How to Count Foot Traffic

Foot Traffic Counter turns a regular iPhone into a simple, accurate foot traffic counter. Instead of guessing how busy a place feels, you can run short sessions and turn what you observe into clear numbers that are easy to compare.

Why manual counting still matters

It is easy to assume that automated cameras and sensors have replaced manual counts. In reality, many questions are still best answered by a person on site who is paying attention. Manual counting gives you flexibility that fixed sensors cannot match. You can move with the crowd, adjust what you look for, and capture details like engagement and purpose.

With a manual foot traffic counter app you can measure activity at any location without installing hardware, test ideas quickly for a day, a week, or a single event, and adapt the categories you use so they reflect the real world in front of you. Because everything happens on your own device, your counts stay private unless you choose to export them.

What you can count

Foot Traffic Counter is built for flexible observation. You are not limited to a single entrance count or one kind of movement. You can track:

people who pass by within a defined zone, people who actually enter a space, pairs and families, age bands or loose age groups, and different purposes such as commuter, shopper, tourist, worker, or local. You can also add your own custom categories when the default ones do not quite fit.

The goal is not to count everything that happens. It is to choose a small set of things that matter for your project and count them in a consistent way. If you can describe a behaviour in simple terms, you can usually find a way to count it.

Before you start a session

A little preparation makes the data much more useful later. The first step is choosing a clear vantage point. Pick a place where you can see movement without constantly shifting your position. This might be a doorway, a stretch of footpath, a corridor, or a zone inside a venue.

Next, decide what counts as a passer by and what counts as an entrant. For example, you might define a passer by as anyone who walks past the shopfront within a certain distance, and an entrant as anyone who crosses the threshold into your space. Write these rules down if you are working with a team so that everyone uses the same definitions.

Finally, choose your categories and time window. Think about the questions you want to answer and pick only the categories that support those questions. Then decide how long you will observe. A focused thirty minute session is usually better than a long, distracted one.

Running a session

1. Start the session

When you are ready, open Foot Traffic Counter and create a new session. Give it a clear name such as "Main entrance lunch Friday" or "Market entrance Saturday morning" so you will recognise it later. Confirm the observation fields you want to use, then move to your counting position and get comfortable before you start.

2. Count as people move

During the session, tap once each time you see an event that matches your categories. If someone walks past, that is one tap on the passer by button. If a group enters, you record the group in whatever way you have chosen. The most important thing is to stay consistent with your own rules. If you miss someone, do not try to make up for it by guessing later. A slightly lower but honest count is more useful than a perfect looking number that you are not sure about.

3. End the session and review

When your time window ends, stop the session in the app. Take a moment to look at the built in charts and totals. You will often see simple patterns right away, such as a small surge of people at a particular minute or a steady flow that matched how the space felt at the time. Make a short note about weather, nearby events, or anything unusual that might explain what you saw.

Examples by use case

Retail and storefronts

In a retail context, manual counts help you see how many people notice your shop, how many come inside, and how that changes across the day. You can run the same session pattern on different days to compare weekdays and weekends, or to see whether a new window display or sign changes how people behave.

Events and pop ups

At events, you might focus on entrances, key corridors, and specific stands. Counts can show when the main peaks occur, whether certain areas become congested, and which stalls attract real engagement rather than just passing traffic. This makes it easier to plan layout and staffing for your next event.

Galleries and museums

In galleries and museums, the interest is often in how people move through rooms and interact with works. Manual counts can track room entries, time spent in different zones, and how many visitors pause for a closer look. Those observations support curatorial decisions and help with reporting to funders or boards.

Turning counts into decisions

A collection of sessions becomes useful when you compare them. You can look at how numbers shift with days of the week, weather, campaigns, or layout changes. Over time, patterns emerge that help you choose opening hours, plan staffing, or decide whether a site is strong enough to support a new lease.

Foot Traffic Counter stores sessions as structured data. When you are ready, you can export your counts to CSV or JSON and work with them in spreadsheets or other analysis tools. The important thing is to start, stay consistent with your definitions, and let the data build up over time.