Comparison

ChiRunning vs RUN interval

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.

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.

Screenshots

ChiRunning4 screens
RUN interval4 screens

Verdict

The call

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 update cadence (every 3 months vs every 13 months). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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 13, 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChiRunning ships an update every 13 months, RUN interval every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
ChiRunning versus RUN interval: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChiRunningRUN interval
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (13 ratings)4.7 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.5% of reviews77.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings131K — better
Update frequencyEvery 13 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size149 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChiLiving, Inc.CAN YOU HEAR ME SOFTWARE

Customer experience

ChiRunning

All ratings13 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral7.7%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews54 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral7.4%
Negative24.1%

RUN interval

All ratings1,003 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews192 reviews
Positive77.1%
Neutral5.2%
Negative17.7%

Bugs and requests

ChiRunning

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Miles not changing during run
  • Occasionally locks up/crashes
  • Freezes when sharing with Map my Run
  • Pandora audio volume reduced
  • Won't install on iPad
Show 3 more
  • Metronome & Chi Focuses interfere with each other
  • Music volume too loud after focus ends
  • Won't install on original iPad with 5.1.1

Requested features

35 requests
  • Indoor run metrics
  • Interval walk/run programs
  • Apple Watch support
  • Set intervals
  • Export run data
Show 30 more
  • Weekly/cumulative stats view
  • Integration with iWatch and Apple Health
  • Ability to enter own run info
  • Treadmill mode
  • Link to heart monitor
  • Link to local weather
  • Upload data to calendar
  • Compare against previous runs on same route
  • Record regularity/data and improvement
  • Detailed in-app journal entries
  • Community features
  • Diagrams and slow-motion walkthroughs in videos
  • Animations for technique demonstration
  • Clean up interface
  • Allow users to save their own information
  • Focus on fostering interactive understanding
  • Cadence monitoring
  • Training plans for different distances
  • Audible stats (time, distance, pace)
  • Autopause setting
  • Custom run/walk intervals with metronome settings
  • Different focuses for run and walk
  • Post-run stretches to automatically start
  • Metronome fades in background during chi focuses
  • Walk/run interval option
  • Integration with popular running sites (Runkeeper, Garmin Connect)
  • Better integration with iPhone music player
  • Warm-up and cool-down period
  • Integration with Runkeeper
  • Map my run integration

RUN interval

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ChiRunning

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

RUN interval

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

Questions

Is ChiRunning free?
ChiRunning costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is RUN interval free?
RUN interval is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ChiRunning or RUN interval?
RUN interval is rated higher. ChiRunning averages 4.2 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while RUN interval averages 4.7 from 1K ratings.
Do ChiRunning or RUN interval have ads?
Neither ChiRunning nor RUN interval shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChiRunning or RUN interval?
ChiRunning ships an update every 13 months, and RUN interval every 3 months. Most recently, ChiRunning was updated on November 6, 2026 and RUN interval on November 2, 2026.

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