Achievements Unlocked: Pedometer++ now gives awards

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pedometer 3 achievements
Health, energy, and a long life are no longer the sole rewards for taking a walk.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Pedometer++, from developer Underscore David Smith, is everyone’s favorite step-counting iPhone app. It’s simple, it is accurate, and it just works. Now, in version 3.0, the four-year old app gets a neat new Today widget, and — brace yourself — Achievements.

Pedometer++ has always been about motivating you to walk more. The basic schtick is that the app takes your step data from the iPhone’s motion-co-processor, the low-energy chip that — amongst other things — counts your steps. It then presents the data on a chart. A recent update added streaks, which counts the number of days in a row you hit your step goal (the default is 10,000 steps, and can be changed). The app also has a great Today widget which shows your step count with a single swipe from the home screen.

Cult of Mac asked Smith why the app is so popular. “I suspect a lot of it comes from keeping the app simple, to the point but still a little playful,” he said. “The things like confetti that pours down when you hit your goal are routinely mentioned to me as things that endear the app to its users.” The confetti is indeed a great touch, and changes color depending on how many tens of thousands of steps you manage.

Achievements unlocked

achievements
new awards are backdated to whenever you started walking with your iPhone.
Photo: _DavidSmith

In version three, Pedometer++ adds Achievements. These are awarded when you reach various goals — total step count in a day, streaks, lifetime step totals, lifetime floors climbed, plus a few special awards. The neat thing about the achievements is that they are retroactive. If you managed 30,000 steps in a day back in October 2015, then your 30,000 step award will be unlocked. Likewise, your step and floor counts: everything is backdated to when you started recording your activity.

The Today widget has also been expanded, with an optional breakdown of your step activity throughout the day.

Motivational

Pedometer++ has long been a Cult of Mac favorite, and now it has improved on the original without ruining its simplicity. The new Achievements are also great, especially the artwork (by designer Parakeet). The Lady is a fan of its motivational tricks — her screen is always packed solid with green bars. I have simpler needs. I just use the app to check if I have walked 15 kilometers (around 700 miles, I think), and if I have, I award myself a pound of baklava. If I was as motivated as Underscore Dave Smith, though, I would be able to eat a few pounds of the stuff. I asked him what was his best day. It was 53,663, which he did “while I was in the middle of a 130-mile backpacking trip earlier this year.”

Price: $Free

Download: Pedometer++ from the App Store (iPad and iPhone)

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