Yes, every iPhone from the 5S onward automatically tracks your steps, distance walked, and flights of stairs climbed. This happens in the background without any app to download or setting to enable. The data is logged in the Apple Health app, which comes pre-installed on every iPhone.
How Your iPhone Counts Steps
Your iPhone uses a built-in accelerometer to detect the motion of your body as you walk or run. Starting with the iPhone 5S in 2013, Apple added a dedicated motion coprocessor (the M7, later updated in each new model) specifically designed to process movement data. This small chip runs independently from the main processor, continuously monitoring your motion patterns and translating them into step counts.
The motion coprocessor is engineered to be ultra-low power. It draws so little energy that a full day of step tracking uses less battery than turning your screen on a few times. You won’t notice any impact on battery life, and there’s no reason to disable it for power-saving purposes.
What Gets Tracked Beyond Steps
The Health app records more than just a step count. It also estimates your walking and running distance by using a biomechanical model that factors in your leg length, which it derives from the height you enter in your Health profile. If you haven’t entered your height, the distance estimate will be less accurate, so it’s worth taking a moment to add it.
iPhones with a barometer (iPhone 6 and later) also track flights of stairs climbed. One flight registers as roughly 10 feet (3 meters) of elevation gain, or about 16 steps. Newer iPhones running recent versions of iOS go further, offering gait-related measurements like walking speed, step length, and walking steadiness, all calculated passively while the phone is in your pocket.
Where to Find Your Step Data
Open the Health app and tap the “Browse” tab at the bottom. Under “Activity,” you’ll see your daily step count, walking and running distance, and flights climbed. The app stores this data in interactive charts so you can review trends by day, week, month, or year. There is no built-in expiration on your data. As long as you keep your iPhone or back it up, your step history stays intact.
How Accurate Is It?
A validation study published in JMIR mHealth uHealth tested iPhones (models 5S through 7) against research-grade pedometers during normal daily activities. The iPhone performed well as a step-counting tool for free-living conditions, meaning regular everyday movement rather than treadmill-controlled lab settings. Accuracy depends partly on where you carry the phone. Keeping it in a front pants pocket or clipped to your waistband gives the most reliable readings. A handbag or backpack introduces more variability because the phone’s motion doesn’t mirror your walking pattern as closely.
The step count on your iPhone is reliable enough for general fitness tracking and spotting trends over time. It’s not medical-grade, so the number might be off by a small margin on any given day, but it’s consistent enough to tell you whether you’re becoming more or less active week to week.
How to Turn It Off
If you’d rather not have your iPhone track movement at all, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Motion & Fitness, and toggle off Fitness Tracking. This stops the phone from logging steps, distance, and flights climbed. Your existing data in the Health app won’t be deleted, but no new data will be recorded until you turn it back on.
Privacy and Data Security
Apple encrypts your Health data both on the device and during transmission. When your iPhone is locked, step data becomes inaccessible after 10 minutes, and it only unlocks again when you enter your passcode or use Face ID or Touch ID.
If you sync Health data to iCloud with two-factor authentication enabled (on iOS 12 or later), it’s protected with end-to-end encryption. That means Apple itself cannot read your health data on its servers. No third-party app can access your step count unless you explicitly grant permission, and you can revoke that access at any time in the Health app’s sharing settings. If you back up your iPhone to a computer, health data is only included if you choose an encrypted backup.
Getting the Most From Step Tracking
The simplest way to improve accuracy is to carry your iPhone on your body rather than in a bag. Front pockets work best. Enter your correct height and weight in the Health app profile so the distance and calorie estimates are calibrated to your body. If you also wear an Apple Watch, the watch takes priority for step counting since it’s attached to your wrist and captures arm swing during every step, even when your phone is on a desk.
You don’t need to open the Health app for tracking to work. The motion coprocessor runs continuously in the background. Even if you never look at the data, it’s there waiting whenever you’re curious about how much you’ve moved.