Comparison

RUN interval vs Workout Timer

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

Workout Timer

Create and save custom interval timers for various workout routines like Tabata and HIIT. Features audio cues, haptics, and voice announcements for phase changes. Keeps running with the screen locked and offers Live Activities on iOS.

Highlights
  • Build custom interval timers
  • Save and reuse timer templates
  • Audio cues and haptic feedback
  • Voice announcements for phase changes
  • Live Activities on iOS Lock Screen
  • Runs with screen locked
Features
Read full description

A workout interval timer for Tabata, HIIT, and any work-and-rest routine. Build a timer once, save it, and run it again with one tap. It's free to use. No paywall. No ads. No tracking. No accounts. What it does: - Build interval timers with warm-up, work, rest, recovery, and cool-down phases - Save timers as templates and run them again in one tap - Audio cues, haptics, and optional voice announcements at every phase change - Watch the phase, set, and time left on a clear countdown screen - On iOS, a Live Activity shows your timer on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island - Keeps running with the screen locked, so the phone can sit in your pocket Made for any interval discipline: - Rock climbing: hangboard and fingerboard repeaters (try 7 seconds on, 3 seconds off, for 6 sets), plus campus-board and no-hang protocols - Boxing, MMA, and martial arts: timed rounds with rest between them - High-intensity interval training and functional fitness: Tabata, EMOM, and AMRAP - Running and cycling: sprint and interval training - Strength and calisthenics: timed sets and supersets - Yoga, mobility, and stretching: hold each pose for a set time - Physical therapy and rehab: timed holds and repetitions - Meditation and breathwork: steady, repeating intervals If it has a "work for a bit, rest for a bit, repeat" shape, you can build it here. Your data stays with you. No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your timers stay on your phone. The only network activity is the check for app updates, which carries no information about you. Open source: https://github.com/Josh-Approved/workout-timer What it doesn't do: No paywall. No ads. No tracking. No accounts. No subscriptions. The whole app is the whole app: every feature is here, free. Josh Approved is supported by the people who use it. No ads, no subscriptions, no data harvest. What keeps this sustainable is whether it's worth a few dollars to you. If it is, there's an optional tip jar in the app. Send feedback: feedback@joshapproved.com

Screenshots

RUN interval4 screens
Workout Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Workout Timer at weekly against RUN interval's every 3 months. Workout Timer also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). RUN interval's advantage is ratings volume (1K vs 1). 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 Workout Timer sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Workout Timer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RUN interval has 1K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RUN interval ships an update every 3 months, Workout Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
RUN interval versus Workout Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRUN intervalWorkout Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings1K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCAN YOU HEAR ME SOFTWAREJosh Approved LLC

Customer experience

RUN interval

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

Workout Timer

All ratings1 ratings
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
5 purchases

Workout Timer

One-time5
  • Tip$2.99
  • Tip$4.99
  • Tip$9.99
Show 2 more
  • Tip$19.99
  • Tip$49.99

Questions

Is RUN interval free?
RUN interval is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Workout Timer free?
Workout Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, RUN interval or Workout Timer?
Workout Timer is rated higher. RUN interval averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1K ratings, while Workout Timer averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do RUN interval or Workout Timer have ads?
Neither RUN interval nor Workout Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RUN interval or Workout Timer?
RUN interval ships an update every 3 months, and Workout Timer weekly. Most recently, RUN interval was updated on October 1, 2026 and Workout Timer on September 19, 2026.

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