Comparison

Guru Paul vs Swimming Lap Tracker

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

Head to head
About

Guru Paul

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Guru Paul: Your Ultimate Gym Companion Guru Paul is your go-to solution for helping both new and returning gym members establish and maintain a consistent exercise routine. Operating autonomously 24/7, Guru Paul ensures continuous support and engagement, making it easier to stay on track. Why Choose Guru Paul? AI-Powered Personalization: Guru Paul uses advanced AI to generate tailored prompts, nudges, and conversations, seamlessly integrating exercise into your daily habits. Our focus on increasing retention and reducing attrition helps enhance member loyalty and lifetime value. Personalized Support: Guru Paul identifies members who need extra encouragement, segments them, and sends appropriate, timely messages to keep them motivated. Done-for-You Messaging: We craft and deliver messages on your behalf, ensuring effective communication and engagement without any extra effort on your part. Behavioral Rewards: Earn rewards for regular gym visits and achieving your fitness goals, keeping you motivated to maintain your routine. Generational Messaging: Our messages are tailored specifically for you, ensuring relevance and engagement across all age groups. Survey Integration: We turn surveys into meaningful conversations, helping us understand your preferences and improving your future interactions. Proven Impact on Retention: Guru Paul’s approach is backed by over 22 years of research from retention expert Dr. Paul Bedford. By promoting frequent visits, we help members build exercise habits that significantly increase their length of stay.

About

Swimming Lap Tracker

This app transforms your Apple Watch into an accurate lap counter for swimming. Easily track laps, view live metrics, and analyze detailed swim statistics on your iPhone. Supports both pool and open water swimming with GPS tracking.

Highlights
  • Fast lap marking with Digital Crown/Action Button
  • Manual lap timing and rest
  • Live swim metrics
  • Customizable pool lengths
  • Open water mode with GPS
  • Post-swim analysis on iPhone
  • HealthKit sync
Features
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Swimming Lap Tracker gives you precise manual control over laps, intervals and structured swim training on Apple Watch, with detailed workout analysis on iPhone. Mark laps with the Digital Crown or the Action Button on Apple Watch Ultra. You decide exactly when each lap or interval is recorded instead of relying on automatic lap detection. Live swim metrics stay visible on your wrist, and completed workouts are saved to Apple Health. BUILD CUSTOM SWIM SETS Create structured training sessions in the Set Builder and sync them to Apple Watch. • Build workouts with multiple named stages • Set distance or repeats with a separate interval distance • Choose stroke, drills, equipment, rest and notes • Add breathing targets and bilateral breathing • Set target pace and cadence in seconds per stroke or strokes per minute • Reorder stages and save multiple training sets • Follow stage-by-stage prompts and progress on Apple Watch • Sync new, edited and deleted sets between iPhone and Watch DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO GUIDES Create a downloadable audio guide for a custom workout before you swim. Voice prompts and timing cues support pace and tempo training. • Choose Standard timing or a flowing Waltz 1–2–3 pattern • Use clear timing cues, including the Piano tone • Preview the timing pattern and tone before generating the file • Keep your preferred audio settings between sessions • Generate audio in the background with smoother progress estimates Download or transfer the finished audio file to compatible swimming headphones with onboard storage. Audio guides do not play through swimming headphones over Bluetooth while you are in the water. EQUIPMENT FOR EVERY SESSION Select equipment in supported Apple Watch workout modes, including fins, paddles, pull buoy, kickboard and snorkel. Your choices persist between workouts, the live screen shows a bag icon with the selected item count, and completed workouts show equipment as capsules in iPhone history. PRECISE LAP AND INTERVAL TRACKING • Fast manual lap marking with the Digital Crown • Action Button support on Apple Watch Ultra • Manual Lap Mode for separate swim and rest timing • Interval modes with distance, fixed rest or manual rest • Repeat intervals with optional send-off times • Mixed-distance interval sessions • Metres and yards • Pool presets or custom lengths from 1m to 250m or 1y to 250y • Open Water Mode with GPS distance LIVE METRICS ON APPLE WATCH See lap time, total time, distance, completed lengths, strokes and heart rate while you swim. Custom workouts also show the current stage, interval progress, stroke, drill, equipment, breathing target and rest. DETAILED SWIM ANALYSIS ON IPHONE Review total distance, duration, average pace, individual lap and interval times, custom workout stages, heart rate, strokes, active calories, motion charts, equipment used and recorded swim locations. Export motion data as CSV. HOW IT WORKS Choose your pool length or Open Water Mode, select a workout mode and tap Start Swim. Mark each lap or interval from your wrist while Swimming Lap Tracker records your workout for later review. PERMISSIONS Health access is required to record workouts and heart rate. Motion access enables stroke and movement analysis. Location access enables swim locations and open-water GPS distance. APPLE WATCH ULTRA ACTION BUTTON After installation, open Settings on Apple Watch and choose Action Button. Select Swimming Lap Tracker as the app, set First Press to Start a Workout, and choose Swim Laps as the workout. Open Swimming Lap Tracker with the Action Button before using it to mark laps. Requires iOS 18.2 or later and watchOS 11.2 or later.

Screenshots

Guru Paul4 screens
Swimming Lap Tracker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Guru Paul at Free against Swimming Lap Tracker's $1.99. Guru Paul also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.2). On update cadence, 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

Guru Paul is free to download; Swimming Lap Tracker costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Guru Paul ships an update every 3 weeks, Swimming Lap Tracker every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Guru Paul versus Swimming Lap Tracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGuru PaulSwimming Lap Tracker
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.2
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGuru PaulChristopher Riches

In-app purchases

None

Guru Paul

No in-app purchases

None

Swimming Lap Tracker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Guru Paul free?
Guru Paul is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Swimming Lap Tracker free?
Swimming Lap Tracker costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Guru Paul or Swimming Lap Tracker have ads?
Neither Guru Paul nor Swimming Lap Tracker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Guru Paul or Swimming Lap Tracker?
Guru Paul ships an update every 3 weeks, and Swimming Lap Tracker every 2 weeks. Most recently, Guru Paul was updated on October 27, 2026 and Swimming Lap Tracker on November 4, 2026.

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