RunKeeper steps into all-day health tracking with its new Breeze app

If you’re interested in dabbling in health tracking, but aren’t ready to commit to a dedicated fitness gadget, RunKeeper’s newest app could be just what you need.

The free Breeze app, launching on the iPhone 5S today, tracks your steps all day and alerts you to simple ways to live a healthier life.

For RunKeeper, which is best known for its running and fitness tracking app (also called RunKeeper), Breeze gives it a way to engage consumers throughout the entire day — not just when they choose to exercise.

“The big misconception out there is that the small decisions you make during the day don’t count,” RunKeeper founder and CEO Jason Jacobs said in an interview. Breeze is the company’s attempt to shift that mentality.

Since the app has access to your activity data and location, it can offer up some useful insights throughout the day to encourage you to move more. Breeze also gives you a recap of your past day’s performance every morning, which could potentially affect how you tackle the day, and it gives you constant alerts throughout the day to keep you motivated.

Breeze relies on the M7 coprocessor in the iPhone 5S, so it’s able to track your movements without using up battery life. Unfortunately, that also means the app is only compatible with the iPhone 5S at the moment, not older models. It joins other apps from Moves and Fitbit which also use Apple’s M7 processor for daily activity and health tracking.

Breeze is visually rich and easy to use, which could make it appealing to health-tracking newbies. Upon first launching the app, I was surprised to find that it already had my movement data from the past few days (the M7 processor automatically tracks your steps and keeps the data on file for apps to use). The app also doesn’t require any registration to use, although eventually it will tie into your RunKeeper account, if you have one.

The app’s main screen simply tells you how many steps you’ve taken that day. You can also tap the top of the screen to see step counts from past days (which are overlayed on top of striking images).

While Breeze is fairly basic at the moment, Jacobs tells me the company plans to add some smart capabilities down the line. Eventually, Breeze could suggest for you to make a one-on-one meeting a walking session, or it could prompt you for the ideal time to start walking to an upcoming meeting. Breeze could end up being a lot like Google Now, except with a fitness bent.