How does my phone step counter work?

[Julia9054]

i have accidentally activated the fitness tracker app on my phone and was wondering how the step counter worked.
Does it detect side to side motion and assume walking and estimate steps (my phone is generally in a handbag rather than a pocket) or is it using GPS to measure distance travelled and estimating average step count from that.
All it does is nag me. I can't have my phone on me at work so it doesn't count me walking round my lab - I rarely sit down - and works only intermittently when I am cycling. On Sunday, I went for a 2 hour bike ride (phone in pocket, not handbag!) it told me I had been for a 20 minute walk!

 

[snorri]

Modern life is stressful, woman up and get on with it.

 

[Old jon]

I have just spent thirty minutes looking.

Happily without one.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Likely just detecting motion through its accelerometers. Does the tracker have a website with FAQs?

 

[Julia9054]

Likely just detecting motion through its accelerometers. Does the tracker have a website with FAQs?

Never thought of looking on app website. Having done that it appears that it is indeed detecting motion through accelerometers and not using gps. I guess then that cycling is too smooth a motion to appear to be steps most of the time but not all of the time hence a 2hr bike ride recorded as 20 mins of walking.
It comes built in with my phone. Having accidentally activated it, I now need to look into how I deactivate it!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

It comes built in with my phone. Having accidentally activated it, I now need to look into how I deactivate it!

I think, just close the app like you would close a computer program.
You could also uninstalled from the apps settings menu, but you might want to use it again in the future.

 

[Jody]

It comes built in with my phone. Having accidentally activated it, I now need to look into how I deactivate it!

Is it a Samsung?

 

[Cycleops]

Careful if it's a Huawei it could be spying on you and sending the data back to China.

 

[postman]

Careful if it's a Huawei it could be spying on you and sending the data back to China.

View: https://youtu.be/wfvJS4UO7xI

 

[Racing roadkill]

It works on a solid state ‘MEMS’ ( Micro electro-mechanical systems ) inertial accelerometer in the phone. If it detects an acceleration, then a stop, that’s a ‘step’.

 

[Shortandcrisp]

I use an iPhone to record on Strava on the bike. 50 miles on the bike normally results in me having walked about 6-7 miles according to the health data. So more than enough exercise for one day!

 

[slowmotion]

It takes a reading of the distance from the top of your head to three geo-stationary GPS satellites, thereby detecting each step as your head bobs up and down as you walk. If you "glide", the satellites won't detect any steps. Simple.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It takes a reading of the distance from the top of your head to three geo-stationary GPS satellites, thereby detecting each step as your head bobs up and down as you walk. If you "glide", the satellites won't detect any steps. Simple.

Only works if you are a pigeon.

 

[classic33]

Only works if you are a pigeon.

Why's a pigeon need a smartphone for triangulation?

 

[slowmotion]

Why's a pigeon need a smartphone for triangulation?