Comparison

RUN interval vs RunBeat

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

Head to head
About

RUN interval

This app simplifies interval and Fartlek running by allowing you to set custom targets for time or distance during hard, easy, and rest efforts. It offers detailed post-run summaries, audio and visual feedback, and an Apple Watch app for enhanced training.

Highlights
  • Customizable interval sessions
  • Time and distance targets
  • Distance Goal option
  • Audio and visual feedback
  • Detailed run summaries
  • Apple Watch app
  • Strava sharing
Features
Read full description

Easily set up and record your Interval and Fartlek running sessions. With the flexibility of using time and/or distance as interval targets for your "Hard", "Easy" and "Rest" efforts. The simple but highly configurable interface on your phone and watch will have you running sooner. Now with a Distance Goal option for your session. Along with great audio and visual feedback, detailed post-run summary, share your runs to Strava, and a full-featured Apple Watch app. You can also record your regular runs with voice-over calling out distance and pace feedback. Key Features: • Easily create flexible custom interval sessions. • Utilize three effort targets "Hard", "Easy" and "Rest" in each set, targeting time or distance (meters or miles). • You can "Skip" any of the three efforts to create flexible sets, like building a progressive intervals session. • NEW: Set a Distance Goal for your session, that repeats the sets from the start until the distance has been reached. • Set a Warm-Up and Warm-Down timer or distance around your session. • Clear and easily glanceable visuals and audio prompts, including vibrations. • Voice-over prompts to save you from looking at the screen, great for iPhone or headphone users. • Voice-over prompts include the upcoming intervals effort and time/distance amount, and your last intervals average pace and heart rate. • Full-featured Apple Watch App! • Heart Rate Zones! (see description below) • Indoor Mode, no GPS, for treadmill running. • Sound Mode, for normal, discrete or silent audio prompts on your watch. • Vibration feedback on both the phone and watch. • Detailed run summary, showing pace for hard and easy efforts. • The run summary also includes interval breakdown, distance breakdown and heart rate details. • Play music or podcasts while running and still hear the audio prompts. • Sharing. Share a summary photo with your friends. • Private data. We don’t send any of your data to a server or share it with anyone. Session Types: • Normal Run – Record a normal run, long or short. • Record Intervals – If you run with a group or do an undefined session, then use the Record Interval option. It allows you to manually change between "Hard" and "Easy" reps, allowing you to record your session. • Custom Intervals – Our fully flexible intervals that allow you to use time and/or distance for the efforts. Add multiple intervals sets together to create the session you want. Sharing: From the summary screen, you can share your runs with friends or across social media. If you want to share directly with friends or across other social media, you can share a summary image with the details of your run. Heart Rate Zones: (Apple Watch Only) Zones are displayed as grouped percentages of your maximum heart rate. Giving you an indication of your current work rate based on your current heart rate. Just enter your maximum workout heart rate into our Settings screen and they will display on your Watch the next time you run. Zone 1: Very Light Effort 50-60% (Gray) Zone 2: Light Effort 60-70% (Blue) Zone 3: Moderate Effort 70-80% (Green) Zone 4: Hard Effort 80-90% (Yellow) Zone 5: Maximum Effort 90-100% (Red) Privacy: We don’t want to know where you have run, that's for you to worry about. We don’t send any of your data to a server or share it with anyone you don't want too. We keep your running records safe in Apple Health so you have control. Apple Heath gives you the control over who accesses your data. We only write and read the data we record from your running. Feedback: And because we don't send any data to a server, we need you to send us feedback and suggestions. Hit the Support link below or visit our website to contact us.

About

RunBeat

This app provides real-time audio coaching for heart rate zone training and interval workouts. It guides you to stay in your target zone or complete specific interval structures without needing to look at your screen. Compatible with various Bluetooth heart rate monitors and smartwatches.

Highlights
  • Real-time heart rate zone audio coaching
  • Supports Zone 2 and VO₂ Max intervals
  • Customizable interval training programs
  • Automatic music playlist switching
  • Works with Bluetooth HR monitors and smartwatches
  • Training log with session history
Features
Read full description

Nail every session. Just listen and run. Train Zone 2, race pace, and VO2 max with RunBeat, your audio running coach. Real-time voice guidance keeps you in zone or on pace. Add intervals like Norwegian 4×4 or 1 km repeats, and it calls every rep. ZONE TRAINING Pick your target heart rate zone. RunBeat monitors live heart rate and coaches you to speed up or slow down to stay in zone. PACE TRAINING Train the pace you’ll need on race day, whether that’s a 5K, a marathon, or the runs between HYROX stations. RunBeat monitors your live pace and coaches you to speed up or slow down to stay on target. DISTANCE INTERVALS Speedwork. 1 km repeats or build your own, measured by GPS. Voice callouts at every rep. Apple Music playlists switch between work and rest. TIMED INTERVALS VO2 Max work. Norwegian 4×4 or build your own. Voice callouts at every transition. Apple Music playlists switch between work and rest. WORKS WITH YOUR GEAR Apple Watch, Whoop, Polar, Google Fitbit Air, Garmin, Coros, Wahoo, any Bluetooth HR monitor. Auto-reconnects. Watch app shows live zone on wrist. ACTIVITY Time in each zone, HR over time chart, work/rest breakdowns, rep splits, session history, plus distance, pace, and your route on the map. Saves every workout to Apple Health. WHY RUNBEAT Eyes forward. Train by ear. Audio coaching handles zones, pace, intervals, and reps, so you can focus on running. RUNBEAT PRO First training free. Then a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime. Privacy: https://runbeat.app/privacy Terms: https://runbeat.app/terms

Screenshots

RUN interval4 screens
RunBeat4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: RunBeat at every 5 days against RUN interval's every 3 months. RunBeat also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). RUN interval's advantage is ratings volume (1K vs 13) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. RUN interval sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and RunBeat sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

RunBeat holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RUN interval has 1K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of RUN interval's written reviews are positive against 100% of RunBeat's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RUN interval ships an update every 3 months, RunBeat every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
RUN interval versus RunBeat: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRUN intervalRunBeat
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1K ratings)4.9 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1K — better13
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCAN YOU HEAR ME SOFTWAREMushin Labs, LLC

Customer experience

RUN interval

All ratings1,003 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews191 reviews
Positive77.5%
Neutral5.2%
Negative17.3%

RunBeat

All ratings13 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

RUN interval

One-time2
  • The full RUN interval$1.99
  • The full RUN interval$3.99
2 purchases

RunBeat

Subscriptions2
  • RunBeat Pro7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • RunBeat Pro7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is RUN interval free?
RUN interval is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is RunBeat free?
RunBeat is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, RUN interval or RunBeat?
RunBeat is rated higher. RUN interval averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1K ratings, while RunBeat averages 4.9 from 13 ratings.
Do RUN interval or RunBeat have ads?
Neither RUN interval nor RunBeat shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RUN interval or RunBeat?
RUN interval ships an update every 3 months, and RunBeat every 5 days. Most recently, RUN interval was updated on October 18, 2026 and RunBeat on October 17, 2026.

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