Walkmeter Help

Key Concepts

  1. Use Walkmeter just like a stopwatch. In the Stopwatch view, touch Start when you start or continue, Stop when you need to pause or are finished, Lap when you want to manually log an interval, and then Done when you are completely done. Touch Reset when you are ready to start again.

  2. If your iPhone supports multitasking, Walkmeter will continue to record your data when you receive calls, answer texts, listen to Pandora, and run other applications. Please refer to your iOS documentation to learn more about multitasking.

    If your iPhone does not support multitasking, Walkmeter must be running to record your data.
    The following will stop Walkmeter from running.

    • Press the home button on the iPhone.
    • Answer or place a call. Incoming calls will not stop Walkmeter if you do not answer them.
    • Reply to or compose a text message. Incoming texts will not stop Walkmeter unless you reply to them.
    • Use the iPod application to change music. See the Listen to Music tip.
    • Use any other iPhone application.

    If this happens, just be sure to run Walkmeter again when you are done so it can continue to record data.

  3. Walkmeter uses the iPhone’s GPS to record your location, distance, speed, and elevation
    • Use outdoors only.
    • After you launch Walkmeter, wait for good GPS reception before starting, which is at least three bars as shown in the lower-left corner of the Stopwatch view.
    • If you encounter GPS-related issues, see GPS Troubleshooting.
  4. Lock your iPhone using the lock button on the top of your iPhone to turn off the display before putting your iPhone in your pocket or armband. This conserves battery power, and prevents accidental touches. Walkmeter also automatically stops recording after 30 minutes if your location has not changed.
  5. Walkmeter automatically keeps all your data. A few years’ worth of data will only consume space on your iPhone equal to the size of a few songs. Items can be deleted or edited by navigating to them in the Calendar or Routes views, and touching Edit.
  6. Add data manually. Forget to take your iPhone? No problem, just go to the Calendar view and touch +, or go to the Routes view, choose a route, and touch + / Edit.
  7. Walkmeter can be used for many activities including riding, running, walking, and more. Tap the Activity button in the upper right corner of the Stopwatch view, and choose (or create) the activity you want. You can do this before or after you press Start, or anytime before you press Done. You can also edit the item later to change the activity.
  8. Walkmeter supports interval training and target alerts. Edit or add activities to manage interval training, and to set targets for performance. Walkmeter will guide your workout with announcements, and record your statistics. See Activities, Intervals, Targets.
  9. Create and use routes when you travel along the same path. That way, Walkmeter will compare workouts along each route. See Routes.
  10. Connect to ANT+ sensors including heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors using the Wahoo Fitness system. See ANT+ Sensors.

Routes

Routes organize and compare your performance data. By creating a route and continuing to use it when following the same path, you can see your progress in the Map, Calendar, Graphs, and Routes views. Walkmeter rates your performance along a route using these icons:

Best Best
Better Better
Median Median
Worse Worse
Worst Worst

To create or rename a route, touch the Route button in the upper left of the Stopwatch view, then press + / Edit. Tap Add Route to add a route, or a route name to edit its name or settings.

Select a route before or after your start to associate your path with the route. You can also edit the item later to change its route.

Simply leave New Route selected when you have no need to group the workout with a route. You will still see those paths in the Calendar view and the Routes view under All.

The following settings may be changed for each route:

Best, Median, Worst – If on, shows your best, median, and worst workouts for the route, and competes against them when recording.

Competitors – If on, competes against your competitors for the route when recording.

Icons on Map – If on, best, median, worst, and competitor icons will appear on the map.

Icons on Graph – If on, best, median, worst, and competitor icons will appear on the graph.

Official Path – If on, the official path will appear on the map and graph.

Official Distance and Official Time set values used when calculating Remaining Distance and Remaining Time in the Stopwatch, and also for Announcements, Twitter, Facebook, and Email Updates. Change these settings to non-zero values to set distance and time goals for the route.

On Done Use Official Distance – If on, when Done is pressed on the Stopwatch, the official distance will be used instead of the recorded distance.

Activities, Intervals, Targets

Activities guide your workouts. The selected activity controls whether intervals should be announced and logged, and whether targets should be monitored and announced to keep your workout on track. The selected activity also controls the energy burn calculation, and how your workouts are summarized.

Walkmeter includes sample activities with simple intervals. You can edit these existing activities, or create new activities with customized intervals and targets.

