During an iPhone update, for some reason my “Fitness app” woke up. Every morning my phone would notify me I hadn’t “closed my ring” the previous day. I ignored this for weeks. Then one day I looked into it and found my phone was counting my steps. Walking about a mile would “close my ring”.
I thought maybe it was just using GPS and measuring distance traveled, then converting distance to steps. But when I rode a bicycle slowly for a mile, it didn’t count my distance rolled as steps. I actually have been more active just to spite the app. The other night we were at a brewery. The app told me I was just a 6 minute walk away from “closing my ring”. I told my gf I’d be back in a few minutes and walked around the block a few times.
It analyzes the accelerometer data, compares it against GPS data, and determines what is walking and what is other means of locomotion based on the speed and movements of the device. It then uses this basic information to extrapolate other info like calories burned.
The accelerometer actually counts the little bumps you make as you take a step. that’s why it doesn’t accumulate when you ride a bike slowly, although it may count a step if you hit just the right sized bump.
Wow! Cool. I’m impressed. It is pretty accurate as well. When I walk one of our dogs on a nearby trail, we walk to the 1mile market, then return. It always gets the distance exactly right.
Did you ever watch “The Good Wife”? It’s those NSA guys sitting at computer screens that show satellite activity. They watch everything you do, count your actual steps, and, if necessary, make a note on your Permanent Record Card (which cards, counterintuitively, are still kept on actual index card stock in giant metal file cabinets in The Cloud). This is the factual basis for the expression “he sees you when you’re sleeping – he knows when you’re awake,” etc.
And this is how standalone step counters work, too. Though I could see Apple also using some GPS data to know you’re actually moving. You can fool those standalone step counters by, say, wiggling your leg just right.
Yeah, I mean it’s not a lot, but something’s definitely registering. If I go out for, say, an hour’s ride, it’s like 5000 steps, which is about two miles walking for me.
Our dogs wear Fi GPS collars. When I walk them on leash, our distance traveled is very close. If they aren’t on leash, their distance is greater than mine because I don’t run off chasing rabbits and groundhogs.
Apple uses a motion coprocessor originally called the m7. That chip aggregates data not just from the accelerometer, but also the compass, gyroscope and barometer to determine your position and steps. Hooking into barometer allows it to tell you how many flights of stairs you’ve walked.
I’m not sure the Health or Fitness apps actually utilize GPS to count steps, not without a third party app you’ve granted permission to track you, anyway.
My mom carries her iPhone in the basket of her walker and it doesn’t register any steps at all. It might if she was “walking” the walker (lifting it and setting it down with each step) but her walker rolls and glides. Apple doesn’t register it as ambulating
