Zones for Training vs RowingCoach
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zones for Training
This app helps you optimize your workouts by monitoring exercise intensity and visualizing it through heart rate zones. It supports over 70 workout types and provides detailed insights into your performance, all accessible on your Apple Watch and iPhone.
- Real-time exercise intensity and heart rate monitoring
- Time spent in four heart rate zones
- Total workout dashboard from Apple Health
- Heart rate zone alerts via Apple Watch taps
- Recovery heart rate measurement
- Detailed workout data and insights
- Widget support for workout summaries
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Get the most out of your Apple Watch! Zones monitors your exercise intensity and visualize it in meaningful ways. Know your activities and be smart about how you work out. Zones supports over 70 types of workouts like Running, Walking, Cycling, Treadmill, Exercise Bike, and Strength Training. Great for outdoor/indoor/gym workouts. Measure it on your Apple Watch, review it on your iPhone. Efficient workouts with Zones! ------------------------------------------------ ■ Features ------------------------------------------------ ◎ Monitor real-time exercise intensity and heart rate during workouts. (Apple Watch only) ◎ Show your time spent in the four Heart Rate Zones. ◎ Display all workouts data from the Apple Health app, so that you can use Zones as a total workouts dashboard. ------------------------------------------------ ■ Training With Heart Rate Zones ------------------------------------------------ Everybody has a different purpose for their training. Someone run for diet, someone ride for improving their cardio endurance. Exercising at the correct intensity can help you get the most out of your workouts. This app shows you your exercise intensity using your real-time heart rate, and it has four heart rate zones to understand your exercise intensity at a glance. • PEAK - for improving performance and speed. • CARDIO - for improving cardio endurance. • FAT BURN - For longer exercise. Predominantly uses fat for energy. • WARM UP - For preparation and recovery. With these four zones, you can start heart rate training very easily and quickly. You don't have to remember your target heart rate or intensity %. ------------------------------------------------ ■ Measuring with Apple Watch ------------------------------------------------ ◎ Heart Rate and Exercise Intensity in real-time • You can easily see which Heart Rate Zone you are in while exercise. • Your Apple Watch taps you on the wrist when heart rate zone changes. • Automatic pause/resume function (Running only) ◎ Review your improvements with Recovery Heart Rate Recovery Heart Rate is the difference between your exercising heart rate and your heart rate one minutes after the exercise has stopped. It is a good indicator to gauge your fitness level! This app measures it automatically right after your workouts. (Over CARDIO intensities only) ◎ Leave your iPhone at home You can leave your iPhone at home when you go for training! ※ Measurement function is only available on the Apple Watch. ------------------------------------------------ ■ Detailed Information of Your Workouts ------------------------------------------------ ◎ Details of Workout • Duration • Active Calories • Distance, Pace, Splits • Time in heart rate zones • Heart Rate and Exercise Intensity (Average, min/max heart rate) • Graphs of heart rate and pace • Show your workout on Widgets ◎ Insights (Graphs & Lists) • Recent Workouts • Weekly Calories Burned • Top 10 Distance • Running Pace ------------------------------------------------ ■ Many Ways to Use Zones ------------------------------------------------ ◎ Supports over 70 types of workouts Running, Walking, Cycling, Core Training, Flexibility, Strength Training... and so on! ◎ Works great with other apps through the Apple Health Zones reads all Workouts data from the Apple Health app, so you can use Zones as a total workouts dashboard. In this way, you can continue using the apps you already love. Of course, you can see your workouts data from Apple Workouts app in Zones. ◎ Upgrade to PRO • Stats (Weekly, Monthly, Yearly) • Create & customize Insights • Change Heart Rate Zones • Create Custom Workouts (5 Zones) • Edit Workout Name ------------------------------------------------ ■ Required Device ------------------------------------------------ Apple Health is required to use. For iPad, please update your OS to iPadOS 17 or higher.
RowingCoach
Track your rowing sessions on land or water with detailed metrics like stroke rate, distance, pace, and calories burned. Use your iPhone or Apple Watch independently or together for flexible workout recording and progress analysis. Syncs with iCloud and Apple Health, and exports to popular fitness platforms.
