Interval Timer vs Next Up
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Interval Timer
Organize your running and high-intensity interval training sessions with ease. Quickly set up custom time intervals for running, walking, warm-ups, and cool-downs. Receive voice and vibration notifications for interval changes, and enjoy background music playback.
- Intuitive design
- Customizable time intervals
- Warm-up and cool-down timers
- Voice and vibration notifications
- Background music support
- Foreground/background operation
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Interval Run is a running interval timer for iPhone and Apple Watch. Create run/walk intervals, sprint sessions, and HIIT workouts in seconds. Train with voice announcements and haptic cues, control workouts from Apple Watch, save sessions to Apple Health, and track your workout history. Choose from 25+ ready-made running workouts or build your own. Follow intervals from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, and focus on your run. 25+ READY-MADE RUNNING WORKOUTS • Explore run/walk workouts, running intervals, sprints, hill repeats, tempo runs, fartlek sessions, ladders, pyramids, and more • Find workouts for speed, endurance, recovery, and different training goals • Start any workout immediately or customize it to match your training • Save your favorites to My Workouts for quick access BUILD YOUR OWN INTERVAL WORKOUT • Create simple run/walk intervals or advanced multi-step workouts • Add warm-up, running, walking, recovery, rest, and cool-down sections • Set a custom duration for every step • Repeat intervals and complete workout blocks • Add custom cues to guide you through each workout step • Build sprint, HIIT, cardio, and structured running sessions • Save multiple workouts and reuse them anytime • Preview the complete workout before you start VOICE & HAPTIC INTERVAL CUES • Hear clear voice announcements at every interval transition • Feel haptic cues when it’s time to run, walk, recover, or rest • Keep your workout active while your iPhone is locked or the app is in the background • Follow your current interval from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island with Live Activities • Listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks while you train RUN WITH APPLE WATCH • Sync workouts to Apple Watch • Start, pause, and control workouts directly from your wrist • Run phone-free with your workouts ready on Apple Watch • Follow interval progress without repeatedly checking your phone • Track heart rate, distance, and active energy during your workout • Get haptic interval cues directly on your Watch • Save completed workouts to Apple Health TRACK YOUR TRAINING • Browse completed workouts in calendar and history views • Review workout duration, intervals, distance, and active energy • Look back at your running and interval training over time • Share your workout results • Export and restore backups of your workout data MADE FOR RUNNERS WHO TRAIN WITH INTERVALS Whether you’re starting with beginner run/walk intervals, adding speed work to your weekly training, preparing for a 5K or another race, or creating a challenging HIIT session, Interval Run keeps every interval clear from start to finish. Use it as a simple run/walk timer, a running interval timer for speed training, an Apple Watch interval timer for phone-free workouts, or a flexible workout builder for more advanced structured sessions. From beginner run/walk workouts to sprints, tempo runs, hill repeats, fartlek training, and custom multi-step sessions, Interval Run adapts to the way you train. Start with one of 25+ ready-made workouts or create your own. Interval Run handles the timing so you can focus on your training. Some features shown, including the full workout library, advanced workout creation, multiple saved workouts, and full workout history, require Interval Run Pro. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Next Up
Create and customize interval timers with detailed options for reps, sets, colors, and sounds. Offers flexible display modes, quick actions for navigation, and background notifications. Organize timers with folders and choose between light and dark themes.
- Customizable intervals (reps, sets, colors, sounds)
- Detailed and full-screen display modes
- Portrait and landscape orientation support
- Quick actions for navigation and editing
- Background notifications
- Timer organization with folders
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Customize Your Intervals, Your Way A fully customizable interval timer: Create your intervals. Specify reps, sets, colours and sounds. Tailor it to your purpose and needs. Minimal design and easy to use. Options for rep-based intervals and images. Display options: Choose to run your timer in a detailed view that auto-scrolls through intervals or a full-screen mode for a larger, easily visible display. Both modes support portrait and landscape orientations. Visual details: In detailed view, running intervals and sets are highlighted, providing a clear visual cue. For intervals with multiple reps, the highlighted area indicates the percentage completed. Set optional background colours on intervals for a visual cue. Light and dark mode versions are available and will adapt to your preferences set on your device. Quick actions: Set an interim interval that will automatically be added between intervals. Optionally, end your timer with the interim interval. Skip or backtrack through intervals using intuitive arrow buttons. Swipe actions allow for easy deletion and duplication of intervals and sets. --- Interval Timer features: • Interval timers: Create timers with unlimited intervals. • Description, Length, and Reps: Set the details of each interval, customizing it to your precise requirements. • Interim Intervals: Quickly set up timers by adding interim intervals that run between each interval. • Interval Sets: Group intervals into sets and specify the desired number of set reps. • Interval Customization: Differentiate intervals with background colors. • Time Display: View countdown of each interval and total remaining time, with an option to display total elapsed time. • Progress and Highlighting: View progress with highlighted current intervals and reps completed. • Start from Any Interval: Choose which interval to start the timer from, providing maximum control. • User-friendly Actions: Effortlessly manage intervals with swipe actions for deletion and duplication. Duplicate button allows for easy copying of intervals, sets, and timers. Arrow buttons enable smooth navigation between intervals. • Background Notifications: Run timers in the background and receive alerts for interval changes and timer completion. • Organize with Folders: Create folders to organize and easily access your timers. • Orientation and Display: Enjoy portrait and landscape orientations, and full-screen mode for a larger timer display. • Light and Dark Mode: Seamlessly switch between light and dark mode to suit your preference. Upgrade features include: • Unlimited timers: Create as many timers as you like. • Sound Options: Enable countdown beeps, set interval/timer sounds, and/or enable text to speech. • Rep-based Intervals: Option to create intervals based on reps instead of time to offer maximum flexibility. • More Interval Customization: Differentiate intervals with images/photos and sounds. • Edit received timers: Flexibility to modify all timers. Subscription - syncing and sharing timers: • Sync and Share: Sync timers across devices and choose to share timers and folders with other users. Sharing via email includes a direct download link and instructions. --- Privacy Policy: https://alysha.dev/interval-timer-privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://alysha.dev/interval-timer-terms-of-use
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Next Up at 75% against Interval Timer's 21%. Next Up also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Interval Timer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Next Up sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Next Up holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Next Up has 2.8K ratings behind it against 534, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 21% of Interval Timer's written reviews are positive against 75% of Next Up's.
Interval Timer ships an update every 3 months, Next Up every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Interval Timer | Next Up |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (534 ratings) | 4.7 (2.8K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 21.1% of reviews | 75.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 534 | 2.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Roma Sosnovsky | Alysha Kwok |
Customer experience
Interval Timer
Next Up
Bugs and requests
Interval Timer
Reported bugs
4 issues- Timer resets or freezes during workout
- Prompts not working when phone is locked or in pocket
- Unexpected interval changes or duration changes
- Compatibility issues with music playback
Requested features
6 requests- Option to pause/resume timer
- Larger time remaining display
- Apple Watch app
- Ability to play audio prompts even with screen off
- More interval options (run/walk/jog)
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- Congratulatory audio cue at the end
Next Up
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Interval Timer
- Interval Run Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- Interval Run Pro Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Full Version$2.99
Next Up
- Syncing and Sharing$3.991 Month
- Upgrade$2.99
Questions
Is Interval Timer free?
Is Next Up free?
Which has better reviews, Interval Timer or Next Up?
Do Interval Timer or Next Up have ads?
Which is updated more often, Interval Timer or Next Up?
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