What you need
- Multimeter for macOS 13 or later, $19.99 once.
- An iPhone with the Shortcuts app and iCloud Drive turned on for Shortcuts, signed in to the same Apple Account as your Mac.
Set it up
- On your iPhone, make a new shortcut called Save Steps with three actions: Find Health Samples where Type is Steps and Start Date is Today; Calculate Statistics with Sum of those samples; Save File with the result, saving to the Shortcuts folder in iCloud Drive as
steps.txt, with Ask Where to Save off and Overwrite If File Exists on. - Run it once. Allow Health access when asked.
- In the Automation tab, add Time of Day automations (for example 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00 and 21:00) that run Save Steps, set to Run Immediately.
- On the Mac, check the file arrived:Terminal
cat ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~is~workflow~my~workflows/Documents/steps.txt - Add a File meter and choose that file. In the file dialog it’s iCloud Drive, Shortcuts,
steps.txt. Set the range to 0 to your goal.
Multimeter settings
In Customize This Meter… (from the meter’s menu):
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | File |
| File | iCloud Drive, Shortcuts, steps.txt |
| Range | 0 to your goal, like 10000 |
| Unit | steps |
| Alerts | Off, or Low values in the evening if you like a nudge |
| Label | STEPS |
| Face | XP Bar, Level Bar or Plant |
Tested: Checked on October 29, 2026: the iCloud Drive Shortcuts folder is at the path above on macOS 27, and a File meter reads a file holding a bare number such as 6420. The iPhone side uses Shortcuts’ standard Health actions; we couldn’t run an iPhone automation from this test Mac.
More on this source, including every format it reads, in the File guide.
Limits
- The meter is as fresh as the last automation run plus iCloud sync, usually under a minute. More automation times give a fresher number.
Variations
Other Health numbers
Change the sample type in the first action: Active Energy, Exercise Minutes, Flights Climbed, Walking + Running Distance. Use a different file name for each.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The file never appears on the Mac | iCloud Drive isn’t syncing Shortcuts’ folder, or the Save File action asks where to save. | Turn on iCloud Drive for Shortcuts on both devices and switch Ask Where to Save off. |
| The number has decimals | Calculate Statistics returns a decimal sum. | Add a Round Number action before Save File, or leave it: the meter shows whole numbers for big values. |
Questions
Does this work in the Mac App Store version?
Yes. File meters work in every version.
Is my Health data uploaded anywhere?
Only the one number, to your own iCloud Drive. Multimeter reads the file locally and sends nothing.