New Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 fitness feature is surprisingly motivating

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 include a new fitness-tracking feature: live step tracking on the watch face. Alongside live heart rate data, it’s a surprisingly welcome and motivating change to the new hardware that I’m loving so far.

Conceptually, step tracking data on the watch face is a rather unremarkable feature. Third-party apps like Pedometer++ have long been able to display your step count on your watch face. But Apple has waited until Series 12 and Ultra 4 to build in support for the Apple Watch.

Step tracking data has always been collected by Apple Watch. Even your iPhone can measure step tracking throughout the day, dating back to the iPhone 5s (before the Apple Watch existed).

Before Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, however, Apple tucked step tracking data away inside apps like Fitness and Health. Now, it’s a built-in complication option from the Fitness app, just like activity rings.

My guess is that Apple didn’t surface this data before for a two reasons. First, Apple’s new hardware is more capable and more efficient. That must be the reason why live step data is hardware-specific.

Second, I think Apple has liked the idea of presenting the Apple Watch as more comprehensive than just step tracking. The heart rate monitor and other sensors tell a much more complete story than just steps walked per day.

Whatever the thinking may have been before, we now have built-in live step tracking on the Apple Watch face. And the result? For me at least, it’s a surprisingly motivating number to view so far.

While I most appreciate live heart rate data for real-time insight, I’m finding that little step tracking number to be most beneficial when I start my day. It’s basically a race to get out of the hundreds and into the thousands. Otherwise that triple-digit number is just staring me down all day.

My current strategy is to knock out a 16-minute rolling hills workout on my GymKit-equipped BowFlex T6 treadmill early in the day. This adjusts incline up and down, allowing me to focus on speed and a fixed session time. The sooner I knock out the mile run, the more time for a cooldown walk afterwards.

It’s also just really satisfying to watch the number increase as you walk, even if you’re not logging a workout. It’s a small thing, but it’s a welcome new way to gamify increasing your activity, especially if you’re anchored to a desk for much of the day.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are both available now. You can read the 9to5Mac review here.

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