Engaging in more physical activity can be a great way to improve our overall health. Just by being more active, by doing simple things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or going for a walk instead of sitting down in front of the TV, we can become fitter and healthier.
All we need is a little bit of drive and the right mobile apps to guide us along the way. In order to track our movement we don’t really need to buy an additional fitness tracker. We’d have to always remember to carry it with us when we exercise, always remember to charge it, not to mention the financial aspect. Fitness trackers can be quite expensive, whereas the majority of apps come with free versions.
When it comes to iPhone walking apps we can opt for two types: apps that use GPS and apps that use the built-in motion processor. GPS-based apps offer the advantage of not only measuring, but also mapping our routes, but at the same time they’ll drain our batteries. On the other hand, those that take advantage of the iPhone’s built-in motion processor can track our activity with the minimum impact on our battery.
Here is a list of 10 walking apps for iPhone which you can effectively use to stay active and get in shape:
ActivityTracker
ActivityTracker is an easy-to-use iPhone app to track how much you walk. This is the right solution for your needs if you want to monitor your physical activity on a daily basis and still enjoy your phone’s battery (no GPS usage). The app can measure the steps taken, the distance walked, the flights of stairs climbed, the total active time and the amount of calories burned.
Not really excited about your walking workout? ActivityTracker helps you recharge your depleted motivation by allowing you to set achievable goals and to continuously monitor your progress. The app lets you set a weekly target and visualize 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, and receive notifications for target reached and half-reached.
With ActivityTracker you can see your hourly activity, as well as daily, weekly and monthly summaries of your progress. The app offers customizable widgets, a badge to see your daily step count directly over the app icon and the option to share on social networks your daily results. You can also import your entire history from Apple Health and sync steps between your iPhone, Apple Watch and the Health app.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $14.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Map My Walk
Map My Walk is a walking tracker app for iPhone users, which taps into the phone’s GPS. You can measure how much you’ve walked, your average speed, the calories burned, your elevation or the duration of your workout session. The app offers the opportunity to visualize your own walking route, to discover new places and paths suitable for walking and save your favorite ones.
Don’t let the name fool you, Map My Walk is not limited to walking. The app is designed to track more than 600 different sports and activities and provide in-depth analysis of every workout. You can set a personal fitness goal and receive audio feedback during your session so you can improve your performance. You can also share your progress on Facebook and Twitter and compete with other users by entering various challenges.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $29.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 14.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Walkmeter
Walkmeter is an advanced solution to track your walks. This feature-rich app places at your disposal everything you may need to analyze your exercise, from maps and graphs to splits, laps, intervals, zones and audio feedback. Walkmeter allows you to visualize your route on a map and automatically share with friends and family your location, path and fitness stats.
The app lets you select the type of workout you’re about to begin, whether it’s walking, running or hiking, and hear on-demand or at set intervals information about diverse fitness metrics, such as the distance, the active time, speed, pace, heart rate and more. You have the option to share online your workouts, analyze your activity on your iPad through iCloud and import/export your data using multiple formats.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $9.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 12.3 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Walkster
Walkster is a distance tracker app designed to help you reach various health and fitness goals through walking. Depending on your necessities, the app places at your disposal walking programs to lose weight, improve your fitness level, boost your energy or relieve stress. The programs are for both men and women, for all levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced) and include interval and non-interval training.
Walkster can work as a standard step counter, but also enables you to use GPS to map your walks and get extended data regarding your activity. You can set a daily step goal and track everything from your step count, to the duration, calories burned or pace during your workout sessions. Additionally the app lets you log your weight and see your progress in time. You can also analyze your fitness stats for each day, week, month and year.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $29.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 13.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Fitbit
Fitbit is an autonomous app which you can use regardless if you own a Fitbit tracker or not. Fitbit can be regarded as an all-in-one fitness app. It keeps track of your walking activity throughout the day in a detailed manner, but at the same time it can help you in numerous other ways. The app provides access to video and audio workouts, a sleep tracker to improve your sleep, a food tracker, as well as stress management and meditation tools.
