According to statistics, only about 1 to 2 percent of individuals use a pedometer on a regular basis, but nearly two thirds of adults own a smartphone. Study co-author Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, said health-conscious individuals can put their smartphone to work to keep track of their daily movements.

“I would say that if you already have a smartphone, there are many free apps that can let you start tracking your step counts within a few minutes,” said Patel. “If you are selecting a wearable device, most of them are accurate.”

While it may be easy to turn your smartphone into a pedometer, researchers wanted to determine just how accurate the app-based pedometers are compared to traditional, wearable devices. For their study, Patel and colleagues recruited 14 healthy individuals to walk on treadmills while wearing certain step-counting devices. Each participant wore three devices on their waistbands, three on their wrists and placed their smartphone in their pants pocket. The smartphone ran four app-based step counters at one time.

Once they were outfitted with their devices, participants were asked to walk 500 steps and 1,500 steps on two different occasions, for a total of 56 combined trials. An observer tracked the number of steps each participant took using a tally counter. Once they hit their mark, the walkers came to a stop and had their pedometer readings recorded.

App-Based Accuracy

After looking at the data, researchers concluded:

• The smartphone apps preformed the best, differing between 6.7 percent fewer and 6.2 percent more than the observed steps.

• The wearable devices had a larger range difference, ranging from 22.7 percent fewer steps to 1.5 percent fewer steps.

The researchers conclude that smartphone apps have the potential to improve health because they can measure activity in a trustworthy way. That said, simply tracking your steps isn’t going to make you healthy. Step goals still need to be paired with other healthy habits.

“These devices alone are unlikely to be enough to help most people change their health behaviors,” Patel said. “Instead, they need to be paired with effective engagement strategies that help to build habits using effective feedback loops.”

Dr. Silverman comments

I have often wondered how accurate these devices truly are. It’s nice to know that they are accurate.

These are just another tool to help you manage your daily activity and pursue an active lifestyle. It doesn’t say how the apps affect your phone’s battery life, but give a few a try and see what works best for you.

Related source: Medscape

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