In order to stay in shape you don’t necessarily have to engage in high-intensity activities. A simple exercise like walking is enough as long as you stick to it. Walking on a daily basis can help you stay fit and improve your overall health.
Using a pedometer app on your Apple Watch to track your walks can help you in various ways. This is a great way to discover how much you’re moving during the day, to set fitness goals and find the motivation to stay active. Don’t know which one to choose? Take a look at the list below and discover which app suits your needs.
ActivityTracker
ActivityTracker is a detail-rich step counter app for Apple Watch. This app uses the motion coprocessor to automatically track your physical activity (no GPS) and provides directly on your Watch stats about relevant fitness metrics, such as the number of steps, calories burned, distance walked or active time. You can see stats for each hour of activity, for the entire day and for the last seven days. You can choose from multiple Complications, depending on your preferences, and also sync steps between your iPhone, Watch and Apple Health.
To motivate you to sit less and walk more, ActivityTracker gives you the possibility to set a weekly target and shows you a daily goal based on that target. You can set the target not only for steps, but also for the distance covered and the calories burned. To stimulate you even more to be active, the app offers the opportunity to attend in-app events and take part in monthly challenges. You can easily visualize your daily, weekly and monthly totals and share with others the progress made each day.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $6.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 11.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Pedometer++
Pedometer++ is the oldest app in the App Store that uses the motion coprocessor in your iPhone to monitor your daily movement. The app can keep track of all the important metrics, from the number of steps taken to the floors climbed. You can visualize the daily stats by opening the iPhone app, directly from the Today widget or from your Apple Watch.
Speaking of the Apple Watch, Pedometer++ comes with a multitude of Complications so you can choose how to see your daily step count on your wrist. The Watch app lets you select your type of workout, whether it’s an indoor walk or outdoor hike or run. You can also activate GPS to receive more stats about your workout and to see your route on a map. To boost your walking motivation, you can set a daily step goal and enter monthly challenges.
- Price: Free (IAP from $0.99 to $4.99)
- Requirements: iOS 12.2 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Argus
Argus is a health and fitness app designed with multiple features. You can use it for various purposes, including for monitoring your daily movement. The app offers a classic pedometer feature that promises to track your steps with a minimum impact on the battery, thanks to its ultra-low battery usage technology. At the same time you have the option of activating the GPS and hence recording other outdoor activities, such as running, climbing or cycling.
A cool feature are the step challenges. Argus gives you the opportunity to invite friends to take part in fun competitions and see who takes the most steps. You can see directly on your Watch your daily step count, as well as your position in the rankings. You can log different activities and see diverse stats, including the distance walked, the active time or your cadence. Additionally you can keep track of your meals and calorie intake, set weight loss goals or monitor your sleep patterns.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $9.99/month)
- Requirements: 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Stepz
Stepz is a simple solution to count steps on Apple Watch. The app is designed to make you move more throughout the day by setting a personal step goal. You can view your progress on an hourly basis, and also analyze totals for your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activity. There’s no GPS usage, which means that the influence on your battery is kept to a minimum level.
Stepz tracks automatically your activity and displays on your Apple Watch various metrics, such as your step count, the distance walked or calories burned. You can import your entire history from Apple Health, connect with your friends and family for extra motivation and share your fitness progress on social media.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $0.99/week)
- Requirements: iOS 11.2 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Track My Steps
Track My Steps is another alternative defined by simplicity. The interface is clean and intuitive, with a focus on the number of steps. The tracking of your physical activity is automatic, carried out with the aid of the built-in motion sensors. Practically, all you have to do is set your own step goal and start walking.
The Apple Watch app maintains the same ease of use. You can see directly on your wrist how many steps you’ve taken and how many you’ve got left until you reach your daily goal, as well as stats regarding the distance covered, calories burned and active time. At the same time you can take a look at your step count for the last week. There’s also an option to share your progress on popular social networks.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $9.99/month)
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
HealthView
If you want to see relevant info regarding your fitness level and overall health, but are not a fan of Apple Health’s design and usability, this one might be an interesting alternative. HealthView collects data from the Health app and displays it in a clear, uncluttered manner. Moreover, unlike Apple Health, it gives you the possibility to customize what fitness data you see and how you see it.
HealthView comes with a Complication and an independent app for Apple Watch and gives you the opportunity to configure the data sets you wish to visualize. The list is really extensive, given the fact that Apple Health can be synched with numerous fitness apps. You can keep track of the steps taken, the distance walked, the stand hours, as well as receive info about your walking heart rate, body fat or hydration level.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $0.99/month)
- Requirements: iOS 11.2 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Outwalk
Outwalk is an app centered around two main fitness metrics: steps and distance. This can be a great alternative if you wish to see strictly how much you walk in a day, week, month or year. The app is not for you in case you’re interested in an in-depth analysis of your daily physical movement or wish to monitor multiple fitness metrics.
What makes Outwalk stand out is its social component. The app allows you to invite friends, to take part in walking competitions and see who’s the most active. You can see directly on your Watch not only your individual progress, but also how your friends are advancing throughout the day. There are also available daily, weekly and monthly leaderboards which you can share if you’re proud of your position.
- Price: Free ($1.99 Remove Ads)
- Requirements: iOS 10.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Duffy
Duffy was conceived when iOS developer Patrick Rills noticed you have to dig deep into the Activity app on your Apple Watch in order to discover your daily step count. You can use Duffy just as a steps Complication, but you can also use it as an independent Watch app.
Besides the number of steps, the app for Apple Watch allows you to see the distance walked and the floors climbed. You can access stats for the current day and also for the past week. To stay motivated, you can set a daily goal and receive a notification on your wrist the moment you reach it. It’s worth mentioning that Duffy is entirely free and doesn’t contain ads. You’re welcome though to tip the developer via in-app purchases.
- Price: Free (Tips: $0.99 – $4.99)
- Requirements: iOS 11.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
StepDog
If you’re looking for a different approach to exercising and you love pets, this one might suit your needs. StepDog is a virtual pet (dog or cat, depending on your preferences) on your Apple Watch and iPhone that can help you move more during the day and hence become fitter and healthier.
What do you have to do? Well, it’s simple: walk your virtual pet on a daily basis in order to reach your step goal. Once you’ve reached that goal, the pet will fall asleep. The app offers the possibility to select the desired breed and watch straight from your wrist how the dog walks, runs, eats and sleeps. To make things more fun, you can enter local competitions and earn a gold medal for your activity.
- Price: Free (IAP: $0.99 – $1.99)
- Requirements: iOS 14.1 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Pedometer Plus
Our final proposal, Pedometer Plus is a basic Apple Watch step counter. The design is rather scarce, therefore don’t expect modern report graphs or advanced charts. The app reads activity data from Apple Health and displays it in an elementary way on your iPhone and Watch.
You can see diverse metrics like the number of steps, the distance covered, your pace or the flights of stairs climbed for the current day and the last seven days. You can also set a daily step goal and adjust it as you wish.
- Price: Free
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
