My Tracks: Using phone and GPS to track your physical activity stats

Android transformed the phone from just a simple piece of hardware for calling into a sophisticated device capable of multifaceted functions. Yet another addition to the thousands of things that a mobile Android device can do is that of being an outdoor companion, using your device as a sports accessory to keep track of your outdoor activity.  The My Tracks app simply does this for you, recording your activity details with an option to share them via your preferred networking sites.

My Tracks is a perfect app for outdoor enthusiasts who want to share their outdoor activities on the spot while at the same time using the GPS sensor of their mobile Android devices to record and keep track of statistics such as location on the map, speed, distance, and elevation.

Once the app is running on your phone, you can easily access that information via the app’s widget, letting you check your progress quickly and conveniently. The widget also lets you easily toggle the app with a single tap. Using Google’s state-of-the-art mapping technology, the app shows your exact location or maps out your activity route for easy navigation.

It works great no matter what outdoor activity you are fond of doing, may it be biking, skiing, driving, walking, and even more. To know about how you did on your activity, just tap on the Chart option to check your speed, elevation, and distance information. You can choose to record all the activities that you did and easily share them via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

The app syncs well with third-party biometric sensors such as Zephyr HxM Bluetooth, Polar WearLink Bluetooth, and ANT+ heart rate monitor, letting you record your heart rate. It’s also worth mentioning that the app can also act as your personal coach during your activity by giving you voice announcements of your progress periodically.

The newly released updated version of the app (version 2.0) sports some improvements over the previous version, though the improvements could not really be considered as a quantum leap towards perfection. There are still a lot of things to work on.

It’s worth a try if you want to record and share your activities in real-time. It’s also free to use.  Download My Tracks from the Google Play Store and start tracking your activity stats.