If you’re into walking, a step-counting app is a fantastic way to track your activity levels. However, there are things you might not want to happen.
Walking is one of the easiest and most effective forms of exercise. It requires no special skills or equipment and is suitable for most people. With advancements in technology, gone are the days when you had to guess your steps, the distance you covered, or the calories you burned—pedometers do that for us today. However, downloading a pedometer app on your smartphone has several advantages and disadvantages that you might not expect.
The good stuff
Improved heart health, a sharper mind, stronger joints, better flexibility, and quality sleep are just some of the well-known benefits of walking. If you want to get into walking, a step-counting app (pedometer) is a fantastic way to track your activity levels. Most apps are available for free, and several advantages of pedometer apps are frequently mentioned.
- Encourages Activity:
Nearly all pedometer apps automatically calibrate your daily step goals based on your settings. Some even reward your walking habits with encouraging messages. - Tracks Calories, Distance, and Time:
After being active for a while, you can monitor your progress and review your results through various graphs and tables. They work using the phone’s built-in GPS or accelerometer, which interprets movement as steps. Many pedometer apps also calculate the distance you’ve covered, the time spent in activity, and estimate the calories burned. Some apps even include data on how much water you’ve consumed and the number of stairs you’ve climbed. - Cheaper Than Other Gadgets:
You don’t need a smartwatch for tracking basic statistics, which may look great but could be forgotten to charge occasionally. The chances are you won’t miss tracking your steps with your phone. - Encourages Healthy Competition:
Some apps allow you to connect with others. Online community competition can motivate you to walk more as you compare your steps with others and participate in walking challenges or join walking groups.
The not-so-good stuff
While pedometer apps are an excellent way to count steps and reach goals without wearing fitness devices, they do have some drawbacks. The online community has compiled a list of these disadvantages.
- Inaccuracies:
Although pedometer apps efficiently use GPS or the phone’s accelerometer to track steps, keep in mind that the data collected by these apps is not always accurate. Steps, calories, and distance can sometimes be miscounted, which can deter you from achieving your fitness goals. - Battery Drain:
Most pedometer apps record your steps without requiring you to press a start button; they work automatically when you start walking or moving. This can drain your battery faster. If you want to use a pedometer app without draining your battery, remember to pause the step counter when you’re not using it. - Obsession with Step Counting:
Unfortunately, some people become obsessed with counting their steps, turning a pedometer into an unhealthy addiction. For example, there’s often an unrealistic goal of walking ten thousand steps every day, which may not be achievable for an average (non)active person. Setting a more realistic goal of five thousand steps a day could be healthier. - Doesn’t Consider Stride Length and Heart Rate:
People have different stride lengths, meaning some take more steps while walking, and others take fewer steps. There’s no way for a pedometer app to know your stride length unless you calibrate it yourself. Monitoring heart rate is also crucial. Heart rate can provide insight into how effective or intense your walking is as an exercise. However, a pedometer app cannot track your heart rate unless it’s connected to a wearable device.
