I walked 5,000 steps with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Garmin Forerunner 570 — here's which one won

Putting Leading Wearables to the Test

Hang around the Tom’s Guide fitness desk long enough, and you’ll inevitably find yourself strapped with a tracker and asked to start counting steps. While modern smartwatches do much more than just count steps, we believe that if a device gets the basic metrics right, it is likely excelling at the bigger features too. To test this theory, we put the new Apple Watch Series 12 (starting at $399) and the Garmin Forerunner 570 ($549) head-to-head in a rigorous 5,000-step walking challenge.

Both smartwatches are engineered to be worn 24/7, offering comprehensive tracking for sleep, physical readiness, general activity, and heart rate. Apple explicitly claimed that its pedometer algorithms were significantly improved and made more accurate in the Series 12, making this comparison particularly exciting for fitness enthusiasts.

How We Tested Step Accuracy

Following our standard testing protocols, we strapped one watch to each wrist and utilized a $5 mechanical clicker tool to manually count every single step as we walked. Both wearables rely on internal accelerometers to detect arm swings, translating movement into step counts. Whether worn on a dominant or non-dominant wrist, or even with hands in pockets, a reliable accelerometer should accurately pick up body movement.

Apple Watch Series 12 vs. Garmin Forerunner 570: The Face-Off Results

Unlike many dedicated fitness trackers, the Apple Watch Series 12 still does not display step counts natively within specific workouts on its main summary screen; instead, it aggregates your daily step totals, which users can pin to their watch faces. For this test, we downloaded a third-party Pedometer+ app to monitor live counts on the Apple Watch.

Here are the final numbers from our 5,000-step test:

• Manual Count: 5,440 steps
• Apple Watch Series 12: 5,490 steps
• Garmin Forerunner 570: 5,512 steps

As the data shows, the Apple Watch Series 12 came out on top, overcounting by a mere 50 steps. Meanwhile, the Garmin Forerunner 570 performed admirably as well, overcounting by just 72 steps. Both margins of error are exceptionally low, especially considering that the average person walks roughly 2,000 steps per mile.

Beyond the Steps: Features, Battery Life, and Value

While accuracy is crucial, evaluating these devices requires looking far beyond a single step-counting walk. The Garmin Forerunner 570 is a mid-tier powerhouse packed with elite training and recovery tools, boasting a vastly superior battery life of up to 10 days in smartwatch mode for the 42mm version and 11 days for the 47mm model.

On the other hand, the Apple Watch Series 12 functions as a seamless extension of your iPhone, offering unmatched smartwatch capabilities and a newly upgraded heart rate sensor that solidifies its spot as the best everyday smartwatch for the majority of users.