The information that you provide at the start of app is used by our algorithm to devise a personalised physical activity programme that should be set at the right level (intensity) for you. The plan is graduated for the first 12 weeks, that means the exercise time and intensity will gradually increase until you are meeting the recommended level of physical activity. From week 12 until week 104 you should be able to maintain this level of exercise.

Your weekly exercise prescription is available at the top of the screen on the ‘Plan’ tab, this is what you need to try and achieve on a weekly basis. If you scroll through this, you will see your prescription for total exercise minutes required at each intensity and also the total number of steps required. You will just have to achieve ONE of these to meet your daily goal.

The app will also set personalised health metrics for you to track on a weekly basis. This will provide good information about the effect that exercise is having on your health.

If you have any long-term conditions, you will be able to specifically target these – the app will provide condition specific advice and will let you know about the specific symptoms or precaution you must watch out for when exercising.

You will be able to decide what exercise you would like to do: You can exercise in real-time with the mobile app or Apple Watch App (we have GPS walking, cycling, running programme, gym based exercise, home aerobics videos), you can use the Workout function on your Apple Watch, or you can choose any type of exercise you wish.

If you have an Apple Watch, you can use the bespoke iPrescribe Exercise Apple Watch app (which should download automatically) to collect your activity data (see question below). If you do not have an Apple Watch, you can use your mobile phone only (and use the phone camera flash to check your heart rate when prompted).

No, you don’t need an Apple Watch to use the iPrescribe Exercise programme, however an Apple Watch will enhance the user’s experience by providing a more accurate estimate of the intensity of exercise (measured via continuous heart rate monitoring during your activity) and more seamless data capture. If you would like an Apple Watch Series 5, you will require an iPhone 6s or later (with iOS 13 or later). If you would like an Apple Watch series 3, you will require an iPhone 5s or later (with iOS 11 or later). If you are on an Earn Your Watch programme, you will have an Apple Watch as part of your plan.

Your activity will be recorded daily (both total exercise minutes recorded at each intensity level, and total step count) and will be shown as rings. You can earn 3 levels of points on a daily basis depending on how much of your exercise target you have completed: 0 points (59.9% or below), 4 points (60 – 79.9%), 7 points (80-99.9%), 10 points (100%). You will see this represented as 1 tick (4 points), 2 ticks (7 points) or 3 ticks (10 points) in your daily activity rings. At the end of the week, your ‘best days’ are added together (this will vary: If your prescription is for 3 days, we will count your 3 best days, if your prescription is for 5 days, we will count your 5 best days etc).

You will earn a gold badge if you complete 100% of your weekly activity target, a silver star if you complete 80% and a bronze star if you complete 60%.

Our programme is based on exercise intensity (low, moderate or high), which follows the medical guidelines for physical activity. Exercise intensity describes how hard you are working, or how hard you perceive the effort to be, and our algorithm will personalise this for you based on your age.

With low intensity aerobic exercise, you should notice only mild increases in heart rate and body temperature. You should be able to breathe easily and maintain a normal conversation during exercise. On an exertion scale you should be working in the range of 1 to 4 out of 10 (mild exertion). Your heart rate will be in the low intensity training zone.

Moderate intensity aerobic exercise is where you’re able to hold a conversation but can’t sing the words to a song. Your breathing is quicker and deeper and your heart beating faster but not racing. Your body is warming up, and you may break into a sweat. On an exertion scale you should be working in the range of 4 to 7 out of 10. your heart rate will be in the moderate intensity training zone.

High or vigorous intensity aerobic exercise is where your heart rate has increased significantly. You will be breathing hard and fast and you won’t be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath. On an exertion scale you should be working in the range of 7+ out of 10 (extreme exertion). With high intensity exercise, you can reduce the total time that you exercise per week. Your heart rate will be in the high intensity training zone.

The programme will measure your heart rate (either via a connected Apple Watch during your workout or with your phone’s camera flash immediately after exercise) and will convert that to an exercise intensity training zone – low, moderate or high. If your heart rate reading is below the minimum requirement for low intensity (47% of your maximum heart rate or below), then this is too low and will not be recorded. If you are using an Apple Watch, our iPrescribe Exercise Apple Watch app will tell you what intensity level you are working at throughout your exercise session. If you are using a mobile only programme, your heart rate that is measured after your exercise will tell you if you have been working in the correct intensity training zone.

