(The treadmill does not measure steps, so we can only compare step counts among tested devices.) The 2,097 and 2,107 average steps measured by the uncalibrated and calibrated Apple Watch placed it in the middle of the pack. Step counts for the 14 activity trackers and smartwatches we tested ranged from 2,079 to 2,190. You can learn how to calibrate the Apple Watch here. Once established, the Watch can then make an educated guess on distance traveled, whether or not your iPhone is present and connected. This will establish an individual benchmark for how many of your steps are in an average mile. Steps and distance on the Apple Watch can be calibrated using your iPhone's GPS. The Apple Watch also offers an option to calibrate, but the process is less tedious. Companies like Fitbit and Jawbone also attempt to estimate calorie burn and distance using health information you provide during set up.Īctivity trackers from Fitbit and Garmin allow you to set a custom stride length to calibrate the device for improved accuracy. Apple will then use this information to estimate your calorie burn and stride length, which in turn is used for the distance metric. So, how does the Apple Watch convert steps to distance? During your first day with the device, you will be asked to provide the Watch's activity app with basic health information, such as height, gender, age and weight. But depending on his or her pace (say, an active run versus a casual walk), the number of steps in a given mile or kilometer can also vary for an individual. Yes, a taller person should be able to cover a fixed distance with fewer steps. While both should be absolute numbers, they'll differ from person to person based on height and stride.īut take nothing for granted. The former is exactly what it sounds like: the number of footfalls in a given period, while the latter is the resulting linear distance. To be clear, steps taken and distance traveled are two related - but discrete - metrics. We've been testing the Apple Watch over the past few weeks, and focused on those final two metrics - steps taken and distance traveled - to see how it stacks up against the competition. It's also a dedicated activity tracker that can measure active calories burned, active minutes, the number of times you stand throughout the day, your daily step count and distance traveled. It can be used to communicate with others, view notifications from an iPhone and even pay for items with Apple Pay. There's no doubt that the Apple Watch can do a lot of things.

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