Apple Watch vs Garmin: Which Is More Accurate for Step Tracking in 2026?

Quick answer

There is no reliable brand-wide winner for step accuracy in 2026. In one Tom’s Guide walk, the Apple Watch Series 12 was slightly closer to a manual count than the Garmin Forerunner 570. The gap was 22 steps; it does not establish which brand is more accurate for other people, routes or activities.

What the 2026 walk actually found

The reviewer manually counted 5,440 steps. Series 12 recorded 5,490, an overcount of 50; Forerunner 570 recorded 5,512, an overcount of 72. Both were close in that walk. The reviewer wore one watch on each wrist and used a third-party app to view Apple’s walk-specific step count. This was a real-world test by one person, not an independent laboratory study.

Differences that small may reverse with another wrist, walking speed, route or arm movement. The specific model and software version also matter more than the name on the box.

Why your result may differ

Wrist devices infer steps from motion. Holding a stroller, carrying groceries, pushing a cart or swinging an arm while seated can confuse detection. Treadmill walking and slow gait can differ from outdoor walking. Phone steps and watch steps may also be merged differently in an app.

A 2025 systematic review of Apple Watch measurements examined steps, heart rate and energy expenditure, but its conclusions for tested devices should not be copied onto every 2026 model.

A useful home check

Count 500–1,000 steps manually on a normal walk, then repeat on a route that resembles your daily life. Reset or note each starting total, wear both devices snugly, and repeat with wrist positions swapped. Compare absolute errors across several walks, not one winner photo.

For most people, week-to-week movement trends matter more than a tiny difference in one walk. If your goal is training quality, assess GPS, heart rate and usability separately.

Compare the same outcome, not different app screens

Before comparing two watches, decide whether you mean steps taken during one walk or a full-day total. A full-day figure can include housework, commuting and accidental arm movements; a walk-only figure is easier to compare with a manual clicker. In the cited Tom’s Guide test, the Apple workout count came from a third-party app, so app presentation was part of the method. Check whether your own app is displaying watch-only steps, phone steps or a combined total.

Use absolute error: the distance between the displayed total and a manual count. On the 5,440-step walk, Apple’s absolute error was 50 and Garmin’s was 72. The difference between those errors was 22 steps—about four-tenths of one percent of the manual count. That precision describes this one route, not a long-term accuracy guarantee.

When step errors matter

A small error on a normal walk rarely changes a daily activity decision. Errors matter more if a device repeatedly misses slow walking, miscounts while pushing a stroller, or makes your goal look met while you are mostly seated. A person recovering from reduced mobility may care about detecting small amounts of movement; someone training for a 10K may care more about pace and distance than steps.

If your watch consistently overcounts nonwalking arm motion, compare a week of watch totals with a phone kept in a pocket during ordinary days. Neither is a perfect reference, but a repeated pattern is more informative than a single headline test. Keep in mind that carrying your phone only part of the day makes that comparison unfair.

Buying takeaway

Do not choose a $400–$600 device solely because it won one close walk. Consider battery life, phone compatibility, training features, comfort and whether you can see the metrics you use without extra apps. For a step-first buyer, try the device’s fit and app workflow if possible, then run your own repeatable walking check during the return window.

Research on earlier Apple Watch generations can describe known measurement challenges, but a 2025 review does not independently establish the performance of Series 12 or Forerunner 570. The test above is current to 2026 and remains a small real-world demonstration.

A repeatable seven-day check

Choose two ordinary walks and one challenging condition, such as carrying a bag, each day for a week. Write down the starting watch total, click each step manually and record the ending total. Use the same route and similar walking pace when you repeat a condition. Swap which wrist holds each watch halfway through the week. For each walk, subtract the manual count from the device change and compare the absolute difference.

The point is not to produce a publishable laboratory result. It is to find a consistent error in the activities you actually do. If both watches are usually close but one app makes the daily number easier to understand, that is a legitimate reason to prefer it. If one repeatedly misses slow walks, that matters more to a slow walker than the tiny gap in a reviewer’s brisk walk.

Related Fitness Falcon reading

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Sources and evidence

• Tom’s Guide, one-person Series 12 / Forerunner 570 walk test
• Peer-reviewed Apple Watch systematic review