Find Walking Buddies Near You

How a social walking app works

A social walking app is a map of the walks people near you are about to take, with a way to ask to come along or to post your own. Think of a noticeboard for walks that also counts your steps.

It's Saturday morning, you want a long walk and everyone you know is busy. On the map, a green pin is someone walking right now and a blue one is a walk planned for later, maybe a loop of the park at ten. Tap it and, before you ask anything, you can see the route, the distance, how long it should take, what kind of walk it is and how many spots are left. Open the host's profile and you'll see how many walks they've done and how far they've walked. That's usually enough to tell whether it's your kind of walk.

When you set the app up, it asks what you're there for and shapes itself around the answer. Explore Tours puts audio tours and guided walks first, Walk & Play leads with group walks and the games, Habit & Health with steps, weight and the coach, and Walk With Me keeps everything. You can switch whenever you like, so if you came for a step counter and start wanting company, you don't need a second app.

The social side is meant to lead somewhere. People you've walked with can become friends, and once they are, you can message them, see the walks they plan and post walks only your friends can see. Private messages only work between friends and disappear after 24 hours, so the app stays a way to arrange the next walk rather than another inbox to keep up with.

Walk With Me is free on iPhone and Android. Finding, joining and hosting walks, friends, chat, step counting, the rankings and Travel Mode for other cities are all free, with ads. Premium takes the ads away and adds full walk reports, detailed step stats and walks that repeat on their own.