Mac 101

October 6, 2010 in Reviews by Bob Faulhaber

If you are looking for a pedometer app for your iPhone to use while you are out walking or running and want to be able to listen to music, keep walking past StepMeter Pro when you see it in the App Store.

StepMeter Pro from ivoxbytes provides a basic pedometer which gives you a timer, steps, distance and calculated energy burned as an iPhone app, along with the ability to share that information via FaceBook, however that’s where the usefulness ends. Unless you want to carry a separate iPod in order to listen to music while you are out walking or running, I have to give StepMeter Pro a pass.

After downloading StepMeter Pro and installing on my iPhone 4, I decided to give it a test on my usual 1.5 mile walk. Starting the app, the graphics and the controls are pretty straight-forward. Just prior to commencing the walk I exited the StepMeter Pro app and started the iPod to listen to a podcast, then as soon as I switched back to StepMeter Pro the iPod stopped playing.

Since there no instructions, I then attempted to start StepMeter Pro first and activating the pedometer and then starting up the iPod app and listening to my podcast. Considering the “multi-tasking” capabilities of iOS 4, I assumed that StepMeter Pro would be capable of running in the background. I then placed the iPhone in my pocket and commenced my walk.

Fast forward to my return home. I stopped the iPod and switched to StepMeter Pro and was promptly surprised with the results of my 1.5 mile walk.

Turning off the pedometer, by sliding the slider off, the summary showed nothing. The only indicator that had changed was the timer, which displayed 17 seconds and was probably the time elapsed from when I started the pedometer and switched over to the iPad app and started listening to my podcast.

The app requirement states that iOS 4.1 or later is required, yet the app makes absolutely no use of the iPhone’s “multi-tasking” capabilities and does not make any mention of this limitation or the inability to use the iPod app while using StepMeter Pro.

I then tested StepMeter Pro around the house for a few minutes and it seemed to accurately record the steps taken, however, until the developer upgrades the application to allow you to use the app with the iPod function, I’m going to have to put StepMeter Pro on the shelf.