Remember when the most important job a phone had to do was make calls? That feels like a long time ago. There may well be a generation of people who never even had that association, especially with mobile phones.It is not clear what purpose is ultimately served by this enormous data collecting effort. It may not require a well-defined purpose beyond the fact that we love to do it. And smartphone makers are packing ever more sensors into these devices to make recording every moment of our lives even easier. Here are some of the ways your smartphone can help you become an even better life-logger.Smartphone are packing more sensors to make recording every moment of our lives.Here are some of the ways Logging on Your Phone.
These days, mobiles are not just for emergency contact. It is getting harder to find a mobile phone that is not a smartphone. These are pocket computers that power our entertainment, productivity, calendar, navigation, and messaging.
Just when you think you know what smartphones are for, something new redefines them. One of the best descriptions of what smartphones have to offer is life-logging. It is the practice of recording and archiving data about everything associated with one’s life.
Financial Logging
One of the reasons you want to be sure and pick up one of those cases for iPhone Xs is that your phone keeps a log of all your financial transactions. The free app from your bank keeps better financial records than you ever could with a paper ledger.
Damaging your phone means entrusting a repair person to your financial data, past, and present. You don’t want to do that if you can avoid it.
Moreover, your phone is not just a financial record, it is your wallet full of credit cards. If you use Apple Pay, it is your credit card. It is your investment portfolio and your monthly budget. You can’t buy an espresso without it being logged by some app on your phone. The best finance apps of 2018 await your input.
Travel Logging
Vacation photos are more than just a thing we do to fill time when on a long trip. Photos represent the primary way we do travel logging. You are doing more than making a record of where you went and what you did. You are also attempting to capture how you felt. When you revisit that photographic memory, you also want to revisit the emotion of the moment.
That dual-lens camera on your new phone does not just take a snap of your food. It reminds you of the tastes and aromas. That picture of an old cathedral is not just a record of architecture. It is a reminder of the awe that overtook you.
Modern smartphones allow you to take selfies at a quality that once required a studio. But those cameras are not there to remind you of what you look like. They exist to remind you of where you’ve been.
Health Logging
The altimeter is not on your $1,000 phone to inform you of how high above sea-level you are. It is there to better log your exercise. Walking uphill burns more calories than walking on a flat surface. You should get all the credit you deserve for every flight of stairs you take instead of the elevator.
Smartphones do more than track your health metrics. Smartphones log them for future reference. Your doctor can view the log of your blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, and heart rate. Because of persistent cloud services, these metrics can live on your phone for years regardless of how many new phones you have in that time.
Devices like the Apple Watch track your breathing, the amount of standing versus sitting you do, and the amount of intentional exercise you do. Whether or not you request it, the watch will even log the amount of walking you do over time.
By now, the internet is full of stories of how these devices have saved lives. And while life-saving may not be the ultimate purpose of life-logging, it is an undeniably great benefit. With the right software and services, your smartphone can be your life-logging partner by keeping better track of your finances, your travel, and your health.
