An Android Wear smartwatch can be a great asset. Due to its multiple capabilities, this modern device can be of use in various ways. Depending on your watch model, you can answer and make calls, receive useful notifications, make payments or play and control audio. At the same time, a smartwatch, paired with a pedometer app, can be used to track your daily physical activity.
By monitoring your movement you can discover useful info, such as how many steps you take or how many calories you burn, and hence make changes to your routine to become more active. Concurrently, this is an effective method to not wander off from your fitness goals, to stay committed to your plan and gain a sense of accomplishment once you’ve reached your target.
If you’re looking to track your daily fitness progress from your wrist, then keep on reading. Below we’ve compiled a list of five Wear OS apps you can use to see how active you are during the day.
ActivityTracker
ActivityTracker is an easy-to-use step tracker app for Wear OS. The app records your physical activity automatically with the aid of the built-in motion sensors in your device (no GPS). Therefore it won’t affect your battery. The Watch app comes with numerous Complications to choose from and provides info about your step count, calorie burn or distance covered. You can visualize an overview of your daily activity, hourly stats including your active minutes, as well a summary of your past week.
To help you stay on the right track, ActivityTracker enables you to set a weekly target and shows a daily goal based on that target. You’re free to set your target for the metric that’s most relevant to your needs, whether it’s steps, calories or distance. The app keeps you updated by providing progress notifications for target reached and half-reached. There are also daily and weekly notifications, as well as options to save or move your data to another device or import your history from Google Fit.
ActivityTracker offers an app badge so you can see your step count directly on the app icon and allows you to share your daily stats on social media.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $9.99/year)
- Download on Play Store
Google Fit
Developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association, Google Fit comes with an innovative activity goal called Heart Points. You get one such point if you go for a faster walk and two points if you take things to a higher level, such as for instance going for a run. You can set your own daily goal for Heart Points and Steps and track your progress directly on your Android watch. Additionally you can monitor other useful metrics, such as the calories burned, distance covered or move minutes.
Google Fit gives you the possibility to start, pause and stop a workout from your smartwatch. You can choose between walking, running, biking, dancing, strength training, yoga or numerous sports. During your session, you can enable audio cues and see diverse fitness stats, including your heart rate. If you want to learn more about your overall health, you have an option to sync Google Fit with other apps and devices. For example, you can connect it with apps like Lifesum and MyFitnessPal to improve your nutrition or with Sleep as Android to track your sleep.
- Price: Free
- Download on Play Store
Map My Walk
Map My Walk is a GPS-based alternative designed to help you stay physically active. The app enables you to select from an impressive range of activities, including walking, running or cycling, and start and end a workout directly on your wrist. While training, you can receive audio coaching tips and progress updates in real-time regarding your current pace, the duration of your workout, the distance or the calories burned.
The app helps you find nearby places adequate for walking, save them and share them with other walking enthusiasts. Speaking of others, Map My Walk boasts a huge community of fitness enthusiasts. You have the opportunity to find friends and athletes from all over the world, engage in motivating challenges and share your results on popular social networks. The app provides a review, with detailed stats, of each training session and lets you connect with other apps and wearables such as Garmin and Fitbit.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $5.99/month)
- Download on Play Store
Outwalk
Outwalk is a social step counter app for Android Wear watches. Unlike the previously-mentioned apps, which offer numerous fitness tracking features, this one is much simpler. More precisely, you can keep track of only two metrics: the number of steps taken and the distance walked, jogged or ran. Outwalk integrates with Google Fit to gather data about your step count and distance from various sources, including third-party apps and fitness trackers.
The distinctive feature of this app is the fact that it turns walking into a social activity. Outwalk gives you the possibility to connect with your friends, start walking races, support or tease each other through the built-in chat and see who’s the best in the daily, weekly and monthly leaderboards. You can see your current position, as well as your fitness stats on your phone or directly on your wrist via the Watch Complication. If you want to have an overview of your progress, the app offers detailed report graphs for your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activity.
- Price: Free (In-app purchases: $1.99)
- Download on Play Store
C25K
This is not your classic pedometer app. No, this is aimed at those who want to take things to the next level. C25K is designed to help users take the plunge and go from couch potatoes to 5K runners in just 8 weeks. The app focuses on well-structured programs, created to help you gradually get in shape. There are 3 training sessions per week, each with a set duration of 30 minutes, for 8 weeks.
The C25K programs combine short bursts of walking with running, so you can progressively increase your strength and energy. The app places at your disposal numerous fitness stats for each training session, including how many steps you’ve taken, the distance covered, the calories burned or the duration of your workout. You can integrate the app with popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and listen to your favorite tracks to boost your performance.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $9.99/month)
- Download on Play Store
