App Review: MapMyWalk
I’ve always been a perfectionist—which means that I’m prone to overdoing things. For instance, before I can start a walk, I have to open a whole lot of apps. I was once getting ready for a race and pulling up some apps on my phone, and a friend said, “Why are you using phone apps to track your mileage? You should just have that on your watch.” I just shrugged as told her that I have one on my watch, too.
When I stop to think of it, I really don’t know why I use multiple apps for tracking my mileage. But it does mean that I can share my experiences here, so I guess it’s not a bad thing.
For years, I’ve been using the MapMyWalk app on my phone for tracking mileage—in addition to the Strava app on my watch. I use it for the basics: to track the distance and pace of my daily walks. It even gives me information me as I go, with spoken updates that break into my audiobook at every mile marker to tell me the distance, time, and the pace for the last mile. It can also track things like steps, calories, and elevation—and after you finish a workout, it shows a map of the path and offers detailed information about pacing and elevation changes. It works best outdoors, though. The GPS isn’t very accurate if you’re walking in a mall. And while it allows you to select different activities for each workout, it reports very little for things like treadmill walks.
The app also offers more features—like training plans to help you prepare for your first 5k or run to lose weight. There are also challenges to join to push yourself to go farther or stay consistent. Some of these challenges are sponsored—and you may earn discounts or offers for completing them.
The problem with this app, though, is its reliability. It will track some walks perfectly, while it may lose its connection in the middle of others. I know my usual path pretty well, and sometimes I’ll realize that I wasn’t updated on my last mile, only to pull out my phone and realized that it stopped tracking a half mile ago. At other times, it’ll completely glitch out, telling me I’ve gone 0 miles and burned millions of calories.
MapMyWalk has been one of my default walking apps for years—and, honestly, I’m not entirely sure why I keep using it every day. It might just be because I like the updates at each mile. But its questionable reliability makes me think that I might be better off switching to a different app that has similar (but more consistent) functionality.
Pros:
– Tracks detailed information on each workout: distance, pace, elevation, etc.
– Audio updates let you know if you’re keeping up your target pace
– Regular challenges can keep you motivated to earn discounts and extras
Cons:
– Has become unreliable—so it might not always give accurate information
– Not a great option if you’re walking in a mall, on a track, or on a treadmill
You can find MapMyWalk wherever you get your apps – or online at MapMyWalk.com.
