A step tracker that shows if you are on pace for your day

The Steps card: are you on track today?

On the Dashboard, the Steps card shows today's steps against your step goal, with either Goal reached or how many steps are left. Below it, a chart follows your steps through the day over a shaded band that shows what a typical day looks like for you.

It also tells you what you usually have by this time, where you are on track to finish, and how many recent days you met your goal. A low number at noon means little if you usually walk in the evening, and this card shows that difference.

Know Your Steps: when and where you move

Know Your Steps on the Activity tab opens a full Steps Analysis, and each section has its own range, from the selected day to 7, 14, 30 or 60 days.

• Steps by Hour: total or average steps or distance for each hour, with your peak hour.
• Steps by Day: your daily average, peak day, and which days met or fell below your goal.
• Goal Completions: your success rate and how many days you completed your goal.
• Steps Distribution by Time: how your steps split between morning, afternoon, evening and night.
• Steps by Day of Week: a heatmap showing which weekdays you are most active.
• Peak Performance Days: your top five step days.

Day's Activity: Move, Exercise and Stand

Day's Activity shows your three rings as progress bars with a percentage: Move calories, Exercise minutes and Stand hours against your goals, with a trophy when all three are closed. A grid adds steps, distance, active calories and total calories.

Tap through for Activity Metrics covering steps, distance, active and total calories, flights climbed and stand hours. Each metric opens an hourly breakdown, a comparison of the day with your 7-day average and best day, and a few hourly insights. The day's workouts are listed below.

Why daily steps matter

Walking is the movement most people do most of, and it adds up. Regular daily walking is widely linked with better heart health, easier weight management, steadier mood and better sleep, and it counts whether or not you ever do a formal workout. For many people, more everyday movement is the most realistic change they can make.

A goal helps, but timing matters too. Long stretches of sitting are worth breaking up even on days you hit your total. Seeing your steps by hour and by weekday shows where the quiet stretches are, such as a desk-bound afternoon or a slow Sunday, so you know where a short walk would make the biggest difference.

Data, goals and other places to see steps

Steps, distance and flights come from iPhone alone, and from Apple Watch or other devices that save to Apple Health. Exercise minutes and Stand hours need an Apple Watch. You set your own step goal in FitRest.

Steps also appear on the Apple Watch app's Today page, in Home Screen widgets (Compact, Minimal, Hourly Chart and Weekly Trends) and as a Lock Screen widget. Step milestones count toward your achievements as well.