University of Houston Logo Your iPhone may already consist of various applications. But now a latest application has been developed which may have the ability of keeping a check on the number of your calories burnt everyday! Yes that’s right, the Walk n’ Play application is believed to act as a pedometer. This intriguing application is stated to have come into existence due to the combined efforts of the experts from the University of Houston’s Computational Physiology Lab.

Seemingly, this application may be downloaded for free from Apple’s “App Store.” This is said to be an exercise game which enables its users to monitor the amount of their physical activity throughout the day. This application may be accessible through an iPhone, and supposedly till date it already has about 3000 users.

Walk n’ Play allegedly enables its users to compete with a simulator or another iPhone user through real time. This competitive aspect may enable an individual to try and outdo their competitor through a built-in incentive. This has been compared to a type of social networking where users may have physical activity and also socialize with others.

Lead expert, Ioannis Pavlidis, says that, “You just keep the phone attached to your waistband or carry in your pocket as you normally would, and it records every little motion you do – from walking to climbing stairs – and translates it into calories burned.”

This application has been designed in such a way so as to be able to accurately measure the amount of calories burnt during each activity. Together these experts have come up with a technique to link virtual oxygen-consumption measurements with accelerometer values which may further enable the device to precisely judge the number of burnt calories.

Pavlidis concludes by saying that, “It’s a pleasure applying our research to this sort of thing, because we can see immediate impact on everyday people. It’s a revolutionary paradigm shift of how we can conduct research on a massive scale while doing some good.”

This game seemingly may give other devices a run for their money! Unlike pedometers which measure the number of steps taken in a day, this application may be able to gauge the amount of calories burnt which may be a better way of determining the amount of physical activity. Similarly, it may prove to be a great competition to treadmills.