Thursday, March 26, 2015

Asking For Suggestions

When I got my new phone and transferred all my data I lost one app. My pedometer app. And when I went to try and reload it, I realized it must have been discontinued because I have not been able to find it anywhere in the app store and now I can't even remember what it was called.
It was, for me, the perfect walking app, perhaps only because I was familiar with it but it did all I wanted it to do and it didn't do anything I didn't want it to do. I could hit "start" when I began and "end" when I got home and it would tell me how many miles I had walked, how long it had taken me, and what my mph were. It would also show me a map of where I'd walked if I wanted to see that but since I'd seen where I'd walked on my walk, not being blindfolded or anything, I rarely messed with that function.
And now, dammit, I can't find another pedometer app I like to save my life. And there are hundreds. At least.
Everyone seems to use "Map My Walk" because I see the reports of their walks on FB and that is fine for them but the idea makes me cringe, personally. I am sure you can opt out of the FB thing but what if I didn't by mistake? Do I want the world knowing that I only walked 2.43 miles on a certain Monday? And that it took me an hour?
No. I do fucking not.
This is for me and me alone. The pedometer is merely a tool to help me push myself a bit. Yesterday I walked this far and it took me this long. Can I do a bit better today? I am not training for any event nor am I obsessive. I am a sixty-year old woman who knows that I have to get out and walk for a myriad of reasons and that the faster and farther I walk, the better.

The iPhone has a health app which comes with it and it has a pedometer and I CAN use that but it has no "start" and "end" function but instead, tells you how many steps you've taken and how much distance you've covered in the course of a day. Although that might be good to know, I'm really only interested in the part when I'm actually walking. On my walk.

Do any of you have a pedometer app that you use that you could recommend? I don't want a Fitbit. I don't trust them. I don't want to know how many times I woke up at night, either. Nor do I want a bracelet made of plastic. I don't want to know what my heart rate is or my respiratory rate, either.
Just...how far, how fast? Or slow in my case.

Well, I have taken my walk today. It looks like rain. I need to go to town so I need a shower. But first I'm going to eat a bowl of that soup and have a slice of that bread. They were awesome. I have no doubt they will be today as well.







16 comments:

  1. You are way ahead of me in the technology department. I don't even trust apps yet.

    Hope someone can help you!

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  2. I use that health app on my iPhone, Mary. It re-boots to zero every day, and because I walk in the morning and don't carry my phone every second throughout the day, I just check it after my second walk around 11:00 a.m.. Hope that helps.
    Damn. Life in the world of apps is complicated. I'm trying to do 10,000 steps on my walks very day. I don't make it most days, and yeah--nobody needs to know that.
    xo

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  3. I don't know as I have an android phone, I know horrors. You did make me laugh at not being blindfolded. You also scared me a little with the one that posts to FB. Gail

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  4. I use STRAVA for my bike rides, and it has a walk option. It can be complicated if you want, but it can also just be Start/Stop/done. Use the freebie version, set it up initially, and then just hit start and finish to check your effort.

    I have maybe 12 total apps on my phone, so iPhone Yoda I may not be.

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  5. We use Pedometer by Tayutau, and its free...Works really well for both of us. My phone is android, so you'll have to see if it works on your iPhone.

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  7. You can opt out -it'll ask you. You can also go into your settings and mess with that too. MapMyWalk also coordinates with Fitbits and Nike shoes and yada yada and that's why everyone seems to use it.

    I use Pedometer Pro. And ps, if I walked 2.43 miles in an hour, I would be damn delighted. You're doing good!

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  8. Pacer. It's free and you can do the start/stop on just your walk if you like.

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  9. I use RunKeeper. You can turn on social media notifications or not.

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  10. I was using Walktastic but the fuckers discontinued it. I can use it but if I lost it on my app I won't be able to reload. I am mostly pissed off because I paid 3 whole dollars for it!

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  11. Thanks for asking this question Mary! Great suggestions to try!

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  12. I just walk. I don't measure it. So I'm not very helpful on that count!

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  13. I used to use the Map My Walk app, but I kept forgetting to turn it on when I would go for s walk. Since I don't have facebook, it wasn't an issue, so I assume you can use it without putting in your facebook info.
    I use a Garmin Vivo fit. I love it. I just have it set to track my steps and sleep, but lately I forget to tell it I'm going to sleep, so it thinks I'm always awake. Which isn't too far from reality anyway. The bracelet is ugly as balls, but it also has a watch, so I just think of it as an ugly watch. Yesterday I walked six miles in the sunshine. It was glorious. Today, my knees hurt. Go figure.

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  14. I used to use the Map My Walk app, but I kept forgetting to turn it on when I would go for s walk. Since I don't have facebook, it wasn't an issue, so I assume you can use it without putting in your facebook info.
    I use a Garmin Vivo fit. I love it. I just have it set to track my steps and sleep, but lately I forget to tell it I'm going to sleep, so it thinks I'm always awake. Which isn't too far from reality anyway. The bracelet is ugly as balls, but it also has a watch, so I just think of it as an ugly watch. Yesterday I walked six miles in the sunshine. It was glorious. Today, my knees hurt. Go figure.

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  15. Sorry, I just wrote about the Fitbit. I believe the Map My Walk allows you to opt out of the FB status update.

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