Baliston's Smart Sneakers Told Me I Suck at Walking

I already know I'm an average runner, but according to the Baliston by Starck smart sneakers, I'm not very good at walking, either.

Launched by California-based futuristic footwear brand Baliston in collaboration with French industrial designer Philippe Starck, the shoes feature a hidden compartment under the insole for a sensor module that tracks your steps and monitors your gait throughout the day to offer a walking analysis and recommendations via a companion app.

Smart apparel and shoe inserts have let me down in the past, and connected sneakers seemed gimmicky, but the idea behind the Baliston by Starck is interesting, so I decided to give them a try. Baliston sent me a pre-release pair and gave me access to a beta version of the Baliston Connect app.

The Baliston by Starck shoes are available as part of a $249.99 annual subscription service that also gives you access to the Baliston Connect app (available for Android and iOS), which is what generates the walking health insights and recommendations. The shoes monitor the deterioration of their own cushioning, and Baliston is promising free replacements when needed for as long as you remain a member. The company recycles your old shoes. You will also receive a pair of personalized supportive insoles "informed by the biomechanical analysis of the wearer’s gait," the company says, though it isn't clear how long the shoes must be used to generate that analysis.

Baliston is limiting the initial run to 5,000 subscriptions and plans to add additional features and metrics through free software updates in the future.

The Baliston by Starck shoes are 100% recyclable and made from just five components, the company says. They come in black or white and feature a minimalist slip-on, tongueless design that reminds me of the popular Adidas Cloudfoam running shoes.

The laces are functional, but they only let you tighten the top part of the shoe. In terms of fit, I'd say they run true to size, if not slightly big. I usually wear a US women's size 9, but Baliston accidentally sent an 8; they're a bit tight, but I can still wear them pretty comfortably, whereas most other size-8 shoes are a no-go on my feet. If you're in between sizes, I'd say to size down.

The slip-on design makes them an excellent option for walking and day-to-day activities, but I don't find them supportive or secure enough for running.

In the box, you get the Baliston by Starck shoes, two removable tracking modules (one goes in each shoe, under the insole), and a USB-C charger. The shoes pair with the Baliston Connect app via Bluetooth. When you open the app, it prompts you to create an account.

Next, it asks for your sex (with options for male or female only), birth date, weight, and height to set up your profile. The app explains that this information is required to analyze your walking and track your calories burned. If you're using the iPhone app, it gives you the option to connect your Apple Health account to fill in your personal and biometric details.

During setup, the app prompts you to set activity goals for your steps per day, stairs climbed per day, and intense activity per week. I went with the recommended goals: 7,500 steps per day, 100 stairs climbed per day, and 150 intense activity minutes per week. All moderate and vigorous exercise counts towards your weekly intense activity goal.

Fitbit and Garmin both offer a similar weekly activity metric; Fitbit calls it Active Zone Minutes and Garmin calls it Intensity Minutes, but the idea is to get your heart rate up for at least 150 minutes each week, based on recommendations from the American Heart Association.

After setting your activity goals, the app walks you through the rest of the setup process, which involves attaching the modules to the charger to wake them up for pairing, inserting them in the shoes, and connecting them to the app. Then, you can replace the insoles and you should be good to go until the trackers need charging.

In testing, removing the insoles was a bit of a pain, but I had no problem installing the modules and pairing them with the app. The modules sit in a recessed part of the sole, so you cannot feel them at all when you're wearing the shoes.

After setting up the shoes, the app gives you the option to do a one-minute walking test to gather data and calculate your Walking Quality Score. Your score is based on four factors: Propulsion (defined as the speed at which your foot leaves the ground as you step), Heel Impact Force (the force at which your heel impacts the ground as each step lands), Stride Length (the distance between two successive heel strikes of the same foot), and Symmetry (the percentage of time spent in left and right phases of your gait).

