Walk with a friend

Walking is easier with company, even when you're miles apart. Swap cards with a friend and you'll see each other's steps through the day, side by side, right on your Home Screen.

Make your card#

Your card is how friends recognise you.

1. Open Steps Widget and tap Side by Side icon at the home screen.
2. Add your name under Your Name Card.
3. Pick a look: a photo, a quick snap with the camera, an emoji, or your initials on a colour.

You can change your card any time. Friends you're connected with see the update.

Connect with someone#

Together in person? Tap See Who's Nearby and ask your friend to do the same. You'll see each other's cards appear. Tap Add on theirs, they tap Add on yours, and you're connected.

Miles apart? Tap Share My Card and send it any way you like: Messages, Mail, or your favourite chat app. When your friend opens it, you'll get a request from them. Accept it, and you're walking together.

Someone sent you their card? Just open it. Steps adds them to your list and sends them your card, and you're connected as soon as they accept. If you don't have the app yet, the link opens a page with the App Store download. Open the card again once it's installed.

Sharing always goes both ways, and it only starts when you both say yes.

See each other's steps#

Once you're connected, your friend appears in the list with a chart of their day. Pull down to refresh, or tap the ⋯ menu to ask for an update.

Each friend's chart shows their own day, so a friend in another time zone lines up hour for hour. If their latest steps are from before your day started, the chart says so.

Add the Side by Side widget#

Put the two of you on your Home Screen with the medium Side by Side widget:

1. Touch and hold your Home Screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget.
2. Find Steps Widget, choose Side by Side, and add it.
3. Touch and hold the widget, tap Edit Widget, and choose a friend.

Tap a friend's chart in the app to pick the colours for their widget, with a separate set for Dark Mode if you like. By default it uses colours from your two pictures.

Let them know where you are#

Under My State, pick where you are right now, like Home, Office, or Park. Your friends see it next to your name, and you see theirs. Tap Edit to make the list your own.

On the widget, tap your state to move to the next one without opening the app.

Take a break or say goodbye#

Tap the ⋯ menu on a friend's card:

• Stop Sharing pauses sharing in both directions. Their card stays, so you can tap Start Sharing whenever you're ready again. They'll be asked first.
• Delete removes them from your list. They're told, and they decide what to do with your card.

What to read next#

• Private by design — what your friends see, and what nobody else can.
• Widget gallery — every widget, and where each one fits.