iPhone App Reviews

RunKeeper Pro

Eric | Sep 2, 2009 Healthcare & Fitness

User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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If you enjoy running and have an iPhone, than you likely have heard of RunKeeper from FitnessKeeper, the GPS assisted training app for runners.   It tracks and uploads training runs to the  RunKeeper website in addition to keeping a history of runs within the app.  An feature packed Free version is extremely popular in the App Store.   The Pro version adds a few key features, but are they worth the $10 upgrade?

Tracking a run is easy with this app.  It took about 20-30 seconds from when the app was launched on my iPhone 3G to obtain a good or excellent GPS signal.  From there, all you have to do is hit the green “start” button and go.  The simple approach to this app is welcomed, as there  isn’t many options to configure are decide from.  The status screen shows a graph of the pace you are keeping to see how fast you are going in relation to the rest of the run.   Since my iPhone is always on an armband while I am running, main status screen can rotate for easy landscape view.  The stats in this view remain the same as the portrait view.  RunKeeper Pro measures current speed, pace per mile, total distance traveled, and total time elapsed.  The app also measures elevation, but this is only available by viewing the run from the RunKeeper website once the it has been uploaded.   The website ties into Twitter nicely, for those who love to auto-share their runs.   A feature that was added to the recent version is the ability to see a real time map of the current run on the iPhone.

Pro Features

The Pro version has two key features that can make a huge difference.  The first, and most useful is the audio cues feature.  During your run, you can set the audio cues to update and tell you the time, total distance and current pace.  I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to take a quick glance at the screen to see how my run was coming along, but to be frustrated because I needed to unlock my phone to get to the status.  You can choose not to lock the screen, but if you do that you will kiss the battery life of these types of apps bye-bye.   The audio cues can be set to give updates at time or distance intervals.  The second key feature is training mode.  Training mode allows you to set up interval training, which is huge for those training for that Marathon (or other race) coming up because it takes the distance  guesswork out of road interval training.    Training allows you to do time or distance repeats during the run, and adjust the pace to match the goals of the workout.  For example, you can set for a 7 mile training run.  1 Mile warmup at a “slow” pace, followed by 3 miles at a fast 5K race pace, followed by 2 miles at a steady 10K pace, and a 1 mile cool down to finish it off.  The app will give audio cues as to when to start each section of the run.    I also enjoyed the iPod playlist integration, which will automatically start a specified music playlist when you hit the start button for the run.

What about resting?

One feature that would be extremely useful rest detection.  On my runs, I sometimes find myself stopped at stoplights waiting for traffic before I can continue.  With RunKeeper, I need to unlock the phone, hit the pause button, and hit resume when I start again.  Rest detection would make for less hassle in these instances

One of the Best

RunKeeper Pro is a great running app.   It does the job in a simple, yet functional way.  The addition of training and audio cues to the Pro version, as well as the clean look of an app without ads with will make the $10 Pro purchase worth it to many.

iTunes Link – RunKeeper Pro
Version 1.6.0.12
Reviewed on iPhone 3G 8GB (OS 3.0.1)

Tags: $9.99, Fitness, gps, Running