Underfoot turns the steps your phone already counts into distance along a real long-distance route. Below are the questions that come up most often. If yours is not here, write and it will be answered by a person.

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Getting started

On first launch, choose how many recent days of steps to count (up to 90) and how far a step should take you. The app gives you a trail name, the way a real trail does, and you start walking.

The Appalachian Trail is free in full: all 3,478 km, all 18 sections, all the paintings, the journal and the widget.

My distance is not moving

Three things to check, in order:

1. Health permission. Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Underfoot. Step count must be allowed. Without it the app cannot see anything.
2. Steps are recorded at all. Open the Health app and look at today's step count. If your iPhone is not carried with you, or an Apple Watch is doing the counting and is not synced yet, there may be nothing to read.
3. Open the app. Distance updates when the app is opened or returns to the foreground, not continuously in the background.

What is a section?

A long trail takes years at an honest pace, so progress is measured in sections: stretches of one to three months, each ending in a full-screen finish, a shareable card and a place in your journal. The Appalachian Trail has eighteen.

Can I walk more than one route at a time?

Yes, with Pro. Each route is its own hike with its own start date, and the same day of steps moves every route you are walking. Nothing is divided between them.

What happens if I skip a day?

Nothing. A day without walking is called a zero day, and on a real trail it is completely normal. There are no streaks to break and nothing to lose.

The journal

One line a day, in your words, plus what you passed that day: shelters, passes, towns, milestones, and what somebody walking before you wrote there. Rest days are shown as a count, without reproach.

Purchases and restoring

The paywall is on the "Routes" tab (tap any trail other than the Appalachian Trail) or under "You" → "Pro". Restore purchases is on that same screen, below the prices: use it on a new device or after reinstalling.