To select an activity, tap the Activity button in the Stopwatch view, and then tap an activity name. To edit, add, or delete an activity, tap the Activity button, then tap + / Edit.

You can also view, edit, add, and delete activities from the Activities view.

Intervals can be based on time, distance, location (ended at a specific latitude and longitude), or be unlimited. Unlimited intervals are ended by tapping the Lap button in the Stopwatch view, or by tapping Stop and then Done.

Targets allow you to set performance ranges, and to be alerted when your performance is out of range. Targets may be set for an entire activity, or for an interval.

For more information, see the Activities view.

The Views

Stopwatch

Touch Start or Stop as you would with any stopwatch to start, pause, continue, and stop. Press Done when you are completely finished, and the data will be recorded in the Calendar and Routes views. Touch Lap to manually record an interval. Press Touch Reset to get Walkmeter ready to start again. See Remote Control to learn how to use your earphone remote to start and stop.

shows settings for the Stopwatch.
shows splits, intervals, and zones for the workout.
allows notes to be entered for the workout.
allows Email Updates, Twitter, Facebook, and dailymile to be easily turned on and off. The number next to the icon indicates the number of sharing services that are on.

Map

The Map view shows your current path as a dotted blue line. If you are following a route, it also shows the official path as a purple line, and icons for the best, median, worst, and competitors for that route. Use the left button in the navigation bar to zoom in and track your current location. Use the right button to zoom out to the whole route. Pinch to zoom in and out, and double-tap to zoom in.

Calendar

The Calendar view shows your data by day of month, including icons for best, median, and worst. Touch Summaries to see summaries by day, week, month, year, and overall. Touch + to add data for the selected day.

See Calendar Settings for more information about sharing the Walkmeter Calendar with your iPhone Calendar.

Routes

The Routes view shows and manages your routes and history. Tap + / Edit to add or delete a route, or tap a route to change its name and settings, or to view its History and Leaderboard. The All item contains all of your data ordered by date.

See Routes for more information.

Graphs

The Graphs view shows your pace and elevation. Your current elevation path is shown as a dotted blue line, and the official path elevation is shown as a purple line.

Activities

The Activities view shows and manages your activities, as well as intervals and targets. Tap an activity to change its name and settings, or to view its history. Tap + / Edit to add or delete an activity. See Activities, Intervals, Targets for an overview.

Activity Features and Settings

History shows all of the workouts that use that particular activity.

Name is the name for the activity.

Targets set your desired performance ranges for the entire activity. If your performance is out of range, a target alert will be announced.

The following may be found under Settings.

Type sets the particular characteristics of the activity, and drives the energy burn calculation.

Summarizes Into sets how the activity is summarized. For example, an activity with intervals can be set to summarize into another activity, so that overall distance can be determined. See Calendar for more information about summaries.

Speed / Pace indicates whether the Activity should show speed (distance / time) or pace (time / distance).

Split Distance sets at what distance workouts are segmented into splits.

Distance In sets what measure should be used for distance. By using Application Setting, the overall application setting applies.

Calendar Summaries indicates whether this item is included in the reports that are shown after tapping the Summaries button in the Calendar view.

Filter GPS Errors sets whether GPS filtering should be done while this activity is in use.

Layout indicates what items should be shown for workouts with this activity.

Interval Settings

Tap Edit to add and delete intervals for that activity. The following applies for each interval.

Choose Distance, Time, Location, or Unlimited to indicate the interval type.

Name is the name for the interval. Download a voice first to allow this field to be customized beyond the default list.

Targets set your desired performance ranges for this interval. If your performance is out of range, a target alert will be announced.

Zones

The Zones view shows and manages zones, which are used to report on your performance by segmenting your statistics.

Sample zones are provided for heart rate, pace, speed, and cycling cadence. Zones may be added, deleted, and edited.

Heart rate zones may be automatically calculated given age and gender in the Settings view.

During your workout, tap the icon on the Stopwatch view and the Zones to view your performance segmented into zones. After a workout, navigate to the Info page for the workout and tap Splits, Intervals, Zones to view or export these reports.

Remote Control

The Remote Control view allows you to start and stop the Stopwatch, even when it is locked, and in your pocket, armband, or bike mount. Just slowly double-click your earphone remote (about a second apart) to stop or start. Remote Control start and stop capability is off by default. Remote Control also comes preconfigured to play an announcement when the iPhone’s iPod is paused. This behavior may be changed to never play an announcement, or to silence the iPod and play an announcement on every click of the remote.

