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Microsoft Band
February 18, 2016

Microsoft Band gets social, updates for golf, Guided Workouts and more



We’re committed to continuously offering new Microsoft Band experiences that help you achieve your fitness goals, and this month is no exception! A handful of updates will start rolling out to Microsoft Band users today, and continue over the coming days.

A woman using Microsoft Band while biking.

And, for some fun and encouragement to get to those goals, because we know accountability is a great motivator for reaching that next level, we’ve made a few tweaks to the Microsoft Band’s sharing experience, making it even easier to earn your friends’ congratulations—or envy—when you share your best activity summaries on Facebook, Twitter and in email or text messages. After a calorie-blasting workout, epic bike ride or the best night’s sleep you can remember, share a snapshot of your summary. Your friends can click through to a public dashboard that includes even more of your impressive stats.

Golf like a pro with Tournament Mode

With spring around the corner, grab your clubs and turn on our newest functionality, Tournament Mode for Golf. An option right on your new Microsoft Band, Tournament Mode for Golf will allow you to play a round while sticking to United States Golf Association rules for competitive play. The band will still track your round of play and your health activity, but hide your step count, distance and heart rate during your round, then have a summary waiting for you in the Microsoft Health app and dashboard upon completion.

A man using Microsoft Band on a golf course.

Track your distance with Guided Workouts

Whether you’re training for a 5k or half-marathon, or just want to map your distance biked within a Guided Workout, now you can! We enhanced the Guided Workout experience for Microsoft Band with the ability to now track your distance. You’ll get a notification when you reach a distance goal during a Guided Workout that includes running, walking or biking, and the display shows your distance decrease as you move. That, and you can train indoors or out—your Microsoft Band will track your distance with the pedometer if you don’t have GPS activated.

Connect to Cortana

As many of you learned earlier this year, our US users can now connect Microsoft Health account to Cortana. Once connected, Cortana will show your activity progress from your band, including steps and calories, and provide comparisons to the day prior. Whether you’re using a Windows 10 device or Cortana on iOS or Android, you can keep up with your progress easily. Read more about how to connect your Microsoft Health account to Cortana here.

Get out there and have fun!

Whether you’re looking for new ways to reach your fitness goals, stay on top of your golf game, or remain connected with friends and have fun, the new Microsoft Band has you covered.

Share your best run, ride, exercise or even sleep, with some new and improved social sharing capabilities – and check out our new Golf and Guided Workouts enhancements.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you!