MapMyWalk for Android: Daily App Pick

Posted By Sandy Berger in App Picks, Archive, Features, Lifehacks, Mobile

BreakingModern — Whether you already walk every day or you’ve just made a resolution to get in shape, the MapMyWalk app by MapMyFitness is a great tool to get fit. It’s free to download for Android on Google Play and Apple iOS.

This fitness-tracking app uses the GPS of your smartphone to monitor your activities. The beauty of this easy-to-use app is that it has an incredible amount of options. In fact, it has over 600 different activity types and can even be used as a calorie counter and a gentle motivational tool if you need that extra nudge.

Workout with Info

The main goal of MapMyWalk is to record your workout making it personal and something you can review later. You simply choose an activity such as walk, power walk, dog walk, run, treadmill, stairs, swim, and other choices. If you like, you can even select music for accompaniment. Simply press “Start Workout” at the beginning of your routine.

Press “Save Workout” when you finish and the path you took is shown on the map. At the bottom of the screen you can also see your time, speed and calories burned. If you’re curious, you can drill down for even more detailed information. Bookmark your route to use again or have the app suggest other routes. The suggestions are pretty fun and useful —  you may discover alternative paths that you haven’t previously considered.

MapMyWalk has a nutrition section, too. You can log the food you consumed and compare that to the calories you burned. It will also let you track your weight, sleep and steps each day. You can keep your information private or you can share it with friends on social media and join challenges for virtual competition. In the Gear Tracker you can even add your gym shoes in order to get alerted when it’s time to purchase a new pair.

One of the best features of MapMyWalk is that you can connect to and import data from activity tracking devices like Jawbone, Misfit, Fitbit, Garmin, Withings and many more. Have other health and nutrition apps like MyFitnessPal? You can sync your data easily.

Freemium Issues

All things considered, this is an excellent app. However, there is one minor thing that bugs me. MapMyWalk is constantly nagging you to purchase an MVP membership for $5.99 a month or $29.99 a year. This membership is the only way to remove display ads. Most of the ads appear in an easy-to-overlook strip on the screen (as shown in the above screenshot), but sometimes they aggravatingly take over the entire screen. The MVP membership does have many benefits, such as live location tracking, audio coaching and heart rate analysis, but paying for a workout app can come close to paying for a gym.

I must admit that even without the audio coaching, this app can help to motivate you. If you’ve been a little lax in your workouts just looking at a list of your previous workouts and their dates will encourage you to exercise more often. And this is a very good thing.

MapMyFitness was recently purchased by Under Armour and has other sister apps like MapMyRun, MapMyRide and MapMyHike, which are all similar to MapMyWalk.

For BMod, I’m Sandy Berger.

All screenshots: Sandy Berger

Featured image credit: © Monkey Business / Dollar Photo Club