Note: Remote Control functions in Walkmeter only work with the iPod application, and not other audio applications such as Pandora.

Announcements

The Announcements view controls how Walkmeter speaks your pace, average, distance, and much more. Announcements can be heard on time or distance intervals, or on request using Remote Control. You can customize which of the 20 different announcements are heard, and in which order you hear them. To silence an announcement in progress, click the earphone remote.

Twitter

The Twitter view controls tweets that allow your coaches, friends, and family to view your progress. If you have signed in with Twitter, a tweet will be sent when you tap the Start button, and also when you finish by tapping the Done button.

When someone replies to your tweets, you will hear their reply spoken using text-to-speech technology. You can turn off this option, or set it to speak every tweet from friends. You can also create a list of Twitter users whose tweets are the only ones you want to hear.

You can configure what you would like Twitter to send when you stop, start, continue, or finish. You can have tweets sent at time intervals and distance intervals. You can also choose to exclude a link to a map of your current location, which is updated every 5 minutes.

Facebook

The Facebook view controls posts that allow your coaches, friends, and family to view your progress. If you have connected with Facebook, a post will be sent when you tap the Start button, and also when you finish by tapping the Done button.

When someone comments on your post, you will hear their comment spoken using text-to-speech technology. You can turn off this option. You can also create a list of Facebook friends whose comments are the only ones you want to hear.

You can configure what you would like Facebook to send when you stop, start, continue, or finish. You can have postings sent at time intervals and distance intervals. You can also choose to exclude a link to a map of your current location, which is updated every 5 minutes.

Email Updates

The Email Updates view controls emails that are automatically sent to your coaches, friends, and family to notify them of your route and location. Enter the email addresses of the people you want notified, and then emails will be sent when you tap the Start button, and also when you finish by tapping the Done button.

You can configure what you would like to be included in the emails. You can have postings sent at time intervals and distance intervals, or when you stop or continue the Stopwatch. You can also choose to exclude a link to a map of your current location, which is updated every 5 minutes.

Competitors

The Competitors view is used to browse and manage your competitors. The first competitor in the list is called Me by default, and is used for your workouts. Other competitors and their workouts are usually created during an import.

Competitors may be added or deleted by tapping + / Edit. Tap a competitor name to edit its name, initials, icons, and sharing options, and to see its history.

Register

The Register view is used to send your email and name with us. Set Receive Map to On to have an email sent with data and a map link after you press Done to finish a workout. Set Receive News to On to receive news of product updates. We will not share your email address with anyone.

Help, About

The Help view and the About view provide information about the product and us.

Settings

The Settings view contains:

When Stop Detection is ON, any time that you are stopped is attributed to stopped time and not elapsed time, and will not affect your average pace or speed. Before the stop is detected, elapsed time will continue to accumulate, but is rolled back to the beginning of the detected stop. When you start moving again, time will resume being attributed to elapsed time.

Internet Access controls whether Walkmeter may transfer data on the Internet. Turn off this setting if you want to avoid data access charges or minimize battery usage, because Map downloads, Twitter access, Facebook access, and Email Updates will not occur. Whether this setting is on or off, Walkmeter will continue to record your time, distance, speed, elevation, and path.

Distance, Weight, Age, and Gender are used in heart rate zone and energy burn calculations. Energy Burn controls whether calories or kilojoules are displayed.

Stopwatch Settings

The first section customizes what is shown in the Stopwatch.

Default Route sets the route that will be selected after the Reset button is tapped in the Stopwatch.

Run Shows and Walk Shows control whether running and walking display velocity as Pace (time / distance) or Speed (distance / time). This also may be changed by editing any Activity.

Map Settings

Distance Markers and Interval Markers control whether these icons are shown on the map.

Upload Map Every 5 Minutes controls whether maps are uploaded so that your Email Updates, Twitter, Facebook, and dailymile recipients can view them. A map is uploaded whenever a Map Link is posted in Email Updates, Twitter, Facebook, or dailymile.

Graphs Settings

The first section controls what statistics are shown in each graph.

Graphs Limit controls whether peaks are clipped so that more overall detail is shown. This is useful for the pace graph where being stopped implies an infinite value.

Voices

Walkmeter has a built-in voice that speaks your announcements. Additional voices may be downloaded that can also speak replies from Twitter, Facebook, and dailymile. One voice may be downloaded at no charge, and other voices may be downloaded through In App Purchase. These voices use technologies licensed from the Acapela Group.

