Virtual Walk App Review: Walk the Distance App Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Walking Shoes, Apparel, and Gear Motivate Yourself to Walk More With the Walk the Distance App By Wendy Bumgardner Wendy Bumgardner Wendy Bumgardner is a freelance writer covering walking and other health and fitness topics and has competed in more than 1,000 walking events. Learn about our editorial process Updated on November 24, 2021 Fact checked Verywell Fit content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. We rely on the most current and reputable sources, which are cited in the text and listed at the bottom of each article. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication. Learn more. by Emily Swaim Fact checked by Emily Swaim Emily is a fact checker, editor, and writer who has expertise in psychology, health and lifestyle content. Learn about our editorial process Print Susumu Yoshioka The free Walk The Distance app is based on the Virtual Walk app and is available for both iOS and Android. It tracks your walking via the accelerometer in your phone and uses your step count to take you on a virtual walk and show you the sights you would see on that route. Even if you are just circling your neighborhood, on the high school track, or plodding away on the treadmill, you can be walking the Appalachian Trail or taking a historical tour of Washington, D.C. Liven up your treadmill session or local walking route by virtually exploring some of the most picturesque global walking trails and destinations. How Walk the Distance Works Walk the Distance—as well as its predecessor app, Virtual Walk—helps you visualize your walking route along the Appalachian Trail, national parks, and other notable routes throughout the country. Keep motivation high and your fitness goals in mind as you log miles and cover major distances, physically and virtually. The Walk the Distance app syncs up with your phone's Health app or Google Fit (on iOS and Android, respectively) on an hourly basis and logs your mileage throughout the day. As you walk and the steps add up, Walk the Distance will track your distance on free walks throughout cities and even marathon routes. Virtual Walk Routes Take to the Appalachian Trail, the Boston Marathon route, New York City's Central Park, or other destination walks to compete with friends and reach virtual checkpoints. The app is designed to help you meet markers along the route and walk alongside friends, all while enjoying the views and sights of faraway walks. The app features free walks for the Appalachian Trail, select marathon routes, cities, and national parks. Additional walks are available for $0.99. Walk the Distance Pros and Cons Using a virtual walk app is a great way to motivate your fitness walking. It can be very compelling to try to reach the next point of interest by putting in another mile or two. You can feel the achievement of walking the length of the Appalachian Trail without the need to carry a backpack and use trekking poles (although you may want to do that for authenticity). The screenshots also show a virtual Boston Marathon, which is probably the only way a walker will be able to do the race due to the qualifying times. Since your phone's accelerometer is the primary measurement of movement, and your phone's health app is the main tracker of steps and miles walked, any wrong measurements will affect how far Walk the Distance has tracked. For example, if you set your phone down near your treadmill rather than carrying it as you walk, your mile count will be affected. More Virtual Walk Apps There are several other virtual walking apps on the market, so you can find one that works best for you. Treadmill Trails (available for iOS) and BitGym (available for iOS and Android) each include a library of scenic videos you can watch while logging miles on the treadmill. World Walking (on iOS and Android) and My Virtual Mission (on iOS and Android) help users start fitness challenges, monitor their progress, and see the world by tracking walks on a map. 5 Ways to Map Your Walking Distance 1 Source Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Higgins J. Smartphone applications for patients' health and fitness. Am J Med. 2016;129(1):11-19. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.05.038 By Wendy Bumgardner Wendy Bumgardner is a freelance writer covering walking and other health and fitness topics and has competed in more than 1,000 walking events. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? 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