The programme will also ask you to record your RPE, which is your rating of perceived exertion. This is a validated measure and is another way to assess exercise intensity. It is measured on a scale of 1 to 10 immediately after exercise. The app will tell you if your RPE is in the correct training zone for your prescribed exercise.

If you have a good starting health profile, or if your fitness has improved, you will be given the option to do either moderate or high intensity exercise (which follows medical guidelines). The app will record each separately, but both will count towards your final totals.

At the start of the programme, we asked you for permission to access HealthKit (if you have an iPhone) or Google Fit (if you are an android user). Your phone tracks your step count in the background every day and stores the information in HealthKit/Google Fit, so it is worth keeping your phone in your pocket to ensure this data is as accurate as possible. If you have an Apple Watch, this will also provide your daily step count and the app will take the information from there instead.

Tracking your health metrics will show the effect that exercise is having on your health. We know that exercise is incredibly beneficial for your physical and mental health but we want to show you exactly what is happening. We ask everyone to track 4 core health metrics on a weekly basis: Resting heart rate, blood pressure, weight (which provides a BMI score) and abdominal circumference – don’t worry if you are not able to complete all of this, please complete what you can (for example if you do not have an accessible blood pressure monitor). These health metrics give a good indication about your overall health and more specifically can give an indication of your risk for conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. We will tell you what your score is, what this means, and what the ideal range is for each metric.

The app also has a range of health metrics that are automatically selected depending on your inputs during the on-boarding process e.g. we will ask you to record your blood sugars if you have indicated that you have diabetes, or the app will ask you to record your mood if you have indicated that you would like to improve this.

The 6-minute walk test is a medically validated test which provides a good indication of your current function. Using GPS, the app will record how far (in metres) you can walk outdoors in 6 minutes, it’s as simple as that. Whilst it’s not compulsory, we do recommend that you complete the test at the start of the programme, and then every six weeks – your app will prompt you when it is time to repeat the test.

You will be able to view all of your health and fitness data in graph form in the ‘My Heath’ tab at the bottom of the main screen. You will be able to select any (or all) of your health metrics to view and then export as a report via email to a health or fitness professional (or anyone else that you’d like!).

This is fully set out in our Privacy Policy, however, here is a brief run-down. At iPrescribe Exercise, we are only interested in getting our users more active to improve their health and we will only use your data to help this goal. We realise that we hold personal exercise and health data and we are serious in treating this with the utmost sensitivity. What does this mean?

• If your employer is subsidising your Earn Your Watch programme, we will not pass them any personal and identifiable exercise or health data. They will get some anonymised and aggregated data.

• We will only share your personal exercise and health data with the health or fitness professional (eg doctor) that refers you on to the programme and then only with your express permission which you can withdraw at any point. This will allow them to monitor your progress and support you and will be treated by them like any other confidential medical records they hold on you.

• If you are on the Earn Your Watch programme, will share some information with the Storefront to allow you to efficiently choose the right Apple Watch for you. The Storefront will have no access to your exercise and health data.

• If you are on the Earn Your Watch programme, will share your monthly exercise points information with PayBreak (Afford It Now) so that they can correctly reduce your monthly payments in line with the exercise goals you have met. PayBreak will have no access to your exercise and health data.

• We will not pass personalised, identifying data on to any other third party (unless required by law) and we won’t use it to target you with advertising.

• We and selected partners may use fully anonymised and aggregated data to show the benefits of exercise and to refine the iPrescribe Exercise programme.

• For more information see our Privacy Policy

Once you open your Apple Watch, follow the instructions to pair with your mobile phone. The iPrescribe Exercise Apple Watch app should be available on your watch automatically. If it does not, you will need to open the Apple Watch app on your phone, scroll down to apps available, then select iPrescribe Exercise.

In order to capture the most accurate heart rate data, you should be using the iPrescribe Exercise watch app to record your activity. If the iPrescribe Exercise Apple Watch app is not open, your Watch will still provide your exercise heart rate, however it does will not check heart rate as often.

If you are not on the Earn Your Watch programme, you will be able to restart the programme by clicking on the ‘More’ tab, and then selecting ‘Restart Plan’.