Calendar Settings

When Sync On Done is ON, your workout is synchronized to your iPhone Calendar when you tap the Done button in the Stopwatch view, and when a workout is edited. This is useful because the iPhone Calendar may be shared with iCal or Outlook, and with external calendars, such as Google Calendar or Microsoft Exchange.

Calendar is the specific calendar that is synchronized with the Walkmeter Calendar. We recommend that you create a separate calendar on the iPhone to store your workouts to more easily control sharing and display.

Title customizes what is included in the calendar item title.

Note customizes what is included in the calendar item note.

All Day Event causes your workout to be synchronized as an all day event.

Availability is used by CalDAV and Exchange servers to indicate how the event should be treated for scheduling purposes.

First Weekday allows the selection of Sunday or Monday as the beginning of the week.

Tap Sync All Now to synchronize all workouts in the Walkmeter Calendar to the iPhone Calendar.

Tap Remove All Now to remove all workouts from your iPhone’s Calendar.

Twitter Settings

See Twitter.

Facebook Settings

See Facebook.

Email Updates Settings

See Email Updates.

Sensor Settings

Sensors are automatically detected and paired when an ANT+ receiver is connected and a nearby sensor is transmitting. Use Remove All Sensors and Connect New Sensor to have Walkmeter forget pairings and connect again.

Wheel Settings

The distance a wheel travels in one revolution is a function of both the rim size and the tire size, which varies based on make, type, and tire pressure. As a result, Walkmeter lets you enter wheel size in multiple ways.

The simplest way for you to determine wheel size is to measure the diameter of your wheel. Use a measuring stick to measure the diameter of your tire, and enter it as the diameter in Walkmeter.

To determine an approximate value without measuring, calculate the diameter of the wheel as the rim size plus twice the tire size. For example, a 700c x 23 tire would have a diameter of 746 millimeters, which is 700 plus twice 23. This should be entered as the diameter of the wheel. (Note that the "c" in 700c is a rim type, and does not indicate centimeters.)

For more information and for calculators for various rim and tire types, see ISO 5775 on Wikipedia, Tire Sizing by Sheldon Brown, or Wheel Math on bikecalc.com.

New Route Settings

Official Distance and Official Time set values used when calculating Remaining Distance and Remaining Time in the Stopwatch, and also for Announcements, Twitter, Facebook, and Email Updates. Change these settings to non-zero values to set distance and time goals for individual workouts for New Route.

Advanced Settings

Restore Purchases is used to restore your iPhone’s record of In App Purchases by contacting iTunes.

Screen On controls whether the display auto-locks according to your iPhone’s setting, is always on, or is on only while recording.

Use Location controls whether you allow Walkmeter to access the iPhone’s GPS. This should typically be ON.

Best controls what measure is used to order the best through worst workouts of a route.

Import URL allows you to copy and paste in a URL to import.

VO2Max allows you to enter your VO2Max value, which when combined with heart rate monitoring, can determine a more accurate measure of energy burn.

Poor GPS Time is a troubleshooting tool that causes the Stopwatch to show the time in which the GPS accuracy was unacceptable. It will only show such time if it is greater than zero seconds. It will also show an alert after the workout if the Poor GPS Time exceeds certain thresholds to guide you through remedies that have helped other customers.

Power Off Remote After sets the time after which Walkmeter will stop listening for a remote control start request (a slow double-click), so as to save battery life.

GPX Import Uses Local Time Zone controls whether standard UTC time is used (the default) or if the local time zone is used during import.

The Support Key is a special password that unlocks additional capabilities. It is used by the Abvio team for debugging and demonstration uses.

Import

Import requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Walkmeter can import GPX and KML files for uses which include:

  1. Import a file as the official path for a route, so you can see where you are going on the map and elevation graph.
  2. Import a file as a virtual competitor, so you can compete against the competitor, hear announcements of how far you are ahead or behind, and see their location on the map and graphs.
  3. Import files of your previously recorded workouts from other social fitness sites and applications, so you can view your workout history in Walkmeter. Note that only some social fitness sites and applications allow you to export the necessary information.

GPX is the preferred format for exchanging geographic information. KML import is limited to the KML files created by Walkmeter.

