Comparison

SPOFERAN vs Backyard Ultra Loop Run

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

Head to head
About

SPOFERAN

Discover and register for local sports events, participate in virtual competitions with live tracking, and find sports-related jobs. Connect with a community of athletes, manage your club, and read/write sports articles. Earn rewards through participation.

Highlights
  • Event discovery and registration
  • Virtual competitions with GPS tracking
  • Live results and rankings
  • Sports job and volunteer opportunities
  • Community feed and athlete following
  • Club management
  • Sports blog for articles and tips
  • FINISHERPOINTS rewards program
Features
Read full description

Find sports events and competitions near you: Browse the SPOFERAN event calendar and discover events that perfectly match your sport – from triathlons to running events and ball sports. Get all the important information at a glance and register yourself, your team, or your club with just a few clicks. Take part in virtual competitions: Start anytime within the event period and let your times be automatically recorded via GPS. If you like, your friends can even follow you live on the map in real time. Follow competitions with live results: Stay up to date from anywhere and follow selected events with live rankings in real time. Discover sports jobs & volunteer opportunities: Find exciting volunteer positions at events or secure paid jobs in the sports sector. Apply easily and directly with your SPOFERAN profile. Share your passion with the community: Follow other athletes and clubs, exchange experiences, share your achievements, and become the star of your own community. Manage your club or sports group: Organize your club via the SPOFERAN Club Manager, stay in touch with members, and register together for events effortlessly. Write and discover exciting blog articles: In the SPOFERAN sports blog you’ll find training plans, tips, nutrition advice, and many more interesting articles about sports and health. Want to share your knowledge? Create your own blog posts for free – whether competition reports, training tips, or nutrition experiences – and inspire other athletes with your stories and successes. Collect FINISHERPOINTS & earn rewards: The more events you take part in and the better your results, the more FINISHERPOINTS you earn – which you can exchange for great rewards. Your personal community feed: Get all the latest updates about your friends, clubs, and events directly in your feed and always stay informed.

About

Backyard Ultra Loop Run

Features
Read full description

Every 60 minutes, 4.167 miles. Until only one runner is left. Backyard Ultra is the most honest race format in the world – and Backyard is the app that gets you ready for exactly that. YOUR TRAINING PLAN, BUILT FROM YOUR NUMBERS Backyard builds your plan from your current weekly mileage, your longest run, your level, and your target date. No one-size-fits-all program off the shelf, but weeks tailored to you – with easy runs, long runs, tempo runs, intervals, back-to-back runs on tired legs, strength & stability work, and recovery weeks. Every workout comes with a target pace, a description, and the reason it's in the plan. Haven't booked a race yet? Then you'll get an open 12-week plan and can add the date later. BACKYARD SIMULATION WITH LIVE YARD TIMER The core feature: simulate a full Backyard race. Yards of 4.167 miles on a 60-minute cycle, with a countdown to the next start, remaining time display, and an alarm that calls you back to the corral. Run with a yard limit or an open end – keep going until you can't anymore. The simulation keeps running with the screen locked and shows your yard, pace, and countdown right on the lock screen. GPS TRACKING THAT KEEPS UP Distance, pace, time, elevation gain, and your route – recorded live, even in the background. After your run, you'll see your per-mile splits and the route you ran on a map. If GPS falls short on tight loops, you can end the yard manually. ROUTE FINDER FOR REAL LOOPS Find loop courses near 4.167 miles close to you – built from real map data, with surface type, elevation profile, and traffic levels. Prefer pavement, filter for low traffic, adjust the radius, save a route, and pull it straight into your next simulation. STATS THAT ANSWER THE RIGHT QUESTIONS Total miles, runs, longest run, elevation gain, and longest streak – plus the numbers that actually matter in a Backyard: fastest yard, average yard time, successful yards, longest simulation. The analysis shows your weekly mileage trend, pace progression, and yard drop-off and yard variance: how much do your late yards slow down compared to your first ones? That's exactly what decides how far you'll get. RACE GUIDE FOR YOUR FIRST BACKYARD Pacing, fueling, sleep, clothing, headlamp, batteries – the guide explains what matters in the late hours, including a checklist you can tick off. YOUR DATA BELONGS TO YOU Backyard works completely without an account – in that case, all data stays on your device. With Apple or Google sign-in, you can sync your plan, runs, and yards across devices. Export runs and yards as CSV or your session as GPX and take it wherever you want. You can delete your account anytime with one tap. English and German, kilometers or miles, dark interface throughout for nighttime use. BACKYARD PREMIUM Backyard is free to use. Premium unlocks the full training plan, the Route Finder, in-depth analysis with export, and an ad-free experience – as a monthly, yearly, or one-time purchase. Loop by loop. One more loop. Last one standing. Terms of use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://artvation.com/privacyapps

Screenshots

SPOFERAN4 screens
Backyard Ultra Loop Run4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Backyard Ultra Loop Run at every 8 days against SPOFERAN's every 4 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SPOFERAN ships an update every 4 weeks, Backyard Ultra Loop Run every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 7 level
SPOFERAN versus Backyard Ultra Loop Run: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSPOFERANBackyard Ultra Loop Run
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews—
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 8 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB86 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperSPOFERAN GmbHAnnika Koenemann

In-app purchases

None

SPOFERAN

No in-app purchases

None

Backyard Ultra Loop Run

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SPOFERAN free?
SPOFERAN is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Backyard Ultra Loop Run free?
Backyard Ultra Loop Run is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SPOFERAN or Backyard Ultra Loop Run have ads?
Both SPOFERAN and Backyard Ultra Loop Run show ads.
Which is updated more often, SPOFERAN or Backyard Ultra Loop Run?
SPOFERAN ships an update every 4 weeks, and Backyard Ultra Loop Run every 8 days. Most recently, SPOFERAN was updated on October 14, 2026 and Backyard Ultra Loop Run on October 13, 2026.

Other comparisons