Walkmeter for iPhone by Abvio App Overview

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The Walkmeter app for iPhone from Abvio has a lot of the options I would like in a GPS velocity and distance monitor. You’ll be able to view your steady strolling time, distance, tempo, energy burned and common tempo. You’ll be able to see your strolling route on a map if you are strolling, and it might submit updates of your progress to Twitter, Fb, and e mail. You will get voice updates in your time, distance, and Twitter. After your stroll, you’ll be able to see your stats and overview exercises. It additionally integrates with web sites and apps equivalent to dailymile, Strava, and MyFitnessPal.

Walkmeter App

The Walkmeter app is out there for GPS-capable iPhones and iOS gadgets. The essential model is free, with Elite upgrades and totally different voices for a small cost. Lots of the superior knowledge options require the Elite improve. There aren’t any further membership charges required. To make use of the mapping function, you’ll want to be linked to wifi or 3G.

You’ll be able to set it to show English or metric items. You should set your weight to get a calorie rely. To get began, you simply go to the Stopwatch display and press Begin (or begin it from an earphone distant with the Elite improve). Now it shows stroll time, distance, present and common tempo and energy burned. The show is customizable to point out dozens of various objects. I like the massive, vibrant numbers on the show. I had no downside switching from the app to the music perform as I’ve with some single-tasking apps.

The app can solely be used outdoor and is finest used the place there may be sturdy GPS sign reception. I had issue utilizing it a number of instances:

• Once I stored my iPhone in a pants pocket
• Once I walked subsequent to a bluff that blocked the southern sky
• On a hill

Primarily based on my expertise, it’s best to have your iPhone mounted in an armband, so it will get the perfect GPS reception when utilizing the Walkmeter app. I’d not belief this as my solely measuring gadget attributable to these weaknesses.

The app has computerized cease detection (with the Elite improve), so you’ll be able to select to pause it once you pause, or you’ll be able to let it try this for itself. I had a number of situations once I forgot to show it on or by chance paused or stopped it. I've been taking extra care to shut the iPhone display, so the Cease button doesn't get pressed by chance.

Walkmeter App Measures Your Velocity and Distance

No calibration is critical as a result of the app makes use of your cellular phone's GPS perform to find out distance and velocity. Nevertheless, if in case you have a lack of GPS sign, it’s possible you’ll find yourself with flaky readings. On one stroll, my distance and velocity began doubling due to weak GPS sign. When you might have a powerful GPS sign, it may be a really useful app.

You’ll be able to select what sort of exercise it’s – stroll, run, hike, skate, ski, cycle. The app shows your final choice so that you don't should reply 20 questions earlier than you will get began every time.

I like the flexibility of with the ability to select what shows within the Stopwatch perform. Some folks might wish to view tempo (minutes per mile) whereas others wish to see velocity (miles per hour), for instance. However these are simply two of over 40 totally different capabilities you’ll be able to show, together with elevation, grade, break up instances, odometers, and so forth. It is all the things a knowledge junkie might need. You add notes concerning the route as effectively.

I particularly love with the ability to swap to the map display whereas nonetheless recording the stroll. You see your route being drawn as you stroll it, and you too can verify the map to assist maintain your self on target.

You’ll be able to set Walkmeter to offer you voice bulletins at your alternative of time intervals, distance intervals, and passing occasions. You’ll be able to select what it updates you with – time, distance, velocity, tempo, and comparability to different rivals.

It’s straightforward to avoid wasting your knowledge after the exercise and easy to reset. I discovered the operation to be extraordinarily intuitive. After you cease and save a route, you’ll be able to load it once more sooner or later to stroll the identical route.

Sharing Your Exercise

Walkmeter goes a great distance in the direction of being built-in with social media. You’ll be able to ship Fb, Twitter, and e mail updates to submit mechanically primarily based on occasions (begin, cease, and so forth.), at set instances, at set distances, and so forth.

With the Elite improve you get many extra social options, together with the next:

• Your pals can ship you encouraging replies, and you’ll select whether or not the app will learn these to you thru a voice announcement, together with selecting particular folks to get them from. You’ll be able to have updates despatched to family and friends of your location and progress. This may be an effective way to maintain folks up to date with out having to cease throughout your exercise to do it your self.
• Do you want some digital competitors? They name this ghost racing, and you’ll compete in opposition to your individual instances or in opposition to imported rivals.
• You’ll be able to export your routes and exercise knowledge as CSV, GPX, or KML recordsdata.
• You’ll be able to import a route or digital competitor by clicking on a GPX or KML hyperlink or file in Mail or Safari.

Backside Line 

I give the performance of the Walkmeter app 4.5 stars. It has nearly all the things I might need in a strolling speedometer app, and lots of capabilities I didn't understand I liked till I noticed them. It’s well worth the Elite improve to get the superior coaching options.

However I’d give it solely three stars as a strolling speedometer/distance monitor due to the poor efficiency I had in getting a dependable GPS sign. That is principally a weak spot of the GPS means of the telephone I used to be utilizing.

Of observe, because you want wifi or 3G reception to make use of the maps, don't take this off the crushed path anticipating to make use of it as your sole supply of maps. When you don't have a connection, you don't have maps, although you could have a GPS sign.