# how to measure your step length · Angel Step > Walk 20 steps, measure the distance and divide. A calculator for your own step length, why height rules disagree, and what Walking Step Length on iPhone is. Canonical: https://angelstep.app/step-length Language: en Updated: 2026-09-30 Whole site in one file: https://angelstep.app/llms-full.txt This file is the markdown twin of the page at the canonical address above: the same words, without markup. Cite the canonical address, not this file. --- Walk 20 steps at your usual pace, measure how far you went, and divide by 20. That is your step length. The estimate from height used across this site gives 27.6 inches (70 cm) for someone 170 cm tall, but the step you measure is the one that is yours. The calculator below does the division and puts your step next to that estimate. Angel StepCute Pedometer, Daily StepsFree · In-App Purchases · iPhone Scan with your iPhone camera ### Work out your step 170 cm · 5′7″ 27.6 in · 70 cm 2,296 steps a mile · 1,426 steps a km ### Step length from 20 steps Pace out 20 steps, then measure from where you started to where you stopped. Pedometer makers ask for the same thing: Omron and Tanita tell you to walk 10 steps and divide by 10, Fitbit asks for at least 20. Whether you measure toe to toe or heel to heel does not matter here, because you measure the whole distance rather than a single step. Step length from 20 steps over a measured distance | 20 steps cover | step length | steps in a mile | | 40 ft | 24.0 in · 61 cm | 2,640 | | 45 ft | 27.0 in · 69 cm | 2,347 | | 50 ft | 30.0 in · 76 cm | 2,112 | | 55 ft | 33.0 in · 84 cm | 1,920 | ### What Walking Step Length on iPhone is Since iOS 14, the Health app on iPhone 8 or later has a Mobility measurement called Walking Step Length: the distance between your front foot and back foot as you walk. iPhone records it on its own when you carry it near your waist, such as in a pocket, and walk steadily on flat ground, usually 10 to 30 times on a typical day. It needs your height in Health to be up to date. If the chart is empty, that is usually why. According to Apple, iPhone does not record step length while you run or hike uphill, and it records less often with the phone in your hand, a backpack or a purse. Apple tested the measurement against a pressure-sensing walkway with 538 adults aged 64 to 92, where the standard deviation of its absolute errors was 5 cm; it has not published figures for younger adults. Angel Step reads only your step count from Apple Health, not your step length. ### Why step length calculators disagree Most calculators turn height into a step with one multiplier, and the multipliers in use run from 0.37 to 0.45: at 170 cm, that is 63 cm to 77 cm. They contradict each other less than it looks, because they describe different paces. In Apple's validation study, the average step at a mean height of 1.66 m was 0.61 m walking slowly, 0.68 m at a comfortable pace and 0.71 m walking fast — about 0.37, 0.41 and 0.43 of height. This site's calculators use 0.413 × height, which sits at a comfortable pace: 62 cm at 150 cm, 70 cm at 170 cm, 78 cm at 190 cm. We could not trace that ratio to a study; the calculators that quote it cite none. ### What is an average step length? The large published norms are for older adults. In the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, 294 people aged 70 and over walked a sensor walkway: average step length was 69 cm for men aged 70 to 74 and 61 cm for women of that age, and shorter in each older group. In a Japanese study of 1,212 adults aged 70 to 96, it was 60.8 cm for men and 57.7 cm for women, at average heights of 163.4 cm and 150.1 cm. We did not find comparable norms for younger adults. ### Step or stride? A stride is two steps, from one heel to the same heel again. Most pedometers that ask for your stride length want one step, which is why their own instructions say to walk ten steps and divide by ten. What the difference does to a mile is on steps in a mile by height. These are measurements you take and estimates for planning, not medical advice. ### Sources - Apple — HealthKit documentation for Walking Step Length: what it measures, when iPhone records it, and how often. Apple Developer - Apple (May 2022) — Measuring Walking Quality Through iPhone Mobility Metrics: validation against a pressure-sensing walkway in adults aged 64 to 92. Apple - Hollman, McDade and Petersen (2011) — normative gait parameters in 294 adults aged 70 and over, Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. PMC - Gait reference values in 1,212 community-dwelling Japanese adults aged 70 to 96 (2019). PMC - Omron — HJ-321 pedometer instruction manual: measure ten steps and divide by ten. Omron Healthcare - Fitbit, Google Health Help — how a Fitbit device calculates distance, and measuring at least 20 steps. Google Updated 30 September 2026 long steps or short ones, it is the same walk. Angel Step reads the steps from Apple Health and puts them on one sky, whatever your stride.