- Track stroke rate, distance, pace, pulse, and calories
- Use iPhone or Apple Watch for recording
- Siri integration for workout control
- Automatic stroke detection
- Workout display on map
- Export to Strava, TrainingPeaks, and more
- iCloud synchronization
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RowingCoach, available also for the Apple Watch, allows you to track your rowing sessions, compare your workouts and see your overall progress – whether you train on land or on water. == RowingCoach displays the following metrics: • Your current and overall stroke rate (SPM) • The distance covered • Your current and overall pace • Your pulse • Your calories burned == Use the app as suits you best: • Track your session on the iPhone • Only use your Apple Watch to record the training (and leave your iPhone onshore!) • Use the iPhone as display for your Apple Watch recording. Very useful for indoor rowing. == RowingCoach also offers these features: • Use Siri to start and stop your workout • Automatic Stroke detection • Get notified after a certain distance covered, strokes reached or time passed • Display your workout on a map • Speed/pulse shown in color-coding • Share your rowing track with iMessage • Weather conditions are recorded for outdoor workouts • iCloud synchronisation: Have your workouts on all your devices. • Apple Health App integration • Watch Complication: See your weekly progress at a glance • Use Force Touch in the Watch app to quickly start and stop a workout • Today Widget: See your weekly and monthly progress from the Today screen • Add notes (to remember who was cox for example) == Export and upload your workouts to other platforms: • Upload to Strava • Export to RowsAndAll • Upload to MapMyFitness • Upload to TrainingPeaks • Upload to Concept2 Logbook • Upload to Intervals.icu External bluetooth heart rate monitors are supported. If you want to export your workouts via e-mail or want to record more than 3 workouts - you can get to a subscription right in the app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Zones for Training at 4.8 against RowingCoach's 3.3. Zones for Training also leads on review sentiment (69% vs 38%) and ratings volume (19K vs 118). 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. Zones for Training sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and RowingCoach sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Zones for Training holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zones for Training has 19K ratings behind it against 118, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Zones for Training's written reviews are positive against 38% of RowingCoach's.
Zones for Training ships an update every 4 weeks, RowingCoach every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zones for Training | RowingCoach |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (19K ratings) — better | 3.3 (118 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 69.1% of reviews — better | 38.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 19K — better | 118 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Flask LLP | Gunther Cronenberg |
Customer experience
Zones for Training
RowingCoach
User reviews
Zones for Training
From 19K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Seamless integration with Apple Watch
- 👍 Helpful for daily stats and weekly/monthly comparisons
- 👍 Motivating haptic feedback on Apple Watch
- 👍 Well-designed app with nice interface
- 👍 Useful for getting fit
Room to improve
- 🐛 No after-sale support/service
- 🐛 Inconsistent heart rate tracking
- 🐛 Widgets not working after update
- 🐛 Pauses workout when taking screenshots or using Siri
- 🐛 Glitches causing data loss
RowingCoach
From 118 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⌚ Excellent Apple Watch integration
- 🗺️ Accurate GPS tracking for on-water rowing
- ❤️ Heart rate monitoring functionality
- 📊 Comprehensive workout statistics and metrics
- 🔄 Seamless syncing with Apple Health
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 📏 Inaccurate distance estimation (especially indoors)
- ⚠️ Strokes per minute (SPM) consistently underreported
- 🔋 Excessive battery drain on Apple Watch
- ❌ Data loss after pausing workouts
Bugs and requests
Zones for Training
Reported bugs
5 issues- Heart rate not recording properly
- Workout data not syncing correctly
- Workouts pausing unexpectedly
- Inability to delete or edit past workouts
- Inconsistent calorie/distance tracking
Requested features
9 requests- Ability to edit past workouts
- Option to customize moderate and vigorous intensity zones
- Widgets for active score and zone time
- Ability to set zone-specific goals
- Option to disable zone change vibrations
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- Dashboard on phone app while tracking on watch
- Support for Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) zones
- Large widget for monthly/yearly stats
- Voice activation for zone changes
RowingCoach
Reported bugs
20 issues- Distance resets to zero when workout is paused
- SPM not displaying in real-time during workouts
- App crashes when receiving phone calls
- GPS tracking stops working after iOS updates
- Stroke count significantly underreported (off by 30-50%)
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- Distance values wildly inaccurate (2-3x actual distance)
- Workouts not appearing in app history despite being tracked
- Subscription validation fails on Apple Watch
- App hangs on workout start
- Data not uploading to Apple Health
- Clock overlay blocking metrics on Apple Watch
- Display elements overlapping when phone is rotated
- SPM showing zero for entire workouts
- Metrics switching between metric and imperial units mid-workout
- App freezing when trying to save workouts
- PM5 connection showing as connected but not syncing data
- Strava export missing distance data for indoor rows
- Watch app not appearing after installation
- Contact/feedback link in app not functional
- Inconsistent heart rate detection
Requested features
18 requests- Calibration settings for different rowing machines
- Automatic pause/resume detection
- Customizable workout countdown timers
- Bluetooth connectivity for Concept2 PM5
- Improved calorie burn calculations
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Watt power output calculations
- Distance per stroke efficiency metric
- Audible stroke rate announcements
- Always-on display support for Apple Watch
- Manual workout editing capabilities
- Automatic Strava uploads
- Detailed heart rate and pace graphs
- Training plan integration
- Ghost/challenge mode for self-competition
- Garmin Connect integration
- Multiple language support (French, German)
- Improved watch display optimization for larger screens
- Better contrast for outdoor visibility
In-app purchases
Zones for Training
- PRO$7.99
RowingCoach
- Unltd. recs & export (1 Month)$0.99
- Unltd. recs & export (3 Months)$1.99
- Unltd. recs & export (1 Year)$4.99
Questions
Is Zones for Training free?
Is RowingCoach free?
Which has better reviews, Zones for Training or RowingCoach?
Do Zones for Training or RowingCoach have ads?
Which is updated more often, Zones for Training or RowingCoach?
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