Comparison

RowingCoach vs Givhero

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Givhero

This app encourages healthy habits by letting you set and track personal wellness goals. It connects you with colleagues for employer-sponsored challenges, allowing you to raise funds for selected charities as you achieve your objectives.

Highlights
  • Customized wellness goals
  • Sync with wearable devices
  • Employer-sponsored challenges
  • Fundraising for charities
  • Social connection and leaderboards
  • Well-being content
Read full description

Givhero inspires and motivates healthy behaviors so individuals can improve their lives and their communities. Set, track and achieve your personal health and wellness goals with Givhero. Compete with colleagues in employer sponsored well-being challenges. Select a charity, invite sponsors (friends or employer), and raise funds when your goals are achieved.  Do Good, Feel Good, Be A Hero! For Individuals: • Customized wellness goals (walk, run, bike, weight management, blood pressure, etc.) • Sync to your favorite wearable device or app (e.g., Apple Health, Fitbit, Strava, etc.) • Community wide challenges  • Challenge leaderboards • Social Connection ◦ Leaderboard ranking, applause, motivation, badges ◦ Teams  ◦ Hero Wall (chat, photo, video and content sharing) ◦ Sharing (to social media, etc.) • Well-being content (articles, videos, etc.) • Donation procession to partner charities • Fundraising for causes For Employers (everything above and the following): • Employer customized and themed challenges (supporting well-being and charitable causes) • Curated and customized well-being content (articles, videos, etc.) • Employer curated content • Employee and employer donation processing  • Matching gift processing • Employer selected charities (over 2M global charities) • Admin dashboard with full reporting capabilities • Customer success representative  Employee Wellness. Social Wellness. Community Wellness! For any support questions, please email us at support@givhero.com.

Screenshots

RowingCoach4 screens
Givhero4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Givhero at 4.6 against RowingCoach's 3.3. Givhero also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (73% vs 38%). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. RowingCoach sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Givhero asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Givhero holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 117 and 408 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of RowingCoach's written reviews are positive against 73% of Givhero's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
RowingCoach versus Givhero: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRowingCoachGivhero
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (117 ratings)4.6 (408 ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.4% of reviews72.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings117408 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGunther CronenbergGivhero, Inc.

Customer experience

RowingCoach

All ratings117 ratings
Positive49.6%
Neutral16.2%
Negative34.2%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive38.4%
Neutral24.5%
Negative37.1%

Givhero

All ratings408 ratings
Positive89.0%
Neutral5.1%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral9.1%
Negative18.2%

User reviews

RowingCoach

From 117 App Store ratings

What 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

Givhero

From 408 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💪 Combines fitness and giving back
  • 🤝 Motivates users to achieve goals
  • 👍 Easy to use and understand
  • 💖 Supports favorite charities
  • 🏢 Great for workplace sponsorship

Room to improve

  • 🔋 Requires background app refresh (battery drain)
  • 🤔 Difficult to figure out how to use
  • ❓ Unclear source of money
  • ❓ Unclear how to find charities
  • frustrating user experience

Bugs and requests

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%)
Show 15 more
  • 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 more
  • 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

Givhero

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Tracker pairing issues
  • Manual logging not showing up
  • App difficult to figure out

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow app usage without background app refresh
  • Improve app navigation and user flow
  • Add ability to see individual team performances from previous dates
  • Ensure manual step logging works reliably
  • Clarify how money is sourced
Show 1 more
  • Improve charity discovery functionality

In-app purchases

3 purchases

RowingCoach

One-time3
  • Unltd. recs & export (1 Month)$0.99
  • Unltd. recs & export (3 Months)$1.99
  • Unltd. recs & export (1 Year)$4.99
None

Givhero

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RowingCoach free?
RowingCoach is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Givhero free?
Givhero is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, RowingCoach or Givhero?
Givhero is rated higher. RowingCoach averages 3.3 out of 5 from 117 ratings, while Givhero averages 4.6 from 408 ratings.
Do RowingCoach or Givhero have ads?
Neither RowingCoach nor Givhero shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RowingCoach or Givhero?
RowingCoach ships an update every 2 months, and Givhero every 2 months. Most recently, RowingCoach was updated on September 21, 2026 and Givhero on September 22, 2026.

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