Do you track steps?

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DH recommended a fitness watch a few years ago, same as his so we can follow each other and he can take the piss out of my fitness The thing works fine, but it's massive and built for a man even if it swears it's unisex. If I'm wearing my raincoat or any jacket apart from my big winter one, I have to take my coat off to look at the time because the cuffs of my coats don't fit over the watch. Ditto a jumper, I can't put most of my jumpers over it without stretching them. DH doesn't have this problem.

So now our health insurance wants us to regularly complete weekly challenges to get a discount on next years premiums. Daily steps being one of the things it wants access to. I'm so pissed off. I don't want to have to wear this monstrosity all day every day. The other option is to use the phone to track steps. I don't want to have to carry my phone with me all day either. I don't generally have a pocket and my phone sits on the side all day (sahm) when I'm home.

Now, I don't mind wearing the watch if I'm specifically doing sport. I do find it annoying, but I can live with it. I do not want to have to wear it all the time.

If you track steps and everything else under the sun, what do you use? Is it user friendly? Is it small and compact? Can apple health cope with reading from two devices? Do you ever get over the feeling you're being spied upon?

I have a Fitbit versa 4, it's not too big. I wear it everyday, I'd be lost without, I do track my steps and me and my sisters do a workweek hustle to see who can do the most steps, it's really good as gets you moving.
My phone also tracks my steps if I have it on but it's not a problem with my watch.

My Fitbit counts washing my hands/dishes as steps. It’s ridiculously inaccurate on counting steps, so don’t buy one.

Which one do you have?

the Apple Watches aren’t bulky.

@monty09 what else can you use it for?

@AHelpfulHand This Suunto one I don't have an Apple Watch, I have an iPhone which I sync it to which reads the data into apple health which passes it onto my health insurance app.

That looks massive and bulky!!

@symphonyseven it tracks your sleep, your heart rate, different exercises, I use mine for my alarm can listen to Spotify, can set your bank card up so can pay using it, Alexa is on there as well.

Fitbit Charge 3 I picked up for £15, barely used. I don't want anything but slimline tracker. Does it spy on me... well, it lacks GPS, and when GPS is running the battery dies fast (on a Charge 4 or 5), so not a great spy device.

iwatch six series

No. It is utterly pointless.

@Swapshopping what is utterly pointless? Step tracking? I need to do it to get a discount on my health insurance.

@AHelpfulHand it's unwearable day to day.

@lljkk I meant more the invasiveness of the health tracking. Automatically tracking periods, heart health, if you sit too long...

MiBand, really small, charge lasts ages, does loads, reliable, discreet...and really cheap. I've had mine for about 4 years and it's still going strong. I've recently swapped to a non brand strap as I got sick of the rubber ones popping off.

I’ve got a fit bit. I wear it strapped around my bra though. I push a pushchair for most of my daily steps and it doesn’t register on my wrist otherwise.

I have an Apple Watch. Get on v well with it and wear it every day to log workouts and steps etc.

which insurance company do you use? Might take a look as i do a lot of steps!

I have a garmin forerunner. It’s small and doesn’t bother me at all.

That one looks really big and ugly, so definitely get something else.

How does it automatically track periods? I had to enter period info manually, which I only did for few yrs before my periods stopped, and I only entered day 1 as a point when period happened (not all the other optional info), so that I might have a 'last' date for my own curiousity.

I heard of a case of someone who used their heart tracking to show doctors when they were getting some heart erratic condition. i turned off the sit-too-long alarms so I guess i forget they are possible. I do like my heart score, though, it's possibly made up nonsense but my score is good.

Did you have any say in which watch you got? Seems like an impractical choice for you. I have a Garmin vivoactive 4s which I wear every day. Did a step challenge at work recently and tucked my watch into my sock if I was pushing a tolley in the supermarket or similar stuff like that. Would they be an option? See if you can get a longer strap to put around your ankle?

I would not be happy about my insurance company watching my every move and 'rewarding' me with a discount if I record enough steps. No thank you.

I've got something similar but different brand. I got it heavily reduced on ASOS. It's been better than any Fitbit I've ever had and is small as you say.

I've got a Galaxy Watch5 which in really pleased with. I got it after returning my Fitbit for the 3rd time in 8 months.

I’ve got a cheap Delvfire tracker - quite slim, looks like a digital watch and mine has had daily use for 3 years so far. It links with an app on the phone and that app links with the activity/health app on my iPhone.

I have an Apple Watch SE - less expensive than some of the other models and I wear it 18 hours a day - I find it completely unobtrusive. You can get different straps for it if you want it to look smarter etc. I love it's functionality and how well it interacts with my phone. Dh and I both have one and can challenge each other (which I like because I always do way more steps than he does!)