I have adjusted pretty well to running with the Apple Watch. I do enjoy being able to track indoor workouts on the treadmill this time of year. One big thing I miss is my data automatically synching to Strava like it did w/ my Garmin watch. What app is you favorite for tracking your workouts and why?
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What running app are you using and why
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I'm currently using iSmoothRun to track my runs. I had been using NRC+, but the app had gotten so ridiculously buggy and inconsistent, that I gave up. About a year ago, I exported all of my Nike data over to Smashrun.com to allow for better analysis of the data. Best thing I ever did.
I didn't want to lose all of the badges and miles I had accumulated over the years at Nike, so iSR was the best option for me. iSR allows me to export my data to Nike as well as exporting to Smashrun.
iSR has a better integrations between the AW and iPhone than Nike has. When I carry my iPhone, the AW acts as a display for the iSR-iphone app. That's all I really want. When I run on the treadmill, I just use the AW (I found that using the AW+iPhone on a treadmill kept setting off the auto-pause).
Works great for me and iSR is a one-time $4 (maybe $5) purchase. No subscription fee. Also, iSR can export directly to Strava.
EDIT - incidentally, since you're already using Strava, why not use their app?
I didn't want to lose all of the badges and miles I had accumulated over the years at Nike, so iSR was the best option for me. iSR allows me to export my data to Nike as well as exporting to Smashrun.
iSR has a better integrations between the AW and iPhone than Nike has. When I carry my iPhone, the AW acts as a display for the iSR-iphone app. That's all I really want. When I run on the treadmill, I just use the AW (I found that using the AW+iPhone on a treadmill kept setting off the auto-pause).
Works great for me and iSR is a one-time $4 (maybe $5) purchase. No subscription fee. Also, iSR can export directly to Strava.
EDIT - incidentally, since you're already using Strava, why not use their app?
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I used runkeeper for many years (even before watches were a thing and I was paddling in a canoe). I loved having a programmable coach where I could sprint for 2 mins, then half speed for 2 mins, then sprint etc with the voice prompts. Then when I stopped paddling and started running, I got a pebble I stuck with runkeeper, but it got more and more unreliable so I swiched to ismoothrun. This worked way better with the pebble watch, and I continued to use it when I got the apple watch. Just recently though I've stopped using it and am now only using the native app. I tried the NRC app but it failed both times I tried so it was removed immediately. I don't need to export my data and analyze it so the native workout apps work fine for me. The only thing I would need ismooth run for is if I wanted to do a ghost run.
so, in conclusion, if I wasn't using the stock app, it would be ismoothrun for sure.
so, in conclusion, if I wasn't using the stock app, it would be ismoothrun for sure.
Being a longtime Strava user .. I just use the Strava app. Bottom line it just works for me and I don't have to use any other app to get my data to Strava.
I also like the voice feedback .. just wish you could set the time/distance to receive updates. Right now you only get them every mile/kilometer.
I also like the voice feedback .. just wish you could set the time/distance to receive updates. Right now you only get them every mile/kilometer.
I use the Nike Run club app. I've been with Nike since they launched the Nike+ thing back in 2006 (or sometime around then). The Watch app was rock solid when I got my Nike Apple Watch in January, and was like that until they released the version 5.9, around the time of the launch of the Series 3 watch. It seems like the new app makes use of the extra power in the Series 3 watch, and those of us on older watches have had some issues. They released a newer version at the beginning of November, which fixed a lot of the issues. I still have one issue with it (when I finish a run, the app crashes although it saves my data, so I have to restart the app, sometimes several times to actually end the run). I tried several other apps recently, and liked both the Strava App & the stock workouts app (although they both were missing things I enjoyed from the Nike app), but am just too invested in the Nike ecosystem to give it up. The new version of the app is good enough that I've gone back to using it full time.
Honestly, if you're happy using the native workout app, I'd stick with that.
Generally, the other apps fall into one of two categories. Either they are specific to another service (which generally pre-dates the apple watch) such as Strava or Nike Run Club, where you can compete against friends. Or two, they offer an improvement on the workouts app. As an example, the native workouts app can give you a vibration at the mile markers, but the Nike Run Club app, which I use can be set up to give you verbal notifications, as frequently as every .25 mile, with your time, distance, and average pace.
Each app also seems to suffer from issues every now & then. The Nike App, after working great for me for almost a year, started to have issues with a recent update. The Strava app, while really good, has a very sensitive auto-pause feature that will pause (for me) every time I glance at the screen. I've run with the Native Workouts app before, and like it quite a bit. If I weren't invested in the Nike Run Club system, I'd probably just use that.
The one big advantage to the third party apps is that most of them allow you to view your run data from a web browser on any device, while the native workouts app only allows you to view your data in the Activity app of your iPhone.
Stock app. I then use RunGap to send it to Garmin, Strava, Facebook, or anywhere else. The stock app shows me what I need, starts my music automatically, and distance, pace, etc are right on with my Garmin Fenix 3 or 5, which I often wear simultaneously.
I wear a Scosche Rythym plus with with either/both watches for accurate heart rate.
The one thing the AW can’t get right is cadence. I have used ISR or Strava or or other apps to get good cadence from the AW. The stock app at least has garbage cadence for first mile at least. The Garmin with a footpod is a necessity while I’m working on improving my cadence.
I wear a Scosche Rythym plus with with either/both watches for accurate heart rate.
The one thing the AW can’t get right is cadence. I have used ISR or Strava or or other apps to get good cadence from the AW. The stock app at least has garbage cadence for first mile at least. The Garmin with a footpod is a necessity while I’m working on improving my cadence.
I prefer the flexibility of iSmoothRun but have been using the native workout app with RunGap to export to Strava while I wait for iSmoothRun to fix a couple of niggling issues. Primarily I like the ability to use the side buttons to pause/resume a run, and the current iSmoothRun method of transferring a completed workout from watch to phone is too opaque and unreliable.
Me too! I’ve been a runner for 24 years now, lol. I just don’t get the obsession with data. I think the Workout app is great and so far has worked pretty flawlessly. I use an old school app called Running Log where I manually enter my distance and time for the day’s run. (It automatically calculates pace.) I’ve been using that since 2011. It’s really all I need, and I’m very competitive, race a lot, and race well.
I’m really enjoying the native app a lot. I’m pretty much a novice runner, or at least a novice racer. I’ve done four 5ks this fall, though. Getting my current pace is helping me so much, with regard to a. Figuring out what I am capable of/feels good to me when I’m training; and b. Not going out too fast in races. I’ve dropped like 5 minutes this fall!!! I’m solidly in the middle of the pack at races!
Stryd app along with my Stryd footpod (measures distance, pace, power, altitude). The app is really nice and helps leverage the Stryd's superior tracking capabilities. Runs get uploaded onto Strava upon saving. Could not be happier with my purchase!