Android App of the Week - My Tracks

Handy little app from Google that records your path, speed and distance whenever you do some outdoor activities.

You can share it on Facebook or Twitter or wherever you like to boast about healthy and fit you are with all that exercise!

Using your phone’s GPS sensor, the app records your track and calculates your speed – just make sure you can see the sky.

With an inbuilt voice giving you updates along the way, it’s a great way to see where you’ve run, how long it took you, and how much you’ve improved from the last time you did that track. Whether you’re running, walking, cycling or even going for a ski, My Tracks is a fast app and the mapping is pretty accurate.

While it hasn’t bothered me, the latest update hasn’t been too greatly received with a few people up in arms about the differences from the old version.

It’s a great tool to see your progress on your tracks. If you run the same track you’ll be able to see if you’re getting faster (and fitter!), or see if you can beat your friends doing the same tracks. Or you can import someone else’s track and see if you can do it faster than them. It’s a great motivator.

There’s a whole statistics section where you can view your speed, elevation, heart rate etc, and you can customise it so only your favourite stats show.

For me, I like to see how much exercise I’m doing, so this is a really good little helper. I also like to use it in combination with My Fitness Pal and then I can see how good I am being, or if I’m being a slack guy!

Shannon Williams