Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone
TUAW Responds: iPhone Pedometer
One of our readers wrote in asking whether the iPhone could possibly replace the Nike sports kit and work as a pedometer with its onboard accelerometer.
Short answer? It already does. The (jailbreak) iPhone pedometer project is open source and available on Google code. The iPhone's three onboard accelerometer sensors allow you to capture force vectors and figure out when the force changes direction as you take a step.
None of the iPhone-specific solutions that I've tried from Installer.app seem to work as well as my wiimote does on my treadmill with Wii Fit. I'd imagine that the iPhone will catch up quickly once the AppStore takes off.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Splunkster said 12:03PM on 6-26-2008
The iPhone 3G shouldn't need the accelerometer. It could use GPS to track you and get an exact measurement of how far you've gone.
That is, if it can track GPS while locked.
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William Hook said 2:14PM on 6-26-2008
I can totally see the iPhone's GPS being used as a PEDOMETER.
Handy tip: Look up the meaning of the word.
Splunkster said 4:09PM on 6-26-2008
Look beyond the exact meaning.
Pedometer: measures the number of steps.
Purpose: So you can multiply by the average length of each pace and get the distance of your walk/jog/run.
GPS can get the distance of your walk/jog/run without counting the paces.
So take your "handy tips" and cram them up your ass.
Splunkster said 4:11PM on 6-26-2008
Just for kicks, I'll quote Wikipedia:
"Recently, exercise enthusiasts have observed that an advanced Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver (GPSr) with an odometer mode serves as a very accurate pedometer for outdoor activities."
Thanks, you lose.
Peter said 8:30PM on 6-26-2008
The GPS chip in the iPhone 3G is only accurate within a few feet. It would be useless to track your pace like the Nike+ Kit does.
rawhead said 9:01PM on 6-26-2008
GPS, even if it were accurate to the centimeter, cannot take the place of a pedometer. Why? Because it will never be able to measure the distance you've "traveled" on a treadmill (although the treadmill should be able to tell you, but that's not the point).
noza said 12:06PM on 6-26-2008
Yah, let us know when something like this available in the App Store world, not the script-kiddie jailbreak world.
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Anonymous said 11:39AM on 6-30-2008
You realize that without the jailbreaking "script kiddies" writing native apps, it's entirely likely that Apple would've never seen that there was demand for a native SDK in the first place and your beloved App Store wouldn't exist, right?
geebee said 3:49PM on 6-26-2008
How rude.
Think you better look up what script-kiddie means. You cant write software from scratch using a script you dangleberry.
What has people who jailbreak got to do with writing excellent homebrew software, a lot of which will end up on AppStore, probably for free.
Go away. Your high-horse should be able to take you far, far away. Fast.
Adam said 12:44PM on 6-26-2008
I'm just hoping for a big announcement from Nike stating that Nike+ will be ported to the iPhone. Then I can get rid of another iPod device (nano), and only have one device to rule them all!
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Rickland said 5:12PM on 6-26-2008
Let’s consider the Nike+ and Apple situation for a moment. These two major companies have invested a lot of money on their partnership. Neither is going to be happy with a software only solution, even though it may be the right thing for the consumer. I expect the longer term solution for a third party developer would be to work together with both companies.
Adam said 5:26PM on 6-26-2008
Agreed. A software solution would be best, but isn't Nike the 3rd party solution? I don't see how bringing in another company will help solve anything.
Rickland said 8:50PM on 6-27-2008
No, Nike is a 2nd party. Their solution was to force the sale of a particular shoe, now other items are available too. Nonetheless, one had to buy a Nike product and an Apple product to make it work.
Due to the sheer amount of cash sunk into this partnership, that outcome will remain.
The addition of a third party... someone with the ability to provide a more accurate pedometer through Apple's embedded accelerometer in the background and (to make sure Nike doesn't get left out in the cold) tie it into Nike products through any number of methods, and you've got a play that will sell tons more Nike merchandise and make millions of iPhone and iPod Touch users happy too.
The big problem is the announcement at WWDC that there will be no external application running in the background. Period. No exceptions.
So I guess Apple will have to buy that hypothetical third party software company to make a background application an internal project. :)
Mark said 12:55PM on 6-26-2008
I just want my Nike+ sport kit to work with the new iPhone so I don't have to have my nano hanging around and syncing all my workout music to it.
PLEASE, Apple? pwetty pweese?
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totoro said 12:57PM on 6-26-2008
Tell me more about this WiiFit/WiiMote/treadmill trick!
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boardopboy said 1:11PM on 6-26-2008
Yeah! I wanna know what that's all about too!
Erica Sadun said 1:19PM on 6-26-2008
You know the bit where you run in place for WiiFit? And either hold the remote or throw it into your pocket? Just hop on the treadmill instead. I find it a lot more fun to use the treadmill than to just run in place.
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Stephman said 2:05PM on 6-26-2008
With WiiFit disc in your Wii, there is a jogging activity.
You hold the WiiMote in your hand or in your pants/short pocket and jog in place. The WiiMote senses your up/down motion as you're jogging in place and the character/Mii on the screen jogs around an imaginary island. The faster you jog in place, the faster the Mii jogs on the screen.
I'm assuming the poster has the wiimote on him while jogging on his treadmill...pretty cool idea, wish I had a treadmill.
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Stephman said 2:07PM on 6-26-2008
WiiFit jogging
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiiIP8BOFKg
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Jason said 1:42AM on 7-01-2008
What if I'm too lazy to walk? :-)
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