Best walking app for keeping trim this year

Walking is a great form of exercise for everyone – whether you’re hiking a mountain or doing laps of your local park, walking is incredibly beneficial to your health.

One of the biggest positives of walking is the accessibility. Unless you’re going up a mountain, pretty much everyone can go for a decently long walk and gain all the benefits from the exercise.

But finding a walk is often the hardest part of the challenge. So, how can you find walks to do? Not only this, but how can you track your steps, see your calories burned and work out your average pace?

A walking app can help you with all of those things. Let’s have a look at the different apps that help us with our walking and which to choose for your walking needs.

Best walking apps – Free and Paid options

All Trails

All trails is an app that comes into its own in the summer. Just going out for a walk is great, but with this app you’ll get a decent idea of how far the walk is; how long it will take; and most importantly, the scenery.

Getting out in the sun and just enjoying nature in what many users want in a walking app, and AllTrails that gives you an idea of what sort of nature you’ll be walking through is ideal.

There’s even a comments section for each walk so you know what others liked and thought of the walk. A rating system too so you can really see which are the good ones in a given area.

The app also has a pro version which is around £30 annually. By no means is it mandatory but it comes with added features such as the ability to download apps so you can use them offline in case of no signal.

You can post the routes you’re doing on social media, and even get information such as air quality, pollen, and weather details. If you are particularly into your walking then this may be an option for you.

Fitbit

Fitbit is an app that comes with a device – it’s an all-round exercise tracker to see your daily steps. If your goal for the app is to measure your daily exercise and you don’t need an app that tells you specific routes then this will be the pinnacle of what you can use.

This of course comes with the purchase of Fitbit device itself so that’s slightly on the pricier side of things, but this is the most effective means of tracking your health on a daily basis.

With a free version and a premium version, the app that comes with the device has a fairly in depth level of tracking.

The selling point on Fitbit over other alternatives is that it will give you an all encompassing idea of your health.

As it tracks everything in your day to day it will give you the most accurate report on how you’re doing, where you may need to improve and even when the best time is for you to do your exercise.

MapMyWalk

MapMyWalk is another one of the most well known walking apps available for both Android and iOS – it gives you an easy method of tracking the distance you’ve walked each day, as well as knowing exactly where you’ve walked too.

The need to create and search through the different walking paths available makes it an attractive option, as you have the ability to either go for the routes that others have walked before or create your own route.

What stands out about the app is its simplicity and design, which is solely focussed around walking and doesn’t take any other factors into account (like dieting or other fitness). This will appeal to walkers that only want an app to track their day to day activity.

It’s also perfect if you’re looking for an app you can synchronise with your shoes, as if you pick up a good pair of Under Armour smart trainers, you can use them in tandem with one another.

It’s definitely a solid that you shouldn’t ignore if your only interest is in monitoring your daily walks. You can also check out our more in-depth Map My Walk review if you want to know a little more about the app.

Conclusion

In conclusion there are a whole range of walking apps out there, and the ones we’ve listed here are some of the best in their field.

You have All Trails, which is the best for finding walks and hikes. Fitbit is the top option for tracking your exercise and other health related stats, and then MapMyWalk which specialises in tracking every aspect of your walking. This works especially well if you integrate with the Under Armour shoes.

The best all-round for walking it would have to be All Trails – having used this app extensively we discovered a whole range of walks to do that we didn’t even know existed in our area. That makes the app worth it.

Fitbit is an incredible device and has an emphasis on being a fashion accessory close to a watch as well as its obvious health tracking benefits.

If you’re looking for a device and an app that will give you an idea of how healthy your day to day activity is then a Fitbit is perfect.

Finally, MapMyWalk is a very simple app that tracks walks, it does exactly what it needs to do And if you’re looking for simplicity that will tell you how many steps you’re taking and how far you’re going, then this will work perfectly.