If you want to keep track of all your physical activity throughout a day, it is not strictly necessary to have an Apple Watch on your wrist. The iPhone itself can act as a pedometer without the need for third-party applications or accessories such as the smart watch. In this article we tell you how you can use the iPhone to easily track your steps.
Activate step collection on iPhone
The iPhone includes different sensors such as a gyroscope or an accelerometer, but it was not until the arrival of the iPhone 5s that they were given enough use. From this model, a dedicated chip was integrated to be able to collect all the information from these sensors to offer us data about our health. The operating system has the ability to analyze all this data to show us in number the steps that have been taken and even the floors raised. Obviously you must authorize within the privacy options that this type of data is collected in order for it to be registered in the Health application.
To allow iPhone to record the number of steps you take, simply follow these steps:
- On the iPhone go to Settings.
- Go to Privacy.
- Look for the option that says ‘Physical Activity’ .
- Make sure you have ‘Sports tracking’ activated.
- Make sure you are authorizing the ‘Health’ application in this settings section to be able to collect all this data.
From that moment on, your iPhone will be collecting data on your movements. This way you can determine how many plants you have climbed and also the number of steps you have taken. All this does not require any type of external accessory such as Apple Watch, nor third-party applications. You will have in your possession an authentic pedometer that works with enough precision, although obviously everything will depend on where you carry your iPhone. If you expect an accuracy similar to that you have with an Apple Watch, you will be a little disappointed. But the result is quite indicative to know if you have walked in a day enough or you have to keep trying a little more.
Check the number of steps in Health
The native application Salud is in charge of collecting all the data to show us the specific number of steps or floors that have been climbed. To be able to make this query you simply have to follow the following route:
- Access ‘Health’.
- At the bottom click on ‘Explore’.
- Go to the ‘Activity’ section.
In this section you will see the steps you have taken as well as the floors you have uploaded. You also have access to all the information that your Apple Watch registers and that is much richer. At any time you can decide if one of these information panels you want to appear on the main page of the application. Simply go to the panel options and click on ‘Add to favorites’ . At the moment it will appear in the ‘summary’ tab that you have at the bottom.
As you can see, it is really easy to have a real pedometer in your possession without spending extra money on applications or accessories. This can be used to motivate you on a daily basis to do much more exercise and take more fruitful walks to reach the record of 10,000 daily steps.
