Image source: PAI Health

Garmin no longer wishes to integrate with PAI health

Garmin is pulling support for PAI. From February 10th 2021 the PAI Health app will no longer support devices that work through Garmin Connect.

For those not in the know, PAI stands for Personal Activity Intelligence. The aim is to get you to be active. But instead of steps as a metric, it looks at how hard your heart is beating.

This means it takes into account all your physical activity. The aim is to keep the PAI index above 100. Third-party studies have confirmed that keeping your score high will add years to your life.

A number of wearable manufacturers have integrated PAI into their offering. Huami is one of these. The PAI score features prominently on all of their wearables. It provides an easy way to understand how active you really are. It’s cross-platform, free and transparent. There’s lots to like.

Garmin pulls support for PAI

Garmin, on the other hand, has not integrated the metric into its wearables. But you could access the score by connecting your Garmin via the PAI Health app. Until now.

Garmin no longer wishes to integrate with PAI health

The information came via an email to those registered on the PAI Health platform. It is not really clear why Garmin has made this decision. The metric represents an easy to understand alternative to Garmin’s Training Status.

It might have something to do with its acquisition of Firstbeat Analytics. The Finnish-based outfit has something called Physical Activity Score. Perhaps Garmin will be looking to push this metric to its wearables.

Garmin no longer wishes to integrate with PAI health
Physical Activity Score | Image source: Firstbeat Analytics

Like PAI it also adopts a points-based system that uses your heart rate to assess how hard you are working. But the Physical Activity Score looks at your activity level and compares it to your current fitness level. The fitter you are the more you’ll need to do to achieve a high score. The goal is to get to 100 points at least 5 days per week. All of this is based on ACSM guidelines.

It will be interesting to follow how this develops. Is Garmin looking to push another metric instead of PAI? It wouldn’t surprise us. Garmin is bound to make more use of Firstbeat metrics now that the company is under its wing.

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Marko Maslakovic

Marko founded Gadgets & Wearables in 2014, having worked for more than 15 years in the City of London’s financial district. Since then, he has led the company’s charge to become a leading information source on health and fitness gadgets and wearables.

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