RowingCoach vs SmartRope
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.
SmartRope
Track your jump rope workouts in real time and manage your fitness progress. This app offers various training modes, performance tracking, and global leaderboards to motivate your exercise routine. It's designed to help you achieve your daily fitness goals and burn calories effectively.
- Real-time workout stats
- Interval training modes
- Global leaderboards
- Workout history tracking
- Calorie burn calculation
- Apple Health integration
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Smart Rope is an app developed by Tangram Factory. You can improve and manage your workout stats in real time by connecting to the Smart Rope LED/PURE/ROOKIE. Smart Rope is a new app that has been improved from the original Smart Gym app. Smart Rope and Smart Gym are not compatible, so a resubscribing is required to use SmartRope app. Jumping rope is a full body workout, it strengthens your upper and lower body, and burns a lot of calories in a short time. Therefore, many trainers and experts recommend jumping rope as the best fat-burning exercise; better than running or cycling. So set up a daily target for yourself and try to reach it. This application is for 'Smart Rope'. Compatible with LED/PURE/ROOKIE products. Smart Rope App Features: -Basic Count Supports 4 basic modes: Jump count/Calories burned/Time elapsed/Daily target(%). This will help you to reach your daily exercise goals more effectively. -Interval Training Select training sessions with recommended workout and rest intervals, based on your skill level and fitness goals. This way you can boost your stamina in a short period of time. -Leaderboard See how you stack up against the competition, rank yourself against Smart Rope users around the world. You can check the daily/weekly/overall ranking at any time. -History See the jump count per month or year as a graph. This will help you to track your progress and set higher goals to achieve. -Competition Share your workout data with other Smart Rope users. Compete with your friends for a more fun and challenging workout. -Settings Log in with your Google/Facebook/Email account. Enter your weight to track your burned calories more accurately. - Apple Health App Supports You may opt to integrate SmartRope with Apple's Health App Database. If you grant SmartRope access to Apple's Health App Database, SmartRope may import or export your data to the Health App Database in certain circumstances, such as to aid you in the tracking of health and wellness goals. In addition, Spire may transfer data that you store locally on your Device, such as steps, calories burned and breaths per minute to the Health App Database. SmartRope cannot read or write to the Health App Database unless you grant permission. Data accessed from the Health App Database will never be shared with third parties, such as third party service providers and/or advertisers. -Other Functions Wireless firmware updates available. We will add more fun and interesting functions through constant updates.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SmartRope at none against RowingCoach's 3. SmartRope also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (3.5 vs 3.3). RowingCoach's advantage is review sentiment (38% vs 30%). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. RowingCoach sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. SmartRope asks for nothing beyond the download.
SmartRope holds the better App Store score, 3.5 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 117 and 266 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 38% of RowingCoach's written reviews are positive against 30% of SmartRope's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
RowingCoach ships an update every 2 months, SmartRope weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RowingCoach | SmartRope |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (117 ratings) | 3.5 (266 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 38.4% of reviews — better | 29.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 117 | 266 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gunther Cronenberg | Tangram Factory Inc |
Customer experience
RowingCoach
SmartRope
User reviews
RowingCoach
From 117 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
SmartRope
From 266 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Accurate jump counting
- 🚀 Convenient and travel-friendly
- 💡 Motivating with leaderboards and challenges
- 👍 Nice rope design and build quality
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes or disconnects during workouts
- 🐛 Inaccurate jump counting or data loss
- 🐛 Connectivity issues with the rope
- 🐛 App resets progress or jumps for no reason
- 🐛 Poor Apple Health/Fitness integration
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
SmartRope
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes frequently
- Jumps not recorded accurately
- Connectivity issues with the rope
- Progress/data loss during workouts
- Inability to update email address
Requested features
5 requests- Custom interval training options
- More workout metrics and analytics
- Ability to manually add/edit jumps
- Better sync between phone and Apple Watch
- Offline mode or local data storage
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
SmartRope
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is RowingCoach free?
Is SmartRope free?
Which has better reviews, RowingCoach or SmartRope?
Do RowingCoach or SmartRope have ads?
Which is updated more often, RowingCoach or SmartRope?
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