How to Import

  1. On your iPhone, tap the link or mail attachment you want to import in Mail, Safari, or other applications.
  2. You will be prompted about which application you want to open the file. Choose Walkmeter.
  3. Walkmeter will be launched, and will display a page showing a map and settings. You can accept the defaults, or adjust the following:

    Route – Choose an existing route from the list of choices, or tap + / Edit to create a new route.

    Activity – Choose an activity from the list of choices, or tap + / Edit to create a new activity.

    Competitor – Choose an existing competitor from the list of choices, or tap + / Edit to create a new competitor.
    Choose the competitor named Me by default to include this workout in your history.

    You can also choose whether to import the file as a path or as a workout.

  4. Tap Import. The file will be imported, and you will be shown the Info page for that workout.

Using Imported Files

Results of your import can be viewed using the Routes and Competitors views.

  • Tap a route name in the Routes view to see your imports, which will be listed under Leaderboard or Paths.
  • A path or any workout can become the Official Path for a route by tapping on it, then editing the Info for that path, and changing Official Path from No to Yes. The Official Path is marked with this icon: Official
  • If the import created a competitor workout, it will be replayed as you go along that route. The competitor’s icon will be shown on the map and in graphs. You can hear Announcements of your relative progress, and also include this information in posts to Twitter, Facebook, and Email Updates.
  • You may view and manage your competitors and their workouts using the Competitors view.

Finding GPX and KML Files To Import

The easiest way to find files to import is through other people who use Walkmeter.

  • Every email sent by Walkmeter includes by default an Import URL link. Just tap the link on your iPhone to start an import.
  • Every Twitter or Facebook post from Walkmeter includes by default a Google Map link. First view the Google Map, and then do the following:

    On a Desktop – Click the import link on the left to download the KML file and send it to yourself as an attachment. Follow the directions above to import the attachment on your iPhone.

    On the iPhone – First tap the icon in the lower left corner to show the KML items, then tap the import link.

You can also find GPX files on the Internet to import. Some GPX files contain only location information, in which case they can only be imported as a path. Some may also include timing information, in which case they can be imported as a path or a workout.

Because most social fitness sites are not adapted for mobile browsing, here is the most reliable way to import GPX files from them:

  1. On your computer, browse the social fitness site to find the GPX file you want. Then click on it to download it.
  2. On your computer, send yourself the GPX file as an attachment to your own email address.
  3. On your iPhone, receive the email, and then tap on the attachment to start the import process as described above.

Export

Walkmeter has many ways to export your data.

Exporting a Single Workout as GPX, KML, or CSV

  1. Tap the Routes tab.
  2. Tap a route name or All.
  3. Tap History to see the list of workouts for that route.
  4. Tap the workout you want to export.
  5. Tap Email/Export. (Alternatively, tap Splits to view and export split information as a CSV file or URL.)
  6. Choose what you want to share, and whether you want to share as a file attachment, or as a URL to a file on Abvio’s site.
    • Google Maps URL – best for sharing a map.
    • GPX – best for sharing with other social fitness sites.
    • KML – best for viewing in Google Earth.
    • CSV – best for analyzing and graphing in a spreadsheet.
  7. Send the email to yourself or someone else.

Note: You can also start with the Calendar tab to navigate to a workout to export, then continue with #5 above.

Export Summary Data as CSV

  1. Tap the Routes tab.
  2. Tap a route name to export a summary for that route, or All to export a summary of all workouts.
  3. Tap the Email/Export button.
  4. Choose whether you want to export a CSV file as an attachment, or as a URL to a file on Abvio’s site.
  5. Send the email to yourself or someone else. A CSV file or URL will be sent that includes all of the workouts associated with that route name, or all of your workouts if you chose All.

Send an Update Using Twitter, Facebook, or Email Updates

You can send updates automatically using Twitter, Facebook, and Email Updates.To send updates manually, use the following steps:

  1. Tap the Routes tab.
  2. Tap a route name or All.
  3. Tap History to see the list of workouts for that route.
  4. Tap the workout you want to export.
  5. Tap Send Update.
  6. Choose one of Twitter, Facebook, or Email Updates.
  7. Review or modify the text that will be posted.
  8. Tap Send.

Note: You can also start with the Calendar tab to navigate to a workout to send, then continue with #5 above.

ANT+ Sensors

Walkmeter supports the Wahoo Fitness ANT+ system for connecting to heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors. Visit abvio.com/wahoo for more information and to purchase. The following products are recommended.

Wahoo Bike Pack includes a bike case with an ANT+ receiver, and a speed/cadence sensor.

