Quantified Self: Android Apps for Self Tracking with Wearables and Health-Monitoring Devices

Abstract

Quantified Self is about measuring, tracking, and analyzing data of our body and our daily life. The data can cover very different aspects, for example, food consumption, vital signs, mood, expenses, daily routines, environmental information, etc. Today, gathering data with wearable devices are very common, such as wristbands. The data is used to monitor or manage personal health and other environmental data. One goal of Quantified Self is to gain knowledge about oneself. This talk explains motivations for self tracking, showcases available (wearable) sensors, and demonstrates some Android apps. The main technical focus of the talk is on connecting wearables and other devices to Android apps. We explain and demonstrate how to access data of a couple of devices (such as activity trackers, wireless weight scales or other sensors). We describe the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), which is a IoT/messaging protocol for connecting small devices, that we use for delivering push notifications on sensor data updates. Based on the health and self tracking apps, that we developed for Android, and on our productive MQTT push notification service, we share our experiences and recommendations for other App developers.