Comparison

Smart Runner vs Rolling Heart

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

Head to head
About

Smart Runner

This app offers science-backed marathon and half-marathon training plans based on VDOT calculations. It provides adaptive, personalized workouts and detailed performance metrics, with a focus on user privacy and a one-time purchase model.

Highlights
  • Adaptive 2-week training plans
  • VDOT-based pacing zones
  • ATL/CTL/TSB training load tracking
  • HealthKit integration
  • Apple Watch live workout guidance
  • Strava sync
  • Post-run analysis
Features
Read full description

Train like a coached athlete. Pay once, train forever. Smart Runner is a science-backed marathon training app built for runners who want real results - without paying every month for the privilege. Every other serious training app charges you monthly. Runna is $120/year. Strava Coach. Garmin Coach. Subscription after subscription - and your data lives on their servers, not yours. Runner costs $29.99. Once. That's it. Pay once, use it forever. YOUR DATA NEVER LEAVES YOUR PHONE No account. No email. No password. No analytics. No cloud sync. Your workouts live in Apple Health and on your device - full stop. Delete the app and your data is gone, because it was never anywhere else. Privacy isn't a setting you toggle. It's the architecture. ADAPTIVE TRAINING THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Runner uses VDOT - the same science behind Jack Daniels' Running Formula, to measure your current fitness from a recent race result and build a personalised rolling plan around it. - Adaptive 2-week plan - regenerates as your fitness improves - VDOT-based pacing - scientifically calibrated easy, tempo, interval, and race-pace zones - ATL / CTL / TSB tracking - the training load metrics used by elite coaches, now on your phone - HealthKit integration - every run auto-imported from Apple Health - Apple Watch - live workout guidance on your wrist - Strava sync - pull in runs you've already logged - Post-run analysis - understand what each session actually built BUILT FOR - Marathon and half-marathon runners chasing a time goal - Athletes returning from a break who need a structured rebuild - Runners who want coaching-grade metrics without paying coaching prices - Anyone tired of apps that charge monthly and hold their data hostage Try it free for 7 days. Unlock once. Train forever. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Rolling Heart

Features
Read full description

Your heart rate, rolling with you. Rolling Heart brings private Heart Flow context and factual Heart Data to iPhone and Apple Watch in calm, glanceable views for everyday wellness. SEE THE SHAPE OF YOUR DAY Dashboard gives you a quick view of Heart Flow. Heart Lens lets you explore recent patterns and the context behind them, including Heart Load, Movement Load, Recovery Reserve and Sleep Support. Heart Data keeps recorded values, timestamps and availability separate from these derived wellness views. MAKE HEART FLOW MORE PERSONAL Personal Ranges reviews 84 days of history privately on your iPhone when enough data is available. Compare Flexible and Standard styles, preview how your days look, then apply your choice or keep your current ranges. You decide when to review and what to apply. Optional review reminders help you return when you are ready. EXPLORE YOUR GRAPHS Browse available history, choose a date and inspect readings in the Heart Flow Graph preview. Lifetime Premium lets you customize graph shape and colors, choose Classic or Smooth Feather fills, soften the graph, and add Time Markers. Preview your changes before applying them. HEART FLOW ON YOUR WRIST Watch Today builds Heart Flow locally on Apple Watch. Heart Flow complications offer Flow, Heart Rate and Hybrid trace choices. Supported complications can show minimum and maximum readings for the graph range, since midnight or since noon. Explore factual Heart Rate, HRV, Resting Heart Rate, Blood Oxygen, Day's Vitals and Rolling Vitals complications across supported families. Browse every complication preview for free and discover nine ready-made faces in the iPhone Watch Face Gallery. Adding a face requires a compatible paired Apple Watch. USEFUL FROM THE START The free app includes six-hour Dashboard, Heart Lens, Heart Data, Watch Today and Heart Flow complication views; Personal Ranges on Everyday; supported factual complication families; graph preview and inspection; Heart Flow Lab comparisons; the offline Rolling Heart Guide; and three ready-made Watch faces. Sandstone and System, Light and Dark appearance are free. GO FURTHER WITH LIFETIME PREMIUM One optional, one-time purchase on iPhone or Apple Watch adds longer ranges, Parchment, Signal and Electric themes, graph and Advanced Lab customization, Body Response and Sleep Focus profiles, expanded Heart Rate complication options, four Signal Orbit complications and six additional ready-made Watch faces. Purchase and Restore Purchases are available on either device, with private paired-device ownership sharing. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Apple Health access is permission-based. Heart rate is the only required Heart Flow input; available age, recovery, movement, workouts, sleep, breathing, oxygen and sleeping wrist-temperature context add detail. Missing optional inputs are reweighted or treated as neutral. Date of Birth is used locally for an age-predicted maximum-heart-rate model and sleep-duration guidance; the actual birth date is excluded from Heart Flow caches and paired messages. Sleeping wrist temperature adds limited context relative to your own history. Health data stays on your devices. Rolling Heart has no account, ads, analytics, tracking or developer server. Only limited data and settings needed for paired features move privately between your iPhone and Apple Watch; the Watch builds its own Heart Flow. Optional comparison with your paired iPhone returns aggregate differences. No Health data is uploaded to the developer automatically, and the app does not write Health data. Rolling Heart is for personal wellness visualization only. It is not intended for diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, regulated medical-device use or emergencies.

Screenshots

Smart Runner4 screens
Rolling Heart4 screens

Verdict

The call

Smart Runner and Rolling Heart are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Smart Runner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Rolling Heart sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smart Runner ships an update every 3 days, Rolling Heart every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Smart Runner versus Rolling Heart: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmart RunnerRolling Heart
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDor TalBRENT ANDREW CHUA

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Smart Runner

Subscriptions1
  • Runner Annual Plan7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time2
  • Runner Unlock$14.99
  • Runner Lifetime Plan$19.99
1 purchases

Rolling Heart

One-time1
  • Rolling Heart Lifetime Premium$7.99

Questions

Is Smart Runner free?
Smart Runner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Rolling Heart free?
Rolling Heart is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Smart Runner or Rolling Heart have ads?
Neither Smart Runner nor Rolling Heart shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Smart Runner or Rolling Heart?
Smart Runner ships an update every 3 days, and Rolling Heart every 4 days. Most recently, Smart Runner was updated on September 7, 2026 and Rolling Heart on September 25, 2026.

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