Why is my iPhone not counting my steps?

Two reasons an iPhone stops counting steps

• The phone wasn't moving with your body. It counts steps from the motion it feels in your hand or pocket. Left on a desk, charging, in a bag, or riding in a stroller or cart, it barely moves, so it records few or none for that stretch.
• Fitness Tracking is off. In Settings, under Privacy & Security then Motion & Fitness, the Fitness Tracking switch has to be on, or the phone stops measuring steps at all, on any app.

Check Fitness Tracking first

1. Open the iPhone's Settings app (not PokeT-Walk).
2. Go to Privacy & Security, then Motion & Fitness.
3. Make sure Fitness Tracking is on. If it was off, turning it on fixes counting going forward, but it cannot recreate the steps already missed.

This setting lives in iOS itself, not inside PokeT-Walk; the app cannot turn it on or read it. What PokeT-Walk can do is fill in the gap it left behind.

Add the steps your iPhone missed

Once you know roughly how many steps the gap cost you, or the distance you covered, open PokeT-Walk and log it dated to when it happened, up to 7 days back.

1. On Home, open Ended at and set it to when the walk or the missed stretch finished.
2. For a step count, choose Spread over: Quick for the shortest natural time, 1 hour or 3 hours for a longer stretch.
3. Type the number into Custom amount and tap Add, tap a Quick steps preset, or tap a distance button if you know the route length instead of a count.
4. Check the "Written to Health at" line, then tap Open Health to see the entry.

Worked example: a 2,000-step errand with no phone

Say a phone stayed at a desk for a 2,000-step coffee run that ended at 14:10. Set Ended at to 14:10, choose Quick under Spread over and type 2,000 into Custom amount. With Natural Pace on, 2,000 steps need 2,000 ÷ 110 = 18.18 minutes, written as 18 samples of about a minute, 97 to 124 steps each, totalling exactly 2,000, plus 2,000 ÷ 1,300 = 1.538 km of walking distance.

Worked example: a full day without the phone

A longer gap, say your iPhone sat in a locker all afternoon while you walked about 6,000 steps, ending at 18:00. Set Ended at to 18:00 and Spread over to 3 hours: 6,000 steps spread over 180 one-minute samples, 29 to 38 steps each, 6,000 ÷ 1,300 = 4.615 km written.

Why the fix might not be the phone at all

• An Apple Watch paired and worn usually becomes the step source Health prefers for the minutes it was on your wrist, so the phone showing fewer steps that day is often normal, not broken.
• If you ever denied PokeT-Walk its own Health read permission, the "Today:" card on Home can look low or stuck, even though your iPhone's real step count in the Health app is fine.
• A phone in a thick case or a tight pocket can undercount rather than stop entirely; that shows up as some steps missing, not zero.

Questions and answers

You might also like

• Steps not counting when pushing a stroller, pram or cart: add the missing steps · PokeT-Walk

More PokeT-Walk guides

• How to add steps manually to Apple Health as a logged entry
• How to add steps with a Shortcut on iPhone, and when an app is easier
• How to add treadmill steps to Apple Health when your iPhone missed them
• Steps not counting when pushing a stroller, pram or cart: add the missing steps
• Km to steps: a walking and running chart from 1 to 12 km
• How to edit or delete steps you added to Apple Health
• Added steps not showing in another app? A checklist for Apple Health
• How to add a steps widget to your iPhone Home Screen or Lock Screen
• Forgot to wear my Apple Watch: can I add the steps?
• How many steps a day on the Camino de Santiago, and how do I log a stage my phone missed?
• All questions about PokeT-Walk
• Back to PokeT-Walk