Apple's Workout app vs a dedicated Japanese walking timer: an honest comparison
Here is something most walking apps will not tell you: your Apple Watch can already do interval walking, free, with nothing installed. Apple's Workout app supports custom interval workouts, and a 3:3 x5 structure is exactly the kind of thing it was built for.
Disclosure up front: we make a dedicated app for this method, Japanese Walking: Step Counter. We are writing this comparison anyway because people who discover the built-in option after paying for an app feel cheated, rightly, and because we think our free tier survives the comparison. Judge for yourself.
How to build Japanese walking in Apple's Workout app
- Open the Workout app on the Watch and scroll to Outdoor Walk.
- Tap the three-dot menu next to it, then Create Workout, then Custom.
- Add a Warmup block (1 to 2 minutes, time-based).
- Add a Work interval: 3 minutes. Add a Recovery interval: 3 minutes.
- Repeat the work/recovery pair until you have 5 of each, or use the repeat option where available.
- Optionally add a Cooldown, name it, and save.
From then on it lives under Outdoor Walk. The Watch taps you at each interval change and shows which block you are in. It records heart rate, distance and calories into Apple Health like any other workout. For a lot of people this is genuinely enough, and if that is you, use it with a clear conscience.
Where the built-in option falls short
Having used it a lot while building our own app, the honest friction list:
- Setup is buried. The custom workout builder is several taps deep on a small screen, and editing intervals later is fiddly. Most people set it up once on a good day and never adjust it.
- The alerts are minimal. You get a tap and a small banner. There is no voice guidance telling you what phase you are entering and no countdown you can hear, which matters more than expected once your eyes are on the pavement rather than your wrist. There is also no phone Lock Screen or Dynamic Island countdown, because the workout lives on the Watch.
- No brisk-vs-slow analysis. Apple records one continuous workout. It will not tell you your average heart rate or pace in fast phases versus slow phases, which is the single most useful check that you are actually doing intervals rather than a moderate stroll with taps in it.
- No method-specific structure. No streaks tied to this routine, no progression suggestions, nothing that knows what Japanese walking is. It is a neutral interval engine.
- iPhone-only walkers are excluded. The custom workout builder is a Watch feature. If you do not have a Watch, this route is closed, whereas a phone app guides you by voice from a pocket.
Where a dedicated app earns its place
To be even-handed about our own category: a dedicated app is worth having if any of these describe you.
- You want voice guidance and a countdown, on phone or Watch, without watching a screen.
- You want proof your brisk phases are brisk (fast-vs-slow heart rate and pace comparison).
- You want the routine to carry some structure: streaks, history, a progression path, scaled versions when 3 minutes is too much.
- You do not own a Watch and need the phone to do the guiding.
And it is worth precisely nothing extra if all you want is a tap every 3 minutes and you own a Watch. Apple's builder does that today, free.
Our suggestion, bias declared
Try Apple's custom workout first if you are curious and Watch-equipped. If the friction list above starts to grate, the free tier of our app covers the full guided walk, complete Watch app, heart rate, haptics and voice, with no subscription. The paid tier is analytics and customisation on top. Either way you end up walking, which is the point.
About the app
Japanese Walking: Step Counter is a free iPhone and Apple Watch app made by Red Kite 9, a one-person studio in the UK. The full guided 3x3 walk is free, including the complete Apple Watch app with real-time heart rate, haptic phase cues and voice guidance. No subscription needed for any of that.