Don’t worry if you have stopped exercising, you can start again at any time – we would recommend that you begin whenever you feel able to. If you are finding things quite hard and would like to reduce the exercise programme to a more achievable level, see below.

If you are not on an Earn Your Watch programme, you can scroll back to a week that is easier and select to start your programme from that week instead.

If you are using your mobile phone, please select ‘Record Activity’ on the ‘Plan’ tab. You can either exercise in real time (select ‘Live Track Activity’), or if you are not on an Earn Your Watch programme, you can select ‘Log Previous Activity’ straight after the activity has finished – this will allow you to capture your post exercise heart rate and also record your RPE. If you are using an Apple Watch, you can select from the list of activities after you press the ‘Record Activity’ button.

Your weekly exercise prescription is available at the top of the screen on the ‘Plan’ tab, this is what you need to try and achieve on a weekly basis. If you scroll through this, you will see your prescription for total exercise minutes required at each intensity and also the total number of steps required. You will just have to achieve ONE of these to meet your daily goal.

Your activity will be recorded daily (both total exercise minutes recorded at each intensity level, and total step count) and will be shown as rings. You can earn 3 levels of points on a daily basis depending on how much of your exercise target you have completed: 0 points (59.9% or below), 4 points (60 – 79.9%), 7 points (80-99.9%), 10 points (100%). You will see this represented as 1 tick (4 points), 2 ticks (7 points) or 3 ticks (10 points) in your daily activity rings. At the end of the week, your ‘best days’ are added together (this will vary: If your prescription is for 3 days, we will count your 3 best days, if your prescription is for 5 days, we will count your 5 best days etc). The app will then award you 5 levels of discount off your weekly payment amount depending on the total points awarded: 0%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%. At the end of the month, the app will calculate the total amount that you will need to pay (if any), and will also show you the total amount that your organisation will pay. The app will then send this information directly to the credit company, who will arrange payment. This information is available to view at any time on the ‘Rewards’ tab so you will be able to keep track of your monthly payment at all times.

After you have inputted your data at the start of the app and have been told that the app has generated a programme for you, you will be directed to the ‘Rewards’ tab where you will be instructed to choose your Apple Watch. This will take you to the Apple Approved storefront where you will see the watches available as part of your plan. This will also link directly to the credit facility (which is linked with your organisation) and once you have been approved for credit you will be able to complete the purchase.

The monthly payment required is automatically sent directly from the app to the credit company, who will then know how much they will have to charge your organisation.

The iPrescribe Exercise programme prescribes a number of days during each week that you need to complete exercise. This could be 3, 4 or 5 days (after 12 weeks it will always be 5 days). We only take points from the best 3,4 or 5 days (depending on how many days are prescribed that week). The App will still record the exercise which you complete on other days it just won’t count towards your Earn Your Watch points.

iPrescribe Exercise gives you a weekly exercise programme and goals to meet. However, the Earn Your Watch payments are spread out evenly over 24 months (which you can reduce by meeting your exercise goals). The cut-off point for exercise goals to count towards that month’s payment is the 15th of each month. We only take exercise totals from weeks which have been fully completed on or before the 15th of each month. This means that each month will contain either 4 or 5 fully completed weeks and therefore lead to the monthly payment being divided between 4 or 5 weeks.

For example, if your monthly payment is £10;

• A 4 week month would mean you could earn £2.50 each week by meeting your exercise goals.
• A 5 week month would mean you could earn £2.00 each week by meeting your exercise goals.

If you are having any technical problems with your watch please log onto your storefront account (on the iPrescribe Exercise app, go to the ‘More’ tab, and then click on ‘Digital Health Partners’). You will be able to access their returns process directly from here.

If you are having any problems with your credit account please log onto your credit account (on the iPrescribe Exercise app, go to the ‘More’ tab, and then click on ‘PayBreak’). You will be able to access any support directly from here.

If you have a credit agreement in place, this is a 2-year term so you will need to continue with your payments for the watch. If you are working for an organisation who is subsidising your watch, and you are about to leave, please speak to your local HR officer for advice about stopping the programme.

All payments are taken on the 1st of the month – this means that if you start your programme at any other point during the first month, your first payment will be a part payment. The app will calculate your monthly payment on the 15th of each month, and will send the information to the credit company in time for payment on the 1st.