Push-ups and sit-ups for screen time

When a walk isn't possible

Walking is Pico's main currency, but some days there's no walk available. It's raining, you're in an office, it's eleven at night. Push-ups and sit-ups fill that gap: both earn Energy at the same rate, counted with the camera on your own iPhone.

Nothing is recorded. The camera picture is examined frame by frame on the device and thrown away immediately.

The rates

The same three difficulty settings that govern walking govern reps:

• Easy — 1 rep earns 2 Energy
• Medium — 1 rep earns 1 Energy, which is one minute of screen time
• Hard — 2 reps earn 1 Energy

On Hard, an odd rep carries over to the next pair within the same day rather than being lost. Reps count towards the same daily cap of 100 Energy as walking.

How the counting works

Pico uses Apple's built-in body-pose detection, which runs entirely on the iPhone. Roughly fifteen frames a second are examined for the position of your shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, and each frame is discarded as soon as it's been looked at.

Push-ups, face on

Stand the phone on the floor about a metre in front of your head, facing you. A rep counts when your shoulders drop at least 0.4 shoulder-widths below their highest point and come back up again.

Measuring in shoulder-widths rather than pixels means distance from the camera doesn't matter. If your shoulders drop out of frame, your head stands in for them, calibrated against your shoulders while both were visible — so a flicker in tracking never costs you a rep. Standing up, kneeling and small bobs don't count.

You can use the front or back camera. Front is for when the phone's on the floor and you're on your own; back is for when someone's filming you.

Sit-ups, side on

Stand the phone to one side of you, a couple of metres away, so the camera sees your whole body in profile.

Pico measures the angle of your torso — hip to shoulder, against the floor. Flat on your back is around 0°, sat up with your chest towards your knees is 70–80°. A rep counts when the angle passes 50° and then comes back under 22°, which means your shoulders have to return to the floor. A crunch at around 25° doesn't count.

If your arms are across your chest or behind your head and hide your shoulders, your head stands in. Your knee stands in for your hip, since it stays put during a sit-up. Facing the camera gets a prompt to turn side on, and standing or bending over is ruled out by where your feet are relative to your hips.

Privacy

This is the part people reasonably want to be sure about.

• The camera is only ever requested from the exercise screen's own Allow Camera button, never at launch and never again after you say no.
• Frames go to Apple's on-device body-pose detector and are discarded immediately.
• No video or photo is recorded, saved or transmitted. There is no server to transmit to.
• Only the number of reps is kept, as part of your progress.

You can revoke camera access at any time in iOS Settings › Pico, and the rest of the app carries on working.

What reps don't do

Exercise earns Energy and nothing else. It doesn't count towards your daily step goal, and it doesn't earn puzzle pieces — those stay a reward for walking, deliberately.

Common questions

How many push-ups for a minute of screen time?

On Medium, one push-up earns one Energy, which is one minute. On Easy one push-up earns two minutes; on Hard it takes two push-ups for one minute.

Does Pico record me during push-ups?

No. Each camera frame is examined on your iPhone by Apple's body-pose detector and thrown away. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent, and Pico has no servers.

Do sit-ups and push-ups earn the same?

Yes, they use one shared rate table, so the choice is purely about what you can do where you are.

Can I use Pico's exercise counting without the camera?

No. Counting needs the camera, since that's how reps are detected. If you'd rather not use it, walking still earns Energy exactly as before.

Why does it say to turn side on for sit-ups?

Sit-ups are measured by torso angle, which can only be judged from the side. Face on, the angle isn't visible, so Pico asks you to turn rather than counting badly.

Where to go next

• Walk to unlock your apps — the main loop
• Worlds and puzzle pieces — what walking earns that reps don't
• Pico FAQ — the rest of the questions