How to Track Steps on iPhone and Apple Watch

You can track your steps at any time by opening the Activity app on your Apple Watch and using the digital crown to scroll down past your rings to the Steps screen. If this seems overly complicated, you can also just ask Siri, “How many steps have I walked today?” And Siri should respond by opening the same Steps screen in your Activity app.

If you don’t own an Apple Watch, don’t worry, you can get the same information from both the Fitness or the Health app on your iPhone. On the Summary screen when you open the Fitness app, you’ll see the amount of steps and the distance you’ve walked. In the Health app, you’ll find the number of steps you’ve walked displayed in Favourites.

Like on your Apple Watch, you can also ask Siri on your iPhone, “Siri, how many steps have I walked today?”

As an aside, if you are keeping track of your steps and maybe the calories you burn whilst you’re walking, it’s worth checking that your Health measurements are accurate. These details affect the accuracy of your data. You can adjust these measurements in the Fitness app by tapping your profile icon, in the top, right corner of the screen.

Personally I find Apple’s built-in apps are not ideal for the purpose of tracking your steps. Instead I recommend downloading a pedometer app from the App store. I spent the last couple of days testing three of them: Pedometer ++, StepsApp and Activity Tracker.

As you might have guessed these apps all basically do the same thing, which is to measure and display the steps you walk each day. They are all absolutely free, but do include premium subscriptions that unlock certain extra features. What I like about these apps, unlike Apple’s own apps, is that they all include home and lock screen widgets that will display your steps at a glance, without the need to open the app or ask Siri. Pedometer ++ and StepsApp also have an Apple Watch complication so you can see your steps on your watch face.

All of these features are available for free but my favourite of the apps I tested was StepsApp. I preferred the design of the interface and the fact it included widgets and complications in the free tier.

It ranked top in my test because you can also set daily step goals and you’ll receive notifications when you complete your goals. It also has a useful workout feature which will track where and how far you’ve walked. All available in the free tier.

My least favourite was Pedometer ++ because the interface, I felt, just looks very basic compared to the other two apps. Activity Tracker missed out because it didn’t include an Apple Watch complication and I think you can only set weekly goals rather than daily.

If you want to give StepsApp a try, download it from the App store. The first time you open the app, it will run through the setup and you’ll need to allow it access to your motion and fitness activity. It will then want to link to your Health app so it can pull your measurements to accurately measure your data. You don't have to do this but you’ll likely get more accurate results. You can choose what you want to share but I’ll turn on everything.

You’ll be asked to set a daily step goal, and whether you wish to receive notifications about reaching your goal. If you don’t wish to subscribe, just tap the X in the top left corner. At this point, if you have a watch, it will ask you permission to connect. If you think you’ll use the workout feature you can choose to turn on location services to view where you’ve walked.

Finally, you can import your existing data from your watch, to update the app. And that’s it, the app will automatically start tracking.

If you want to add the widget to your home screen, long press anywhere on your iPhone screen, until your icons start to jiggle. Tap on the plus and scroll down to StepsApp. Choose your widget from the list and tap Add Widget. Now lock your phone, to bring up the lock screen, and again long press to customise the lock screen. Tap on Add Widget below the time, and as before choose a StepsApp widget from the list. This will allow you to keep up to date with a simple glance of your phone.

If you own an Apple Watch, and wish to add the StepsApp complication to your watch face, open the apple watch app on your phone. Tap on the watch face you wish to edit and choose the location for your complication. Scroll through the list until you find StepsApp and choose from one of the options. And there we are. You can now track your steps on your Apple Watch and iPhone, and view how many steps you’ve walked with a quick glance of either your watch or your phone.

If you found this post useful, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel for lots of tips and tricks on all your favourite apps.