RowingCoach vs RP3 Rowing Lite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
RP3 Rowing Lite
This application connects to your RP3 rowing ergometer via Bluetooth to provide real-time performance data. Analyze stroke rate, speed, distance, and heart rate, with in-depth force curve analysis. Program custom interval training sessions and export your workout data for further analysis.
- Bluetooth connectivity to ergometer
- Real-time stroke rate, speed, distance, heart rate
- In-depth force curve analysis
- Customizable interval training programming
- Workout data export to online portal
- Performance analysis
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Your monitor for the RP3 Rowing ergometer. Get the most precise insights in your performance for the True rowing experience. RP3 Rowing is designed to connect to your RP3-S or RP3-T ergometer through Bluetooth. It provides a training tool that any rower can use to get real-time stroke rate, speed, distance, heart rate information, in depth force curve analysis and much more. Program an interval training consisting of duration, strokes or distance parts and measure your performance while doing so, if it is just a full on 2K performance test or an hour long HIIT training. Each stroke of your workout is recorded and can be exported to your RP3 Rowing account on https://portal.rp3rowing.com/. Go online to get a deep dive into your data or export it for further analysis.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: RowingCoach at 3.3 against RP3 Rowing Lite's 1.8. RowingCoach also leads on review sentiment (38% vs 8%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). RP3 Rowing Lite's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. RowingCoach sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. RP3 Rowing Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.
RowingCoach holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RowingCoach has 117 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of RowingCoach's written reviews are positive against 8% of RP3 Rowing Lite's.
RowingCoach ships an update every 2 months, RP3 Rowing Lite every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and August 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RowingCoach | RP3 Rowing Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (117 ratings) — better | 1.8 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 38.4% of reviews — better | 8.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 117 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gunther Cronenberg | RP3 Rowing B.V. |
Customer experience
RowingCoach
RP3 Rowing Lite
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%)
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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
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- 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
RP3 Rowing Lite
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
RowingCoach
- Unltd. recs & export (1 Month)$0.99
- Unltd. recs & export (3 Months)$1.99
- Unltd. recs & export (1 Year)$4.99
RP3 Rowing Lite
No in-app purchases









