One of the first apps I downloaded on my new iPhone 5S was Pedometer++. Using the new M7 chip it’s an amazing and simple app that does one thing: counting steps. It’s free, nice to use, and for now, even beats Apple’s Health Kit in counting steps..
“Take advantage of the step counting capabilities in your iPhone 5s to improve your health. Pedometer++ lets you easily keep track of your daily and weekly step counts, without any impact on your battery life. You can also set the app to dynamically show your current step count as the applications badge. This will update dynamically throughout the day.”
At first it was sheer curiosity. As a photographer I walk a lot, and I was quite curious just how much steps I did on a day. When checking Pedometer++ it had a default goal of 10.000 steps. Why that number? Apparently research found out if you walk 10k steps a day, you’ll be healthier, and will build up a physique.
At first it was a fun way to see just how much I walked, as the first day I logged 11.943 steps. The next week I logged between 6.138 and 20.301 steps. But it was not until I did a measly 3.854 steps that I started to feel guilt!
I’m the type to try out Runkeeper while riding a roller coaster, but not to do daily activity. Especially once it started to nag to me to do another run I uninstalled the app faster than I would have to go to the push-notification center. Not that I’m lazy, but still .. .
In fact, as long as my daily steps stayed below that magical 10.000 threshold, I tried to boost it. The first night I didn’t get my goal I started shaking my iPhone, in the same neurotic way of getting notification badges to disappear from my homescreen. However, this time the number had to go up!
But in the coming days and weeks I got an emotional boost to grab my coat and do a nice evening walk. This escalated to the point that even if I’m tired or if it is raining I still try and do an extra activity.
We’re moving in 21 days, and it almost has become a tradition to walk to our new place and back, just to soak in the atmosphere of our future environment. I really hope that after that move I will keep reaching that goal.
If you have an iPhone 5s I really suggest you check out Pedometer++.
my 864.584 steps in 78 days.
