The study, from the University of Pennsylvania, shows that data collected by dedicated fitness wearables is generally no more accurate than that from a smartphone kept in a pocket.

Penn medical student and lead study author Meredith A. Case said that wearable devices need to be accurate.

"After all, if a device is going to be effective at monitoring -- and potentially changing -- behaviour, individuals have to be able to trust the data. We found that smartphone apps are just as accurate as wearable devices for tracking physical activity."

Researchers loaded 14 participants up with 6 wearable devices: a Digi-Walker SW-200 pedometer, Fitbit's Zip and One clip-on trackers and Flex wristband, Jawbone's Up24, and Nike's Fuelband. In addition, an iPhone 5s sat in one pocket running the Fitbit app, Withings's Health Mate app, and ProtoGeo Oy's Moves app.

As a control they used a Samsung Galaxy S4 using Moves on Android.

Each participant was then asked to walk on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour, twice each for 500 steps and 1,500 steps. Data collected from the smartphone apps had a range of -6.7 percent to 6.2 percent relative difference from the number of steps researchers observed the participants taking, while the wearables came in with a range of -22.7 percent to -1.5 percent.

Nike's Fuelband seemed to make stuff up; Jawbone's Up24 and Fitbit's Flex booked the second- and third-largest deviations. Fitbit's Zip and One were perfect.

The Tame Apple press has dismissed the study because it failed to include an Apple phone or iWatch in the study.

Everyone knows that Apple gear would be perfect and its iWatch will be far superior to anything out there – and it is very important to start queuing now or else you will not discover how pointless they are.