Comparison

Interval vs StartRunning

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

Head to head
About

Interval

Features
Read full description

Interval is a fast, focused timer for HIIT, Tabata, EMOM, circuits, boxing rounds and any work/rest training you do. Set your work, rest and rounds — or start from a ready-made preset — and press start. A big, glanceable timer with color-coded phases and audio, voice and haptic cues keeps you on pace without staring at the screen. ON YOUR WRIST • A full Apple Watch app — start and run any of your workouts from your wrist • Live sync — start on iPhone and it opens on your Watch instantly, and the other way around • Pause, skip or end on either device and the other follows along • Haptic cues on every phase change, so you can train without looking BUILT FOR TRAINING • Work, rest and rounds you control, with round rests between sets • Tabata, HIIT and EMOM presets to start from • A clean preview of the whole workout before you begin • Gym circuits, boxing rounds, sprint intervals, stretching, physio sets — anything that runs on a clock STAY LOCKED IN • A large timer with color-coded WORK / REST phases • Two-tier progress: where you are in the round and in the whole workout • Audio beeps and an optional voice cue on every phase change and the last 3 seconds • Haptic feedback so you can train heads-down • Keeps running with the screen locked and in the background LOCK SCREEN & DYNAMIC ISLAND • A Live Activity shows the current phase and countdown on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island YOURS, AND PRIVATE • No account, no sign-up • No tracking, no ads, no data collection — everything stays on your device SIMPLE PRICING Use Interval free for up to 15 workouts with every feature unlocked. A single one-time purchase — Interval Pro — removes the limit forever and unlocks accent themes. No subscription, ever. Questions or feedback? Email interval@klimakov.me

About

StartRunning

Features
Read full description

From the couch to thirty minutes of continuous running in nine weeks. No experience needed, no gear, and no prior idea of what "interval training" means. StartRunning takes you through 27 workouts, three a week. Each one opens with five minutes of brisk walking and ends with five minutes of cooling down. In between, running and walking alternate — at first one minute of running, ninety seconds of walking. By week nine you run for half an hour without stopping. WHAT GUIDES YOU • Spoken coaching tells you when to run and when to walk. You never have to look at your phone. • Tones and vibration for every change — even with music in your ears and the phone in your pocket. • A screen you can read in one second: one huge number, two buttons, nothing else. • GPS records your route and works out distance, pace and kilometre splits. • Your history shows every run with its map; the progress grid shows the whole plan at a glance. THREE LEVELS OF COACHING Voice and tones, vibration only, or nothing at all. Switchable mid-run — for the day you run with someone and still want to feel the interval change. YOU SET THE PACE All 27 workouts can be started and repeated at any time. Nothing is locked, nothing pushes you. If a week feels too fast, run it again. If you end a workout early, the time you ran still counts — only the plan doesn't move on. CUSTOM WORKOUTS You set total duration, run interval and walk break; the app works out the rest. For after the plan, or for the day you have something else in mind. WHAT THIS APP DOES NOT DO No ads. No subscription. No sign-up. No account. No tracking, no analytics, nothing shared with anyone. Your data stays on your device. What you export, you export yourself — as a backup file or as GPX. If you want, the app writes your workouts to Apple Health; that is off by default. Training and all your data work completely offline. Only the map view loads tiles from the network. ACCESSIBILITY Every interval type is signalled by word, icon, colour and vibration pattern — never by colour alone. The app holds up at triple system text size and respects the reduce-motion setting. WHAT IT COSTS The first 9 workouts are free — about three weeks of training, with everything included. After that you unlock everything once: all three plans, custom workouts, for good. No subscription, no follow-up costs. Your history stays open either way, unlocked or not.

Screenshots

Interval4 screens
StartRunning4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: StartRunning at 15.0 against Interval's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Interval sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and StartRunning sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
Interval versus StartRunning: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIntervalStartRunning
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOLEG KLIMAKOVPatrick Engels-Kolodziej

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Interval

One-time1
  • Interval Pro$6.99
1 purchases

StartRunning

One-time1
  • StartRunning Lifetime$6.99

Questions

Is Interval free?
Interval is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StartRunning free?
StartRunning is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Interval or StartRunning have ads?
Neither Interval nor StartRunning shows ads.

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