Walkmeter Walking & Hiking GPS

I first tried another app, but it insisted that you start the “free” 7 day trial of the paid version first. At least this app does not do that. The free version offers quite a bit including speed, map, keeping historical data, weekly monthly, etc running sums. My one beef with this app is that it does an overly heavy averaging of the gps location. As I am walking, the dot on the map keeps spot on. There is a blue trail that jumps up to the dot every 4-6 seconds, so that is the frequency of the position stored. When I go around a corner or turn around and head back, the blue line starts shifting for the next 4 or 5 “updates”. So it is averaging the points and overwriting data. The path ends up cutting through yards and even houses. There are a couple of settings affecting smoothing of the path, but no way to turn off the averaging. Since my current spot on the map is exactly right, I really don’t understand why the app needs to do any averaging. (I’m glad my car’s guidance app doesn’t or I would be driving across a lot of parking lots.) I would much appreciate a choice to turn off the averaging and a choice of a higher position data record rate (1-2 seconds)

I paid for the Elite level of this app for one main reason - to be able to start and stop the timer from my Apple Watch. And of course to be able to glance at the elapsed time while walking. Starting and stopping the app from my watch works about 75% of the time, but there are too many times I have to pull my phone out. I make sure to open the app on my phone before I leave the house, but sometimes it still tells me to open it. Also, sometimes the info doesn’t transfer correctly to the Health and Activity apps. Otherwise, the app has way more info than I probably need, but I like seeing the distance, time, and map of each walk. So if there was better communication between the watch app and iPhone app I would give it 5 stars.

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So, I don’t usually do reviews but since I’ve had such a difficult time with knowing the distance that I walk, I thought I’d share my experience with whoever is reading this. So, I started power walking the same paths daily. I noticed about a month ago that the faster I would walk the same exact path, it would record less the amount of distance. I was noticing walking about 2 miles that I would get 1.6, 1.85, 2.2 and so on. I kinda didn’t think to much in to it. However on Monday (today is Wednesday) I forgot to turn my walking app until approx .5 mile in and my total distance was 3.08 The following day (Tuesday) I turned it on right as I hopped out of my car. My total distance that day was 2.88 miles, a lot less then mondays distance. So, I downloaded run keeper and today it came out to 3.4miles and proves that this app is not accurate for some reason. Maybe they need to update it because it should go by gps. Other then that I think the set up of the app is wonderful. It’s easy to use and haven’t had any issues having it run in the background as I play music, get on the internet, or text. Good app, just not accurate and I will be using run keeper from now on.

Wish I could give it 10 stars. With the elite upgrade you can customize this app to do just about anything. Do yourself a favor and upgrade if you haven't done to it yet. If you are serious about losing weight or just getting in better shape, it will be the best $ you've ever spent. I've been using it for walking for several months now and can't imagine walking with out it. Get you a heart rate monitor that syncs with the app and you are all set. This app is done right! Keep up the good work developers and thank you! P.S. Because it uses the satellite gps data from your iPhone for location, your phone needs a clear view of the sky for Walkmeter to be accurate. As they recommend it works best when the phone is in an armband or a running belt vs in your pocket.

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The idea behind this app is great, and I like the interface as well. Unfortunately the paths it records are often *very* inaccurate and zig-zaggy and so wind up being too long, sometimes by 50% or more. This makes the app pretty much useless for me, despite my wanting to like it. Today, for example, I recorded over 3 miles for what I know to be a two-mile walk. Looking at the map, I could see why: where I had actually walked a straight-line path, the map showed numerous spurious loops and switchbacks. My supposed pace during this segment was 6 minutes/mile. This may be due to inherent noisiness in the location information provided by the iPhone. If so, the solution would be to use much longer time intervals (e.g., 1-2 minutes) between samples. This would ensure that the actual distance walked between samples is relatively large compared to the inevitable slop in the location info.