RunKeeper review: Follow That App of the Week

Keep on running

Keep on keeping fit with the handy RunKeeper, our Follow That App of the Week for April 9th 2011.

Love
The RunKeeper app makes great use of your iPhone’s functionality to track your fitness activity – GPS, motion-sensor, maps and audio, all combine to make this a great motivator for amateur and serious exerciser alike.

It’s intuitive to setup and still works when the phone goes into sleep mode, tracking your activity for you to then digest the stats and route on the phone or in a browser synced into a RunKeeper.com community account.

The app has come a long way from the pet project it started out as and now offers social media integration to annoy your friends, importing of your playlists and even coaching tips giving you audio shouts in line with your target pace and key intervals.

Don’t love
There’s not much we don’t love, particularly given how comprehensive the free version is. It does suffer from the occasional loss of data, more down to the phone’s GPS tracking than the app itself, but even then you can add in your best guestimate manually. Just make sure your battery is fully charged before you set off on long trips as the GPS drains the battery fast.

Overall
With the free version so comprehensive (a premium RunKeeper Elite service is also available), this is a must-have app and can make all the difference in keeping you going whatever your fitness ambitions. A great alternative to Nike+.

Want more?

Fanboy store review: “This is an amazing app. that does everything you need and more!…”

Meh store review: “…Looks great but is flakey. If you stop and re-start gps unreliable, and as such is not really fit for purpose. When bugs are fixed it will be a top app.”

Get it: here.