# Walking metrics, explained > StepUp's nine walking metrics show how you walk, not just how much: Momentum, Trend, Tempo, Climb, Routine, Evenness, Pace, Effort and Fitness. Six work from your iPhone alone. Pace, Effort and Fitness need an Apple Watch for heart rate and walking workouts. All of them are calculated on your iPhone from Apple Health. - URL: https://www.getstepup.app/guides/walking-metrics-explained - Author: Dheeraj Kumar Sharma, founder of StepUp - Published: 2026-10-16 - Updated: 2026-10-16 - Reviewed: 2026-10-16 ![An iPhone showing StepUp’s walking metrics (momentum), with the text: 9 ways to read your walking.](https://pub-48d2217e0886430fa61a96fad22cffa7.r2.dev/Guides/nine-walking-metrics.webp) *image credit: Unsplash* How many steps you took is only half the story of a walk. The other half is *how* you walked: when in the day, how fast, how evenly, how hard your heart worked, and whether any of it is changing. Your iPhone and Apple Watch already measure most of this and store it in Apple Health. StepUp turns it into nine walking metrics, each with a short note explaining what it means. This page is the map. It explains what each metric measures, what it needs, and where to read more. ## What are StepUp's nine walking metrics? | Metric | What it tells you | Needs | |---|---|---| | Momentum | When your steps happen across the day, and your longest stretch sitting down | iPhone | | Trend | Whether your average steps are going up or down | iPhone | | Tempo | Your cadence: how many steps you take a minute | iPhone | | Climb | How many flights of stairs you climb | iPhone | | Routine | How regular your walking is from day to day | iPhone | | Evenness | How balanced your left and right steps are | iPhone | | Pace | Your walking speed and step length, week to week | Apple Watch | | Effort | How hard your walks are for your heart | Apple Watch | | Fitness | Your walking speed compared with your heart rate | Apple Watch | Momentum is free. The other eight are part of StepUp Pro. ## Momentum: when you move Momentum shows how your steps spread across the day, hour by hour, and picks out your longest stretch sitting down. Two days with the same step count can look very different: one with a single long walk and nine hours at a desk, another with movement scattered from morning to night. Breaking up long spells of sitting is one of the easiest changes to make, and Momentum shows exactly where those spells are. ## Trend: are you walking more? Trend smooths out the day-to-day noise and shows whether your average is rising or falling. One busy Saturday or one rainy week barely moves it, which is the point: it answers the question a single day can't, "am I actually walking more than I used to?" ## Tempo: how quickly you step Tempo is your cadence, the number of steps you take a minute while walking. It's one of the simplest ways to tell a stroll from a brisk walk. Research on adults puts the start of moderate-intensity walking at about 100 steps a minute, the pace health guidelines count as exercise. ## Climb: how far up you went Climb counts your flights climbed: each time you gain about 3 metres (10 feet) of height on foot, roughly 16 stairs. Your iPhone's barometer measures it, so it needs no Apple Watch. Large studies link climbing more than five flights a day with a lower risk of heart disease. [Climb, explained](https://www.getstepup.app/metrics/climb) covers how the count works and why it sometimes looks wrong. ## Routine: how regular you are Routine looks at the shape of your weeks rather than the size of them: which days you walk, and how consistent that is. A habit that holds steady through busy weeks is worth more than a few big days followed by nothing, and Routine makes the pattern visible. ## Evenness: how balanced your steps are Evenness uses the walking measurements your iPhone takes while it's in your pocket, such as walking asymmetry: how different the timing of your left and right steps is. Most people's steps are close to even. A change over time can follow an injury, sore joints or tiredness, and is worth noticing. Evenness is a guide, not a diagnosis: if your walking feels different, talk to a doctor. ## Pace: how fast you walk Pace tracks your walking speed and step length from week to week, using walking workouts recorded on your Apple Watch. Walking speed is one of the most studied signs of overall health in older adults, and watching it hold steady, or creep up, is reassuring. ## Effort: how hard your walks are Effort uses heart rate from your Apple Watch to show how hard your walks are for your body. The same route can be an easy stroll one day and hard work the next, after a bad night's sleep or in hot weather. Effort shows the difference your step count can't. ## Fitness: the same walk getting easier Fitness compares your walking speed with your heart rate. As you get fitter, you can walk at the same speed with a lower heart rate, or faster at the same heart rate. Over weeks, Fitness shows the same walk getting easier, which is one of the most motivating things a walking app can show you. ## Do you need an Apple Watch? No. Six of the nine metrics, including Climb and Evenness, work from your iPhone alone, as long as you carry it while you walk. Pace, Effort and Fitness need an Apple Watch, because they rely on heart rate and walking workouts that only the watch records. ## Where does the data come from? Everything comes from Apple Health, where your iPhone and Apple Watch have been recording your steps, flights, walking measurements and heart rate all along. StepUp reads it, works out each metric on your iPhone, and stores the results there. Your health data never leaves your phone. ## Which metric should you look at first? - **If you're just starting:** Trend. It tells you whether your walking is moving in the right direction. - **If you sit a lot:** Momentum. It shows the longest stretch to break up. - **If you want more from the same walks:** Tempo, then Fitness. - **If your walking feels different lately:** Evenness, and a word with your doctor. For how many steps to aim for in the first place, start with [How many steps should I walk a day?](https://www.getstepup.app/guides/how-many-steps-a-day). ## The short version - Step count says how much you walked. StepUp's nine metrics show how. - Momentum, Trend, Tempo, Climb, Routine and Evenness work from your iPhone alone. - Pace, Effort and Fitness need an Apple Watch for heart rate and walking workouts. - Momentum is free. The rest are in StepUp Pro. - Everything is calculated and stored on your iPhone. ## Questions ### What walking metrics does the iPhone measure? Carried in a pocket, an iPhone records steps, distance, flights climbed, walking speed, step length, walking asymmetry and double support time, and saves them to Apple Health. An Apple Watch adds heart rate and walking workouts. ### Do I need an Apple Watch for StepUp's metrics? No. Momentum, Trend, Tempo, Climb, Routine and Evenness work from your iPhone alone. Pace, Effort and Fitness need an Apple Watch, because they use heart rate and walking workouts that only the watch records. ### What is a good walking cadence? About 100 steps a minute is where walking becomes moderate exercise for most adults. Brisk walking is usually 100 to 120 steps a minute. To check yours, count your steps for 15 seconds and multiply by four. ### Which StepUp metrics are free? Momentum is free, along with steps, distance, calories and flights from Apple Health. The other eight metrics, Trend, Tempo, Climb, Routine, Evenness, Pace, Effort and Fitness, are part of StepUp Pro. ### Does StepUp send my health data anywhere? No. StepUp reads your data from Apple Health, works out every metric on your iPhone and stores the results there. Your steps, heart rate and walking measurements never leave your phone. ## Sources - [Tudor-Locke et al. (2019), Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 21–40 year olds: CADENCE-adults, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity](https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0769-6) - [Song et al. (2023), Daily stair climbing, disease susceptibility, and risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a prospective cohort study, Atherosclerosis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.117300) - [Studenski et al. (2011), Gait speed and survival in older adults, JAMA](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/644554)