Wahoo Run Pack includes an ANT+ receiver and a heart rate monitor.

Wahoo Key is a small ANT+ receiver.

Wahoo Bike Case is a bike mount with an ANT+ receiver.

Wahoo Soft Heart Rate Belt

Wahoo Heart Rate Monitor

Wahoo Speed/Cadence Sensor

Garmin Heart Rate Monitor

Tips and Tricks

  1. Listen to music. Before you launch Walkmeter, get set up to listen to music. Launch the iPod app, and then start your music, podcasts, or playlists. Then launch Walkmeter, select your route, and touch Start. While you are underway, click your earphone control once to stop or start your music, twice quickly to skip ahead to the next track in your playlist, and three times quickly to skip backward in your playlist.

    Power Tip: Use your iPhone’s Voice Control to control your music and get information. Press and hold your earphone remote until you hear the Voice Control tone, then say commands such as:

    • "Play playlist Power Songs" (assumes you have set up a playlist named Power Songs ahead of time)
    • "Play artist The National"
    • "Play playlist Top 25 Most Played"
    • "What time is it?"
    • "Call John Smith"

    See your iPhone documentation for information about Voice Control.

    Important: If your iPhone does not support multitasking, and during your workout you run the iPod application to change music, be sure to run Walkmeter again when you’re done so it can continue to record.

  2. Leave your iPhone in your pocket. Turn on Remote Control in the Remote Control view, and then you can slowly double-click your earphone remote (about a second apart) to start and stop.
  3. Create custom activities. Want to add an activity like "Nordic Walking"? Just visit the Stopwatch view, tap the Activities button to view the list of activities, then tap Edit to add a new activity or change an existing activity. You can give each activity a custom name, decide whether to use pace (time over distance) or speed (distance over time), choose the distance measure, and set other characteristics. Be sure to chose an activity type that closely matches the speed of the intended activity.
  4. Reviewing past performance. To review an item in the Stopwatch, Map, or Graphs views, navigate to the item from the Calendar or the Routes views. Then touch the summary, the map or graphs, and you will be prompted to review the item. When you are done reviewing, touch Reset in the Stopwatch view.
  5. Start counting calories. Go to the Settings view, enter your weight, and then calories will be counted and can be shown in the Stopwatch view by changing Stopwatch Shows in the Settings view, under Stopwatch.
  6. Cycling safely with earphones. For safety, use only one earphone, and keep the other tucked inside your jersey. Go to Remote Control view and set announcements to occur on every click, which disables iPod Audio. Go to the Announcements view and set announcements to occur on a time or distance interval. Use your remote to start or stop the stopwatch, or to request an announcement.
  7. Cycling with a bike mount. If you cycle with a bike mount and want the display to stay on during your ride, tap More, then Settings, then Advanced, and change Screen On to either Always or When Recording.
  8. Battery tips:
    • Turn off Wi-Fi, which will not only reduce battery consumption, but also improve location accuracy by assuring Wi-Fi location sensing is not used by the iPhone. To turn off Wi-Fi, visit your iPhone’s Settings > Wi-Fi.
    • Lock the iPhone, which powers down the display and touchscreen.
    • If not needed, shut off all automatic Twitter tweets, Facebook posts, and email updates except for the one that occurs on Done. This removes the need for Walkmeter to update the map link.
    • Remember that the iPhone battery will begin losing capacity after about a year of constant use, and could require replacement to get best results.
    • For very long workouts, consider using external batteries or cases with battery packs.

GPS Troubleshooting

Walkmeter uses the iPhone’s internal GPS to determine your location over time. While Walkmeter employs advanced technology to filter out bad data, it is still dependent on the quality of the location data reported by the iPhone.

Symptoms that Walkmeter has received bad data from the iPhone include:

  • Incorrect distance, elevation, climb, or calories
  • Incorrect average pace or speed
  • Excessive fastest pace or speed
  • Spikes in the graphs
  • Path deviations in the map

The following suggestions have worked for many of our customers.

Check that Location Services is Enabled – Using the Settings application on your iPhone, tap General, then Location Services, and check that Location Services are enabled for Walkmeter.

Restart Your iPhone if GPS Reception is Consistently Poor – When iPhone GPS reception is consistently poor, try completely shutting down the iPhone and then restarting. To do so, hold down the Lock button on the top the iPhone and then Slide to Power Off. Wait until the iPhone is completely powered off. Then turn on the iPhone by holding down the Lock button until the iPhone starts. Restarting the iPhone has helped us as well as many of our customers in the past.

