Virgin Active SA vs TEMPO PULSE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Virgin Active SA
This app rewards you for achieving personal wellness goals with exclusive partner offers. Access on-demand classes, book club sessions up to 8 days ahead, and use your digital card for club entry. It's designed to support your progress with guidance and tangible benefits.
- Real rewards from partners
- Book club classes up to 8 days in advance
- Digital access card for club entry
- On-demand classes for anytime training
- Personalized wellness guidance
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Welcome to Virgin Active’s new wellness app that gives you real rewards for hitting your personal wellness goals. • Real rewards: Instant fist-bumps from iconic partners • Real endorphins: Book all your fave club classes up to 8 days in advance • Scan the app to enter the club with your digital access card • Real support: Train anywhere, anytime, with on-demand classes • Designed to support real progress with real rewards and guidance, this isn’t an app… It’s your personal, free smoothie-giving, endorphin unleashing, goal crushing, wellness weapon.
TEMPO PULSE
This app pairs with a fitness watch to track your activity, sleep, and heart rate. It provides real-time performance monitoring and delivers smartphone notifications, integrating with iOS Health.
- Activity tracking (steps, distance, calories)
- Sleep quality monitoring
- Heart rate sensor
- Multi-sport functionality
- Smartphone notifications
- iOS Health integration
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The Tempo Puls Application, together with a matching Tempo Pulse Fitness Watch provides you with information instantly to enjoy a healthier and more active lifestyle. Without compromising your style, our Tempo Pulse Fitness Watch range is not only a traditional smartwatch but also a powerful sport computer to monitor your performance in real time, and also lets you receive text message and notifications from your smartphone. Integrates with iOS Health App. A built-in pedometer tracks your steps, distance, and calories burned. A built-in sleep monitor tracks your quality of sleep. A built-in heart rate sensor tracks your heart rate. Powered with multi-sport functionality, our Tempo Pulse Fitness Tracker lets you monitor your fitness activity during the day or night. In addition to its training functions, our Tempo Pulse Fitness Watch will also notify you when receiving incoming calls, text messages or social media notifications.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: TEMPO PULSE at 71% against Virgin Active SA's 6%. TEMPO PULSE also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). Virgin Active SA's advantage is ratings volume (745 vs 2) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
TEMPO PULSE holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Virgin Active SA has 745 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 6% of Virgin Active SA's written reviews are positive against 71% of TEMPO PULSE's.
Virgin Active SA ships an update every 3 weeks, TEMPO PULSE every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Virgin Active SA | TEMPO PULSE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (745 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 5.8% of reviews | 70.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 745 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 352 MB | 229 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Virgin Active South Africa | SMD Technologies Pty LTD |
Customer experience
Virgin Active SA
TEMPO PULSE
Bugs and requests
Virgin Active SA
Reported bugs
15 issues- Login error messages with no resolution
- Password reset emails delayed or not received
- App freezes during booking attempts
- Gym attendance not logged for rewards
- Rewards expiring before being credited
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- Inconsistent reward tracking between users
- Internet connection errors despite valid connection
- Session timeout and forced re-login
- Account creation errors during registration
- Class cancellation not reflected in app
- Timetables fail to load
- App crashes on password reset screen
- Add-to-calendar button non-functional on iPhone
- Rewards goals resetting incorrectly
- Club entry button disappeared after update
Requested features
8 requests- Apple Wallet integration for digital card
- Apple Watch device support
- Graphical display of visit statistics per month
- Bike assignment visibility for spinning bookings
- Club entry button on home page
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- Instructor rating/comments functionality
- Class calendar add-to-calendar functionality
- Cross-club timetable access for weekend bookings
TEMPO PULSE
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Virgin Active SA
No in-app purchases
TEMPO PULSE
No in-app purchases
