Your Apple Watch keeps track of a lot of things, such as your steps and heart rate. But how do you place that pedometer on the screen? We explain.
Apple Watch pedometer
The Apple Watch is an advanced piece of technology that keeps a close eye on your activity. The smartwatch knows exactly what your heart rate is doing all day, how many steps you have taken and even whether you get up often enough to move. Funnily enough, there is no standard option to show your number of steps directly on the screen, such as on a Fitbit or other fitness tracker. With a detour you can get this done.
Activity rings
You’re probably used to Apple’s Activity rings on your iPhone and Apple Watch. These show whether you have exercised enough in one day. When all the rings are full, you have done your best. None of these rings is crazy enough for the number of daily steps. This while there are so many apps and devices that keep track of exactly whether you have achieved your step goal.
The Activity rings represent the number of calories you have burned with your activity, the number of minutes you have trained and the number of hours that you have been standing for at least one minute. There is something to be said for both the number of calories burned and the number of daily steps, but it is a pity that you cannot exchange this.
Although you can immediately see your number of steps in the Activity app and in the Health app on your iPhone, strangely enough there is no standard option to place these on your Apple Watch. You can put the calendar, battery, reminders, moon phase and so on, but not the steps. Apple may make this choice because the constant updating of your number of steps requires quite a bit from the battery.
Detour
Apple Watch does offer the option of adding complications to your watch face. This means that you give third-party apps a place on your screen. Apps that keep track of your steps are also possible. There are different apps to use for this, with different results. If you want a free option, you can Pedometer ++ to attempt. However, we had the best result with HealthDash (3.49 euros). But of course you are free to use another app with the same function
In any case, make sure that the app gets its data via the Health app of your iPhone. The Health app gets its data from your Apple Watch, so you know that the steps are counted correctly. Below we explain how to use HealthDash to record your steps on the screen.
This is how you put a pedometer on your Apple Watch with HealthDash
- Download HealthDash from the App Store;
- After opening HealthDash you need to give the app access to the Health app. Flip the switch when prompted and then press ‘ok’;
- On the ‘My Watch’ screen in the Watch app on your iPhone, search for HealthDash, tap the app and flip the switch at ‘Show app on Apple Watch’;
- Under ‘My watch faces’, tap the watch face you are using;
- Select ‘HealthDash’ at ‘Complications’.
From now on, your steps will be shown on your Apple Watch screen when using that particular watch face. The steps are updated every ten minutes to save battery. If you want to see your current steps faster, tap the number of steps and they will be updated. This way you know immediately whether you have already achieved your goal.