ChiRunning vs RUN interval
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ChiRunning
Learn to run faster, easier, and injury-free with this comprehensive running coach. It offers video lessons, audio guidance, and guided runs to improve your technique and achieve your running goals.
- Video lessons on key running focuses
- Audio coaching and guided runs
- Built-in metronome
- GPS route mapping
- Workout logging and history
- Pre-run looseners and post-run stretches
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The best-selling runner’s book, Chi Running®, is now an iPhone app that has helped thousands of everyday runners to run faster, easier, and injury-free. Created by ChiRunning founder, Danny Dreyer, this app is feature-laden with Chi Running video lessons, audio coaching, guided runs, and a built in metronome - tools for you to always run your best. You’ll learn the technique that has taught hundreds of thousands to run relaxed, efficiently, and with less injury. For beginning runners, weekend warriors, marathoners and speed demons alike, everyone benefits from improved running technique. You’ll practice “intelligent movement”; using good technique to save your body from undue effort and injury. Danny’s voice will talk you through Guided Runs with audio focuses played at self-selected, repeating intervals. These audio and video lessons will help you achieve your running goals; whether to start running, run a PR, complete a half or full marathon, or run for the rest of your life without injury. Practice your technique while tracking your distance, pace, caloric burn, and mapping your routes. The workout log function allows you to track your run history and share it with friends via Twitter and Facebook. Unique among running apps, the Chi Running® app is a complete coaching tool for improving your running technique and boosting your training. Exceptional running for ordinary people! COMPATIBILITY Please note: This app can only be used on the iPhone, NOT on iPads or the iPod Touch. FEATURES The Chi Running app features: • 18 video lessons of the key Chi Running focuses. • A unique Guided Run feature - Chi Run audio focuses prompt you as you run. • Pick which of the 23 Chi Run Focuses you want to practice and choose from 5 selectable time intervals. • 4 different Guided Runs to choose from: Tempo, Intervals, Long Slow Distance (LSD), and Custom. • Built-in metronome with two beat sounds. • Workout timer with pause and resume. • GPS mapping of running routes. • Running history with daily run data: distance, pace, elevation gain, calories burned. • Weekly mileage totals displayed and stored. • Video and audio reminders of 8 pre-run Body Looseners and 6 Post-run stretches. • Music fades when audio reminders play during your Guided Runs. • Separate volume settings for metronome and Chi Focuses. • Share your runs on Facebook, Twitter and more. • Track your distance in US/English or Metric units. The Chi Running App is also your portal into our world of on-line training plans, books and DVDs, and 200 Certified Chi Running instructors around the world. For questions or help with the application, send us an email to feedback@chirunning.com. Check out our forum at www.ChiRunning.com/forum.
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.
- Customizable interval sessions
- Time and distance targets
- Distance Goal option
- Audio and visual feedback
- Detailed run summaries
- Apple Watch app
- Strava sharing
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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.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: RUN interval at Free against ChiRunning's $9.99. RUN interval also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (1K vs 12). ChiRunning's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On 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
RUN interval is free to download; ChiRunning costs $9.99 up front. RUN interval sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. ChiRunning asks for nothing beyond the download.
RUN interval holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RUN interval has 1K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of ChiRunning's written reviews are positive against 77% of RUN interval's.
ChiRunning ships an update every 13 months, RUN interval every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.
| Parameter | ChiRunning | RUN interval |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.2 (12 ratings) | 4.7 (1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews | 77.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 | 1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 149 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ChiLiving, Inc. | CAN YOU HEAR ME SOFTWARE |
Customer experience
ChiRunning
RUN interval
In-app purchases
ChiRunning
No in-app purchases
RUN interval
- The full RUN interval$1.99
- The full RUN interval$3.99
Questions
Is ChiRunning free?
Is RUN interval free?
Which has better reviews, ChiRunning or RUN interval?
Do ChiRunning or RUN interval have ads?
Which is updated more often, ChiRunning or RUN interval?
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