You can track a lot of fitness stats using just your phone, no wearables needed

When you think When counting your steps or tracking your sleep, you’d probably think of strapping a smartwatch or other wearable to your wrist, but you can actually monitor a range of metrics using just your phone.

Your phone has the ability to automatically track the number of steps you take, for example. As long as you always carry it with you, it can tell you if you’ve reached that daily step count, without the need for other devices.

To track other stats, including diet and sleep, you also need a third-party app – but there are plenty to choose from, and you don’t have to buy an additional fitness tracker to set your health and wellbeing goals.

Of course, there are benefits to wearables: they can constantly monitor data like heart rate, and they’re easy to wear during a morning jog. But it pays to be aware of what your phone can do on its own, and weigh whether you need a smartwatch or fitness tracker before investing in one.

Built-in tracking features

If you’re an iPhone owner, open the Health app to see all the different pieces of data it can record, from the number of minutes you move each day to the amount of sugar in your diet. You can manually enter readings for all of these categories, so if you’re willing to put in the time, you can build a comprehensive picture of your health.

The number of steps you take each day is something your iPhone can track using its built-in motion sensors. It is able to do this tracking automatically as long as you keep your phone with you, and there is nothing to enable here, as it is on by default. To see the data pulled by your iPhone, which can also include walking speed and walking distance, tap your profile photo (top right), then Devicesthen select your iPhone from the list.

The iPhone Health app can track steps and distance.David Nield