Fitbit tracks your daily movement and lets you know about step count, distance covered, floors climbed and many other metrics. The app allows you to set your own goals, including a weight loss goal, and rewards your effort with achievement badges. To keep your motivation flying high, this comprehensive fitness app integrates the social factor. You can connect with your friends, take part in challenges, enter virtual races and share your results.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $79.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 15.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Outwalk
Outwalk was created to track two main metrics: the number of steps taken and the distance covered (walked, ran or jogged) each day, week, month and year. This app does not provide as many fitness stats and insightful reports as others do and therefore it’s not the most suitable for fitness-data enthusiasts. Instead it’s ideal if you’re looking to turn walking into a fun and social activity.
Outwalks’s strong point is the social element it embeds. The app gives you the opportunity to invite friends to walking races, to compete against each other, keep up-to-date with the progress made through the built-in chat and see who’s first on the daily, weekly and monthly leaderboards. You have also access to global rankings and see how much people all over the globe are walking. The app rewards your activity with numerous badges and lets you share your achievements on social media.
- Price: Free ($1.99 Remove Ads)
- Requirements: iOS 11.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Walk The Distance
Walk The Distance is a different kind of walking app, with a different structure. The app is designed to use your walking distance to take you on virtual walks across historical routes and sites. For example, you can walk the Appalachian Trail, the Yellowstone National Park, the Boston marathon, up and down the streets of Beverly Hills or take a stroll in New York’s Central Park.
Walk The Distance reads the distance walked or ran from Apple Health on an hourly basis, as well as from the Fitbit and Garmin apps and lets you know about your daily progress. If you don’t want to walk alone across trails or national parks, you can either walk with other users or only with your friends. To motivate you even more, the app will send a notification every time you get passed by friends along the way.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $29.99/year)
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Walker – Pedometer M7 – M16
As its name indicates it, Walker – Pedometer M7 – M16 takes advantage of the M7 – M16 motion processor in your iPhone to record your movement. The app is designed to monitor the steps taken, the distance covered, the calories burned or the entire time spent active. At the same time, it enables you to use GPS and track your walking route on a map.
Walker – Pedometer M7 – M16 can additionally record your weight, body fat and blood pressure, which makes it a suitable tool for weight loss management. The app can be integrated with Apple Health, offers a widget for a quick look at your progress and and lets you share your performances with friends and followers on popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
- Price: Free ($1.99 Remove Ads)
- Requirements: iOS 14.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Walk Workouts
Walk Workouts promises to help you lose weight by providing you with a tailored walking plan, based on your current fitness level. The app comes with a GPS route tracker and provides insight into a wide range of useful metrics, such as the pace or the calories burned during your workout. There’s also an option to see how much water you need to drink to stay hydrated.
The app offers tips on walking efficiently, lest you create your own playlist and motivates you to keep going with various audio-cues during your training sessions. Because exercising has to be combined with a healthy lifestyle to obtain optimal results, Walk Workouts helps you make smart food choices by providing a list of healthy meal plans. Additionally you can opt to get support from personal trainers.
- Price: Free (Subscription: $7.99/week)
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
Footsteps
Footsteps places at your disposal two alternatives to keep track of your physical activity. You can let the app automatically record your steps whenever it is running on your iPhone or you can group your activity into workouts. This way you’ll have the chance to start a walking workout whenever you want, to pause, reset or save it.
Footsteps enables you to customize your step length separately for walking and running and shows you individual counts for these two activities, as well as total counts. The app offers detailed stats, such as your total steps, steps/minute, total distance, current speed or calories burned per hour, and a history module where you can analyze your activity by time periods or workouts. You have the option to edit or delete your fitness data, as well as share it.
- Price: $1.99
- Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later
- Download Link: App Store