Turn Off 3G – Launch your iPhone Settings application, then tap General, then Network. Turn off 3G. After your workout, you can turn it back on and leave it on. (We believe this helps when the iPhone caches bad location data. Turning off 3G clears out this data.)

Use Our Latest Software – Make sure you’re using our latest software. We are constantly improving our software and making it better able to handle GPS inaccuracies.

Restart iPhone After Updates – After you install a new version of Walkmeter, restart the iPhone. Our users have reported GPS reception issues after updating that are cleared only by restarting the iPhone.

Wait for Good GPS Reception Before Starting – After launching Walkmeter, wait several seconds for the iPhone GPS to warm up and report good GPS reception. If Walkmeter displays the Poor GPS Reception alert, please wait until the GPS status in the lower left of the Stopwatch shows 3 bars or more.

GPS Reception Is Poor Indoors – GPS reception is usually unacceptable indoors, because steel, wood, or concrete may be in the way of locking onto satellites.

GPS Reception May Seem Acceptable in the iPhone Maps App – Walkmeter requires sufficient GPS accuracy to track your activity, while the Maps app requires less to determine your general location. If you look closely at the Maps app display, you may see a large blue circle around your location indicating poor accuracy. When GPS accuracy is low, the iPhone uses Wi-Fi and cell phone tower location sensing to determine your general location, which is not accurate enough for tracking your workouts.

How You Carry Your iPhone Can Affect GPS Reception – The iPhone needs to see at least 3 of the 24 GPS satellites circling the earth to get a lock on your position. Your body absorbs some of the signal. Most people keep their phone in a pocket, an armband, or in the back pocket of a jersey. Try not to have the iPhone near metal, such as a metal zipper or bike tools.

Your Case Could Affect GPS Reception – If your iPhone is in a case you may want to try removing it and see if you get better GPS reception. Some of our customers have reported that they get better GPS reception once they remove their iPhone from the case. We carry ours in a form-fitting plastic bag without a case.

Tall Buildings and Trees Affect GPS Reception – Tall buildings, trees, terrain, mountains, walls or cliffs, etc. can reduce GPS reception.

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Can Affect GPS Reception – RFI may interfere with GPS reception. Typical sources of intense RFI include microwave antennas, satellite dishes and especially power lines.

Monitor Poor GPS Time – Walkmeter will report the time that GPS reception was unacceptable in red next to the GPS indicator in the Stopwatch, and show an alert when tapping Done after a workout. To turn this off or adjust the value at which it occurs, see Poor GPS Time in Settings.

Turn Off Wi-Fi – When the iPhone cannot obtain acceptable location information from the GPS because of poor GPS reception, the iPhone will instead rely on less accurate information from a nearby Wi-Fi hotspot or cell phone tower location. That in turn may lead to an inaccurate determination of your location and poor results. One possible remedy is to turn off Wi-Fi during your activity, which also conserves battery power.

Use iPhone Within Acceptable Operating Temperatures – Apple has published the acceptable operating temperatures for the iPhone. Outside of those temperatures, the iPhone GPS may report erroneous or inaccurate location information to Walkmeter.

Edit Your Statistics – Even if you follow all of the guidelines we’ve outlined, from time to time GPS reception issues may cause Walkmeter to record erroneous results. Walkmeter allows you to edit the statistics on your activity such as the distance, time, climb, calories, etc. Feel free to edit your statistics after your workout.

Lock Your iPhone – Before you put your iPhone into your pocket, be sure to press the top lock button. This locks the iPhone, but Walkmeter will continue to record data. This also reduces battery usage by powering down the display. Note that you can use Remote Control to start and stop Walkmeter while it is in your pocket and locked.

Walkmeter Must Be Running to Record Data – If your iPhone does not support multitasking, make sure that Walkmeter runs continuously during your workout. If you answer a phone call, reply to a text, or use the iPod application to change music, just be sure to run Walkmeter again when you are done. Some of our customers have reported a habit of pressing the home button before putting their phone into their pocket, which is something to avoid.

Walkmeter Requires GPS Capabilities – The iPod touch, iPhone first generation, and some iPad models do not have GPS capabilties. While they can generally determine their location, this is through the use of cell phone towers or wi-fi locations, which are not reliable or accurate enough.

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The Abvio Team