Best Pedometer Apps of 2024

The best pedometer apps can help you to track your daily steps without requiring a fancy fitness device. The app paired with a cell phone can monitor your activity, the calories you've burned, and other health data. This can help you to achieve your fitness goals and manage your overall health, such as preventing heart disease or living well with diabetes.

Pedometer apps work in ways that are similar to a fitness watch but cost a lot less, though they don't track your heart rate. Most apps are free to download but some require payment to access premium content. Still, you have nothing to lose by trying one of them out. 

Here are our top picks for the best pedometer app, including Pacer Pedometer & Step Tracker, our best choice overall.

Best Overall: Pacer Pedometer & Step Tracker

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; starts at $10 per month or $50 for a full year for a premium subscription 
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

Pace Pedometer & Step Tracker is our top pick because it is one of the most comprehensive pedometer tracking apps available that does not require a wearable device.

Overview

Ranked highly by both iOS and Android users, the Pacer Pedometer & Step Tracker is our pick for best overall.

This fitness app is a step counter, activity tracker, and social support all wrapped up in one easy-to-use program. Its goal is to keep things effortless, so you can just download and go. And the company does an excellent job with this by using a stylish yet simple interface and a straightforward core step-counting function.

Pacer records steps, flights of stairs climbed, calories, distance, and active time. It also has a GPS feature to track outdoor walking on a map. Users really enjoy community support and the ability to create walking groups and compare daily steps in real-time.

If you’re just looking for a pedometer app without the extra features, stick with the free version of Pacer Pedometer & Step Tracker. It has everything you need to keep up with your steps. Pacer is available for free, or you can upgrade to Pacer Premium for about $10 per month or $50 per year. It comes with a free, seven-day trial period.

Best Budget: Accupedo Pedometer

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; starts at $2 per month for a premium subscription
• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

Tracking steps is easy and affordable with Accupedo. For roughly $2 per month, you get access to all of the premium features and functions.

Overview

Known as your daily walking buddy, the Accupedo pedometer app offers basic functionality for free or a very low cost for the premium service. Although many pedometer apps are free to download and use for essential functions, most require a paid subscription to access premium tools. Accupedo is the best for your budget compared to other top-performing pedometer apps.

This pedometer app measures steps, calories, distance, speed, and active time. It also tracks your progress by day, week, month, and year. Plus, users report that it is easy to check progress throughout the day. One of Accupedo’s best features is the ability to track steps whether your phone is in your bag, purse, pocket, or waist belt. That said, it works best when the phone is in your waist belt. For better distance accuracy, set your stride length in the settings.

Accupedo is available for free, or you can upgrade to Accupedo Premium for about $2 per month or $10 for a full year.

Get it on iOS and Android.

Best for Community Support: Fitbit

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; starts at $10 per month for a premium subscription
• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

Fitbit might be best known for its wearable fitness tracker, but you can also track steps and get top-notch community support with this app.

Overview

No Fitbit, no problem. You can use the Fitbit app on your phone to track your workouts and steps without a Fitbit device.

The free MobileTrack app can track your walking workouts with GPS as well as your all-day step count using the motion sensors on your phone. In addition to a step counter, the MobileTrack can also log distance and calories burned. And the best part? The Fitbit app comes with a free three-month trial of Fitbit Premium—the best trial period of any app.

The Premium subscription gives you access to customized health programs, workout videos, data-driven guidance, a health metrics dashboard, and more. The Fitbit community is part of what makes this app so successful. Through it, you can connect with friends or join the community for extra motivation, daily step challenges, and support.

Fitbit is available for free, or you can upgrade to Fitbit Premium for about $10 per month or $80 per year. Fitbit Premium comes with a free, 90-day trial.

Best for Weight Loss: MyFitnessPal

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; starts at $20 per month for a premium subscription
• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

If you want to lose weight, you need to do more than just track your steps. MyFitnessPal combines the power of a pedometer with the ability to track calories and weight loss.

Overview

Tracking your steps is just one part of the weight-loss equation. If you want to shed pounds and create healthier habits, you also need to track your diet. And that’s where MyFitnessPal comes in.

This app is a top performer and is considered one of the most comprehensive programs for exercise and nutrition. It counts steps through the motion detection sensors on your phone or by using an external device synced to your phone. The app displays your step history on a graph so you can view activity progress over time.

MyFitnessPal also gives you the option to customize daily step goals to stay on track with your weight loss. And, it adjusts your daily calorie bank based on your activity for the day—steps included.

MyFitnessPal app is available for free, or you can upgrade to MyFitnessPal Premium for about $20 per month or $80 per year. MyFitnessPal Premium comes with a free, 30-day trial.

