I began by searching for the highest-rated and most popular walking and running GPS tracking apps on the market. 

Once I found them, I downloaded the top ones onto my phone so that I could test them over the next 10 days on my daily walks. I like to go for a walk in the morning and sometimes again mid-afternoon, so each day, I picked a different app to use. I explored the features to see what the apps offered, and then I used them to track my daily walks. 

In some cases, I used 2 apps at the same time to see if there was a difference between the information that was reported. This gave me a chance to use each app more than once and get a better understanding of how they worked. It gave me more to work with and helped me to identify which apps were worth the investment for use long term. 

Throughout the testing process, I paid attention to how well the apps worked, how easy they were to use and how effective they were at tracking my walks. 

With all this in mind, and certain criteria to work off of, I was able to review all the apps, collect my findings and decide on my top 3.

You’ll see routes of all types. Long, short, easy, and hard, and you’ll very quickly realize that there’s more on your doorstep than you may have thought.

We were shown nearby waterfalls, walking routes, mountain biking trails, and so many more things to do that we simply didn’t know existed before.

You can see information such as how far you've traveled, how fast you’ve walked, and it even puts a live overlay up of your entire route, giving you a visual representation of where you went.

The app is free to use and has great functionality, but if you want to upgrade to the pro version, it only costs $29.99 for an annual membership. When you do become a pro member, you’ll get to enjoy an ad-free app experience, access to printable maps, and you’ll also have the option to download your maps for offline viewing, amongst many other great features.

AllTrails has some great features, such as the ability to select a predetermined route and go hike/walk/run following the map. When we did that, we were a little nervous, wondering whether or not the signal would be strong enough, but again, we didn’t have any problems at all.

It’s perfect whether you want to track your walks or runs and when you do you’ll be able to see all the essential metrics such as the duration, speed, distance and even calories burned while exercising.

As you use the app more, you’ll see that you can store all of your previous bests and that’s where the app starts to come into its own. You can keep detailed records of all of your workouts, which is great for tracking progress and performance over time, and a fantastic feature to have whether you’re walking for leisure or training for a race.

If you want to track a different activity you can do that too and once you have, you can interact with the worldwide community to show them pics and share what you wrote about the activity.

This is a pretty solid app that can be useful for helping you to get in shape and improve your health and fitness. It uses your information (height, weight, and goals) to create personalized workout programs for you, and it also provides you with additional options to follow along with such as walking for anxiety or walking to relieve stress. The workouts vary in intensity and duration, and all have been designed to help you get in better shape, whether you’re walking outside or on the treadmill.

Whether you’re walking or running with your phone the Nike Run Club is a fantastic app to help you keep track of your progress. The app is free to use and as you’d expect from Nike, it’s a great app. If your friends are on the app, you can connect and interact with them and you’ll find some great challenges available for you to each tryout. Using the app is easy, and whether you simply use it to track your progress, or you follow along with the guided runs, you’ll have a great experience with this app.

The Adidas running app is easy to use and simple to navigate. The activity tracking feature is very straightforward and once you load it up, you’ll see a range of great features to help you keep track of your progress. You can set personalized workout goals, identify a target pace or even run against your previous best, giving you some first-class features to help you improve your performance. It’s a fantastic app to use, one which came very close to cracking the top spot, however, it just missed out as at times, it was a little slow to load. Other than that, this is a great app that is certainly worth checking out.

If you don’t have a smartwatch then the WalkFit app could be a great choice for you. Once downloaded, it keeps track of your step count and as long as you have your phone on you when you move, it’ll track your every step. It’s primarily used to help you keep track of your progress but the WalkFit app does also contain challenges and workout programs that you can follow along with, making it a great choice if you’re looking for a way to improve your fitness without having to join a gym.

After reading some of the reviews for this app we were really excited to test it out, however, once we did, we were left feeling a little underwhelmed. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not a terrible app, we just felt that at $9.99 a month that there would be a little more. You get a program to follow and an automated voice talking in your ear, telling you what to do and that could be great, especially if you’re new to exercise. However, we just felt there were better options out there to help you start your running journey.

If you’re new to running then this app can help you to get started. It contains a range of personalized workouts for you to follow along with and it even has different difficulty levels to ensure you’re still being challenged as your fitness improves. We did find the robotic voiceover a little annoying to listen to, but other than that, this is a very good app.