how accurate are iPhone steps?

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lolab983
lolab983 Posts: 16 Member
in Getting Started
How accurate are the steps calculated and calories burned from just your iPhone? (iPhone steps) Is it actually ok to at those walking calories back ?

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  • lonerockz
    lonerockz Posts: 100 Member
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    Short answer: Not very accurate.

    Long Answer: It really depends on how you walk. I used my iPhone on a trail that was marked with distances along the trail. After 2 miles it said I had walked 2.3. On the return trip it said I had walked 2.4. So it was off over 10%. I bought a step tracker, its much more accurate. My tracker (A Microsoft Band) has a heart rate monitor, it tells me calorie burn when I exercise. If you can afford a step tracker with integrated HRM (Like the Band or Charge HR) they are really good at helping you understand how hard you are exercising, and hence how much extra you can eat and still lose or maintain weight.
  • lolab983
    lolab983 Posts: 16 Member
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    lonerockz wrote: »
    Short answer: Not very accurate.

    Long Answer: It really depends on how you walk. I used my iPhone on a trail that was marked with distances along the trail. After 2 miles it said I had walked 2.3. On the return trip it said I had walked 2.4. So it was off over 10%. I bought a step tracker, its much more accurate. My tracker (A Microsoft Band) has a heart rate monitor, it tells me calorie burn when I exercise. If you can afford a step tracker with integrated HRM (Like the Band or Charge HR) they are really good at helping you understand how hard you are exercising, and hence how much extra you can eat and still lose or maintain weight.

    Thank you! I checked out some of the wrist bands and they are too bulky for me. Would one of the little clip on trackers work well? I know that probably wouldn't calculate your heart rate though. But it would probably get steps more accurate right? What's a good amount of regular steps to achieve daily? I live in Toronto and walk everywhere, it's not like I'm running or speed walking but I try to walk everywhere I go and although I'm not sure if it actually burning the calories my phone says it does, it's gotta do something right?
  • lolab983
    lolab983 Posts: 16 Member
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    It says I burn almost 300+ calories a day from just steps. That seems a bit much...
  • lonerockz
    lonerockz Posts: 100 Member
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    Based on what I see my female friends posting here 300 calories is about a 30-45 minute steady walk on level ground at about 3mph. You burn 80-100 calories an hour for just living.

    Typically 10,000 steps a day is what is considered a good goal. For me this is way too high. I would have to take an extra 2 mile walk each day to get that (desk job). I shoot for 7000. But then I go to the gym most days and burn 650-1000 calories in an hour, so I figure that makes up for it.

    The nice thing about the heart rate monitors is that if you want to know calories burned it is fairly accurate. The step monitors will only tell you steps taken. And you can use MFP to have it estimate your calorie burn based on steps. HRMs are really valuable as you get more fit. You say you walk everywhere, but (I'm guessing here) your here to lose weight (I am), so what this means is to get a different outcome (less weight) you cant do what you did before. So lets say you walk 3 miles (about 6500 steps) each day. An average person might burn 300 calories from that. BUT... your body is used to it, so its gotten efficient at it, and in your case you may only burn 250. A HRM will tell you this, a step tracker wont. As you want to up your calories burned to increase fitness and weight loss, you may have to walk faster, or up hills, or take longer walks, knowing your heart rate will tell you which is most effective, and also when it stops being effective.

    When I started I did 4 mile hikes. It would take me about 1.3 hours. I burned about 600 calories or so. As I got fitter my heart rate didn't rise as much during my walks... so my burn dropped to 550... 500... 475. I added hills... and bango back up to higher calories. Now I have to do hiking on trials to keep that high a burn. I did longer walks but found fitting in 3 hours for a walk difficult.
  • Lolault
    Lolault Posts: 3 Member
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    Hi - I've literally just got a Fitbit (second hand on eBay) I've synced it to my phone etc but I can't sync the Fitbit to myfitnesspal app - really frustrating but I reckon once I've worked that out it should really help with accurate readings against my food diary .
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Lolault wrote: »
    Hi - I've literally just got a Fitbit (second hand on eBay) I've synced it to my phone etc but I can't sync the Fitbit to myfitnesspal app - really frustrating but I reckon once I've worked that out it should really help with accurate readings against my food diary .

    It's a known bug in both the apps, and they're working on it: https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1979738--members-unable-to-link-fitbit-via-ios-android-app-

    Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

    PS. MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • Lolault
    Lolault Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks editorgrrl- all linked now with mapmywalk added aswell, it's a real help being able to actually see how far I've walked and whether to go the long or short way back ;)

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