For those just catching up, Microsoft is being extremely, politically cautious about coming clean on whether or not it will ever produce new hardware for its Microsoft Health platform. According to reports, there will be no Band 3 announced this year, and depending on how the market looks next year, might never be whispered in the halls of Redmond ever again. So, let’s just call this what it is: a “soft exit” from the market.
Those Microsoft Band customers who have stuck with the device through thick and thin (rip and tear) may now be wondering what might happen to all the data collected by the wearable and stored in Microsoft’s cloud Health service. I’ve always been a proponent of utilizing some of the 3rd party connections Microsoft allows, just for this eventuality. Microsoft Health offers connections to services like Strava, MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, and a couple others. During my original testing, I found MapMyFitness to be the perfect backup plan for me.
So, for those who will be moving on to a different manufacturer device and don’t want to lose their Microsoft Health history, do this:
1. Connect Microsoft Health to one of the 3rd party providers to allow them to start storing your newly accumulated data. The data will still be available in the Microsoft Health dashboard, but will now be backed up and stored in additional location and exist in both locations.
2. In the Microsoft Health web dashboard, click on your profile picture in the top right and choose to export your data. Using this export file you can import all of your Microsoft Band history to the 3rd party provider you’ve chosen.
The major fitness wearable manufacturers all connect to and work with the same 3rd party providers that Microsoft allows for its Health platform (I use MapMyFitness with my Garmin Fenix 3 HR), so you won’t even miss a beat (or step, or pedal) when you switch.
