Honor Band 5 is the latest update to Honor’s fitness tracker lineup. It comes with a true color AMOLED display and support for additional watch faces and continuous heart rate monitoring, among others. More importantly, it falls into the affordable segment and won’t burn a hole in your pocket.
We’ve been using the Honor Band 5 for a while and explored it with a fine-toothed comb.
So if you’ve bought (or are considering getting) the Honor Band 5, here are some of the best tips and tricks for this band.
1. Get on the Move
Our sedentary lifestyle means we move less than before. And well, we all know the bad effects of physical inactivity. If you forget to go for a walk, welcome to the Honor Band 5’s Activity Reminder feature. As the name suggests, it will alert you when you’ve been inactive for more than an hour.
The only downside is that you can’t customize the timing. To activate it, tap the band icon in the upper right corner of the Huawei Health app’s homepage and toggle the Activity Reminder switch.
2. Notifications at Your Fingertips
Today, fitness bands track more than your fitness levels. Apart from keeping track of calories and step count, they also perform the basic task of keeping you informed about incoming messages and phone calls.
But as we all know, enabling notifications for all apps on your phone can have the opposite effect. The trick here is to strike the right balance.
To enable and disable notifications, go to Settings and select Notifications. Now all you have to do is toggle the switch for apps for your convenience.
3. Change Watch Faces
Honor Band 5 has rich and vibrant colors thanks to its full-color AMOLED display. And the 240 x 120 resolution means the colors blend beautifully and you won’t see individual pixels unless you watch closely.
So it only makes sense to take full advantage of digital watch faces. Yes, you read it right. From somber clocks to funky clock faces, it has it all.
To change watch faces, wake the band and go to More. Scroll down and tap Faces. Now you can browse faces by swiping up. After selecting one, simply tap on it. Then say hello to the new watch face.
Alternatively, you can tap and hold the home screen and switch to the Faces screen.
Pro Tip:
4. Use Low Brightness at Night
You may already know that Honor Band 5 lets you adjust the brightness of the screen. But did you also know that you can permanently reduce the screen brightness during the night?
If not, scroll down to More > Brightness and toggle the Low Brightness at Night switch.
5. Plan for DND
Do you want some time off? Simple. Schedule a DND time. This feature is useful when you do not want to receive notifications. Second, it helps if you’re a light sleeper like me, and the slightest sound of the phone wakes you up.
To schedule a DND time, go to Settings, tap the Do not disturb card and toggle the Schedule switch.
Enter the Start Time and End Time and that’s it. The good thing about this feature is that you can skip the ‘Raise wrist’ feature if you want.
6. Find Your Phone
Did you put the phone in the wrong place? Why not let the fitness tracker find your phone? When enabled, the paired phone plays a cute “I’m here” ringtone.
To enable it, go to More and then swipe up until you see Find phone.
Tap on it and your phone will ring almost instantly. The only thing you have to consider is that the phone must be near the band.
7. Set Smart Alarms
Is a light buzz on your wrist your idea of a good alarm? If your answer is yes, you will fall in love with Honor Band 5’s Smart Alarm. This band detects your sleep patterns and wakes you up when your sleep is the lightest within the prescribed time range.
For example, if you set the Smart alarm for 7 am, if the Smart wake time is 10 minutes, your watch will wake you up between 6:50 am and 7 am when you are the lightest sleeper. And you can set it to repeat on weekdays or specific weekdays.
Settings for Smart Alarms are under Band settings. Choose Alarm > Smart Alarm and select the time.
However, if you prefer to wake up at a fixed time, this option is hidden in Event Alerts.
8. Enable Sleep Monitoring
Similar to Honor Band 4, Honor Band 5 features Huawei’s TruSleep. As the name suggests, it helps you monitor and improve your sleep habits. Plus it dims the band’s screen to help you sleep better. And as you might guess, it’s not enabled by default.
Fortunately, you can easily enable it with the Band setting at the top. All you have to do is Huawei | True Sleep.
9. Customize Screens
Honor Band 5 defaults to Daily Tracking, Heart Rate, Workout, AliPay etc. Comes with functions. I’m sure the functions like Daily Tracking and Workout are essential for fitness trackers, you can do without special functions for AliPay or Message. Center, especially if you plan on using the band strictly as a fitness tracker.
To customize functions, go to Honor Band settings and select Function Customization. Now tap on the little cross next to the ones you want to remove.
You can also grab important functions and drag them to the top. Once done, tap the Save icon in the upper right corner.
Get the Most Out of Honor Band 5
Besides the above, Honor Band 5 also lets you connect to fitness apps like Google Fit. And when it comes to workout modes, the options are plentiful.
Also, with the Honor Band 5, resting or turning off the band is effortless. Just go to the System screen and you will find the options there. What I usually do is put the More screen at the end so I can swipe down from the home screen when I need it.
Next: Looking for more running accessories? Check out the post below to improve your training sessions.
