SummitPulse

How it works

Three steps, and the middle one asks nothing of you.

  1. Start the hike on phone or watch

    One tap on either device. Whichever you start on becomes the one in charge of the session, so the two never end up recording two different hikes.

  2. Walk

    Live route, distance, elevation and heart rate, with as little interaction as the app can get away with. It keeps recording with the screen off, in your pocket, and out of signal. If it thinks you have started driving it pauses and asks — it will not finish a hike for you.

  3. Review afterwards

    The map, elevation profile, heart rate, calorie estimate and the weather at both ends of the hike. Name it, export it as GPX, or delete it. It stays on your device either way.

What it needs from you

Location access, including in the background — without it, recording stops the moment the screen does. On the watch, access to heart rate. Everything else is optional, and the app explains what each permission is for before the system asks.