Best Running Apps?

You can stop the BT on the iPhone and leave it ON on your watch tou use your AirPods

 

I think that this is probably the best approach, although it means that the music must be available on the watch as well.

 

Of course...
But it’s very easy with Apple Music

 

In general @cfc does WorkOutDoors (and other running apps) record the workout using the watch in airplane mode?

Because I want the AirPods connected to the phone in case there is a need to answer a call.

 

The app works fine when the watch is in airplane mode because GPS still works in airplane mode.

I think that it uses the watch GPS when in airplane mode but I can't be sure. I tested it by seeing if the GPS temporarily dropped off when switching Bluetooth off on the iPhone. There was no drop off so I assume that it was using the watch GPS even when iPhone BT was on. However this isn't the most scientific of tests so I could be wrong!

 

I've tried most of them and am still looking. Any suggestions? What I'm looking for:

1. exports all data including GPS to Apple Health. Of some of the main apps (Map My Run, Runtastic, Runkeeper), only Runtastic does that. Anyway to get GPS data out of runs through some other way like RunGap?

2. Confirm/discard after a run or workout would be nice. Zones offers that.

3. Focus on endurance, zone 2 training. Pear announces current zone at a specified interval. Map My Run also. Others may but don't when using the Watch alone. Pear also I think had a graph showing distribution of current run across zones.

4. Now Playing controls. A few offer that but without #1 and preferable #2, not many options. I haven't yet tried WorkOutdoors.

Zones comes closest at the moment though I'll likely try a few others again. Strava I haven't used much. Another criteria, importing all old runs and perhaps workouts too from Apple Health. Various stats would be nice such as time or distance per week, month, etc., time in zones, cardio efficiency (improvement over time, pace vs. heart rate, one app offers that), and other data. Apps seem to generally not be great with stats; Final Surge, Training Peaks, Garmin, Polar, Suunto SportsTracker, etc. each offer something interesting. I haven't tried the subscription option of the popular apps; they are often littered with social tabs, feeds, and other things I'm not interested in. Numerous apps also have an ugly UI. Hoping for one app as they say to rule them all. Some may get there someday.

 

I think you should give workoutdoors a try. Another app I am very impressed by is Fitiv pulse for all kind of exercises, but don't know if it is too good to be true and the show comes to an end without subscription. Maybe I am on free trial even though I have not manually activated it. I like it better than Zones for workout and Especially I like its live streaming of workout from watch to iphone is nice, but it might not be that usefull for outdoor running. I have also not tried doing a running workout with it yet.

 

Yes WorkOutdoors seems ok. Started using it and I'll likely stick with it until others improve. It doesn't have announcements for zone per interval like distance but that's ok. Close enough for now.

Fitiv indeed seems ok though yeah subscription required.

I like the watch app of Pear training. It announces heart rate zone every so often. But it doesn't write GPS data to Apple Health and the iPhone app for viewing past workouts and any kind of analysis even basic like miles per week is lacking. It's focused mainly on subscription and offering various workouts as are many apps.

For viewing stats like miles per week, per month, time in zones per day and week, and more stats to see if one is improving in efficiency and so forth, so far not happy with any app. SportsTracker is ok. At a glance, I can see hours per day over a month and then tap once to see average heart rate, pace, and distance graphs. Final Surge seems to not be able to show heart rate zones. Maybe that's a bug on iOS. The data is there for individual workouts. Polar didn't seem that great. Maybe will give Garmin another try.