is the iphone step calculator accurate

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htowey
htowey Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Since getting a new phone recently I've noticed that MFP will automatically factor in the steps you've taken during the day counted by the iphone as a part of exercise and will adjust the calories I have left accordingly. I just wanted to ask if anyone knows if the part of the app that determines how many calories are burned with each step is accurate since I've read that MFP tends to be generous with how many calories are burned during exercise.

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  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    I just recently tested this. I lost my fitbit on vacation and realized my phone was counting steps too. I got a replacement fitbit and compared. What I found is that the steps are pretty accurate, but the distance was not. It wasn't off by a ton, but yes, the steps are pretty accurate.
  • xXGearheadXx
    xXGearheadXx Posts: 56 Member
    edited September 2015
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    I've been using my iphone6 as a steps tracker for several months. I tried changing to a misfit shine and found them to be close in regards to steps. They were within 500 of each other over a couple of 12k step days...not too bad. However, the misfit software was VERY generous with calorie burn vs. MFP+iphone. iirc misfit was giving .045 cals/step vs. iphone+mfp .031 cals/step. At least with the misfit, MFP imports the calorie burn reported by the misfit software and the difference over a 10-15k step day was pretty drastic.

    I have no way of knowing which was more accurate so i erred on the side of caution and ditched the misfit...i'd rather be too conservative than too generous. I've been trying out the fitbit software as well as i've got one of those on the way. The calorie burn given by the fitbit software using the iphone as the tracker is only slightly more generous than MFP+iphone, I believe yesterday's total burn given by each software was within 50cals.

    That being said, i generally eat to the calorie goals provided by MFP and DO NOT eat back exercise calories. On the weeks that i do this consistently i tend to lose a little more than goal...so for me, it's more or less consistent in that respect.
  • bbycakes1963
    bbycakes1963 Posts: 25 Member
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    So does this mean if we walk with an iPhone we should not count the walk separately under exercise because MFP already adds the steps automatically?
  • xXGearheadXx
    xXGearheadXx Posts: 56 Member
    edited September 2015
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    bbycakes1963 wrote: »
    So does this mean if we walk with an iPhone we should not count the walk separately under exercise because MFP already adds the steps automatically?

    correct, if the iphone and MFP is calculating steps and calorie burn, you do not want to double count it.

  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    bbycakes1963 wrote: »
    So does this mean if we walk with an iPhone we should not count the walk separately under exercise because MFP already adds the steps automatically?

    Only if you've set up MFP to do it. Mine does not do any adjusting because I don't have it set up.

  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,495 Member
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    I have Fitbit and an iPhone and have noticed sizable discrepancies between them. I'm not sure which is more accurate, but one day my Fitbit credited me for 5000 steps that my iPhone did not register. I've no idea what happened there.
  • tinger12
    tinger12 Posts: 62 Member
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    I use the iPhone tracking for the number of steps only. I never looked at the distance. I didn't even know it did any type of conversion. D'oh!
  • hamptontom
    hamptontom Posts: 536 Member
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    the iPhone isn't terribly accurate, and it's practically effortless to fool, if you were so inclined.

    i've seen people literally sit in their chairs and sway their phones from side to side in their hands and the phone counts it as steps.

    that being said, though - if it's what you've got, it's better than nothing.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited September 2015
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    My family was at Disneyland this weekend. My son has an iPhone and forgot his Fitbit Flex. I was wearing my Fitbit One and also carrying my Samsung Galaxy S5. His iPhone consistently had a higher step count then either of my two devices, which were very close to the same number. His legs are much longer than mine so I usually have thousands of steps more than he does when he's wearing his Flex (shorter legs = more steps per mile). Since all three days were the same, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that the iPhone over-counts steps.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    My family was at Disneyland this weekend. My son has an iPhone and forgot his Fitbit Flex. I was wearing my Fitbit One and also carrying my Samsung Galaxy S5. His iPhone consistently had a higher step count then either of my two devices, which were very close to the same number. His legs are much longer than mine so I usually have thousands of steps more than he does when he's wearing his Flex (shorter legs = more steps per mile). Since all three days were the same, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that the iPhone over-counts steps.
    Right now, my iPhone says 9,487 and my UP says 12,602.

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