way to do so. For #2 I am thinking about letting you edit mood and tags from Goals, but the website is also due for a big redesign so this will probably happen at the same time.