During the test, it instructs you to walk straight on a flat surface at a steady cadence. I had to repeat the test three times (the first two times I got an error message), but it eventually generated my Walking Quality Score: 55/100 or Fair. As for recommendations, it said to pay more attention to my posture and arms when I walk.

"Shoulder back, down and relaxed, let your arm swing freely," the app advises. "Pay attention to not swing from the elbows. Good posture and arm motion improves overall gait parameters and reduces joint stress."

The early version of the app I tested is basic at the time of this writing, with three main tabs: Today, Journey, and My Shoes. In the Today tab, it shows your progress toward your daily and weekly activity goals, as well as your total distance, calories burned that day, and your latest Walking Quality Score. Below that is a Related Reading section with short articles about walking speed, supination, and pronation and their impacts on your overall health, feet, and walking quality.

Each time you wear the shoes, the app automatically updates your Walking Quality Score based on that walk, but it does not track trend data for this metric as of this writing. For instance, after a game of tug of war with my dog in the backyard, during which my gait was certainly less than optimal, my Walking Quality Score dropped to around 30. Then, after a leisurely walk around the neighborhood, my score jumped back into the 50s. During one walk with my dog, I tried to pay attention to my gait for part of the time, and my score increased to 61.

The beta app doesn't offer much in the Journey tab for the moment, but Baliston says it will deliver "detailed reports for components of your walking gait," as well as activity and shoe cushioning trend data, and personalized recommendations on how to improve your walking.

As a milestone, users will be able to unlock a Personal Gait Analysis report offering additional metrics, including Foot Stance Time, Foot Swing Time, Progression Angle, Step Width, and Step Height. Baliston emailed me a preview of my Personal Gait Analysis report as it would appear in the Journey tab of the app and it's full of interesting data and recommendations.

In the My Shoes tab, you can check your sensor modules' remaining battery life and connectivity status. Here, it also shows your remaining shoe cushioning life, total hours of use, and total miles walked.

Connectivity has been an issue with the beta app, but that's sort of expected at this point. The shoes should automatically connect when you put them on and open the app, but that hasn't always been the case. You can manually reconnect them via the My Shoes tab when necessary, but I find I sometimes need to switch my phone's Bluetooth off and on for it to work. One time, I wore the shoes for a careful one-mile run for testing purposes (again, I don't recommend them for running), and the app said they were connected but they weren't, so they didn't track any steps or update my Walking Quality Score.

Battery life seems decent: After three hours of use over several days, the sensors in my shoes still had 55% power remaining. When the battery gets low, you need to remove the sensor modules under the insoles for charging, which seems like a hassle, and I can't imagine this being a pleasant chore once the shoes inevitably start to smell.

One obvious drawback of the Baliston by Starck sneakers is that they only count your steps when you're actually wearing them, so they'll miss a good chunk of activity data if you go shoeless indoors like I do. I don't recommend them as a replacement for a traditional fitness tracker, which you're much more likely to wear around the clock. Fitness trackers also generally keep tabs on health metrics like your heart rate and sleep, offering a more complete picture of your overall wellness.

Moreover, you don't necessarily need special shoes to track your steps and walking health. The iPhone 8 and later can automatically track walking stats including your Speed, Step Length, Double Support Time (an indicator of balance), and Asymmetry. The iPhone uses those metrics to assess your overall Walking Steadiness, a metric that offers insight into your risk of falling. To see this data on your iPhone, visit the Health app > Summary > Show All Health Data. Third-party gait-analysis apps are also available on both Android and iOS, but I have not assessed any.

Despite their limitations, the Baliston by Starck sneakers work fairly well based on my early testing, and their companion app presents your stats in a user-friendly way. If you're interested in learning more about your gait, and you also like the shoes' eco-friendly benefits, you might be interested. Since I tested a beta version of the app—which is missing some key features like activity history tracking, walking quality trend reports, and personalized data on the components of your gait—I'll reserve judgment as to whether they are worth the yearly subscription fee. I plan to continue testing them, so stay tuned for a full review.

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