Best for Tracking Routes: MapMyWalk

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; starts at $6 per month for a premium subscription
• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

In addition to tracking steps, distance, and pace, MapMyWalk also tracks walking routes and suggests new ones to try.

Overview

If your daily step count includes walking for exercise, this app is for you. MapMyWalk works by using your phone’s GPS location tracking to track steps and map your workouts.

What sets this pedometer app apart from others is its ability to track both steps and the distance you’ve walked. Since it uses GPS to count steps, MapMyWalk can track your path and location on an interactive map. This feature is a favorite among users because once you’ve saved the route, you can share it with friends.

Plus, the app also comes with a collection of mapped routes to choose from, which is a convenient feature when traveling or looking for nearby places to walk. Walking routes are available in cities like New York, Austin, Seattle, San Diego, Honolulu, Boston, and more. For fitness fanatics looking to reach new goals with their walking workouts, MapMyWalk also tracks your pace, stride length, and cadence.

MapMyWalk is available for free, or you can upgrade to MapMyWalk Premium MVP for about $6 per month or $30 per year.

Best for Heart Health: Google Fit

Key Specs

• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• Pricing: Free
• GPS: Yes

Why We Chose It

Google Fit has its own activity-based goal-tracking system and recommendations based on a partnership with the American Heart Association.

Overview

Android users love Google Fit. But did you know it also works on iPhones?

This health app is so much more than just a pedometer to track your steps. It also uses your activity data to make suggestions about how to get your heart pumping harder. The company calls this Heart Points.

By collaborating with the American Heart Association (AHA), the Google Fit app tracks your steps and other activities, then gives you one Heart Point for every minute of moderate-intensity activity you perform. You then receive exercise-specific feedback and recommendations to help reduce your risk of heart disease.

Based on your step count, the Google Fit pedometer also displays your speed, pace, and route. Plus, it monitors all of your physical activity, including daily steps, to help you set fitness goals. And the app is compatible with other health apps you have on your phone. While it’s good for heart health, Google Fit may not be the best for your social connections.

Unlike other apps, Google Fit does not have a social platform that allows you to build a community. Google Fit is free to download.

Best for Built-In Sensor Tracking: ActivityTracker

Key Specs

• Pricing: Free to download; $9.99 a year for a premium subscription 
• Platforms: iOS and Android 
• GPS: No 

Why We Chose It

The Activity Tracker app is an excellent choice if you want to use the built-in sensors of your phone instead of GPS.

Overview

If the GPS tracking system used to power other pedometer apps is draining your cell phone battery, consider downloading an app that only uses the built-in sensors on your phone to count your steps.

The ActivityTracker pedometer app uses a smartphone’s motion processor, not a GPS tracker, to track your all-day activity, including daily steps. It also logs distance, daily active calorie burns, active time, and flights of stairs climbed. Designed around a weekly step target, the app also shows you a daily goal based on your target.

If you want to set individual goals for calories and distance, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version. Users rave about the widgets and beautiful interface that is also easy to navigate. And while it may seem like a basic feature, the cumulative steps badge on the home screen is a plus—especially if you like the at-a-glance ease of viewing your daily step count.

ActivityTracker is available for free, or you can upgrade to ActivityTracker Pro for about $10 a year.

Final Verdict 

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or get more steps each day, a budget-friendly pedometer app can help you reach your goals. Pacer, our top pick, is comprehensive, easy to use, and appropriate for all fitness levels. The free version of Pacer is enough to get you started. If you want premium features but don’t want to pay a high monthly price, consider Accupedo.

Guide to Choosing a Pedometer App

When choosing a pedometer app, first consider how you want to use it. This will help you to determine if you simply need a step counter, if you need to time specific workouts, and what kind of features you'll want at your budget level.

Some of the features to consider include:

• Alarms and clocks
• Calorie counter and diet logs
• Distance estimates and walking route mapping
• Goal setting, memory, and progress tracking
• Speed or pace estimate
• Syncing capacities to upload data to a computer or cell phone app

You'll want to consider the best pedometer apps for Android or iPhone, depending on what you use. Once you've compared features and have an idea of what you want, you can check pricing to see which options are free and which apps have features that require an upgrade.

Methodology

Our picks for best pedometer apps started with featuring ones that offer reliable, easy-to-use step tracking available for both iOS and Android. Beyond that, several apps, like MyFitnessPal, have extra tools and tracking abilities, with GPS tracking versus built-in sensor capacities a consideration.

All of the apps we featured are free to download and start using. However, most require an upgrade to access premium features. We also looked at free trials, with Fitbit coming out on top with a 90-day trial period for its subscription-based service. All of our picks cost about $10 or less per month for upgrades, with the Accupedo pedometer app being the most affordable at $2 per month.