Egg Freckles
By Thomas Brand

Fri 4/10 OutRun

I first heard about OutRun from Bradley Chambers, writing for 9to5Mac.

OutRun is exactly what you’d want from a simple iPhone run tracker. It fits in nicely with a great iOS 13 design, is 100% private, and syncs with Apple Health. The syncing with Apple Health is optional as well. Settings wise, you can change your energy unit, weight unit, GPS accuracy settings, create data backups, and enable syncing. There is no friends list, ads to dismiss, or subscriptions to sign up for bonus features. It has one simple goal, and that is to track your runs.

I have run with a dedicated GPS watch in the past, but these days I only take my iPhone with me on most workouts. Apple offers a great running app for Apple Watch, but when it comes to iPhone-only runners like myself we are forced to download third-party apps that come with their own accounts, privacy policies, advertisements, and social networks. I don’t want any of that stuff when I run, and I don’t want to pay $199 for an Apple Watch and the privilege of keeping my workout data safe. All I want to do is run, and have my iPhone announce my progress while I am out on the road and track my miles after the race.

I have been using OutRun for five days and it does a good job of tracking my miles average speed, location, and time. I trust OutRun and Apple Health to keep my workout data safe, but in order for me to adopt OutRun as my full time running app, I need it to do more for me while I am running.

  • Spoken notifications for elapsed time, distance, and current pace every kilometer. The Nike Run Club app does this, and as a legally blind runner I rely on these regular audible notifications to keep my eyes on the road.
  • Split tracking so that after the race is finished I can see how I performed every kilometer along the way.
  • Auto pause for when I stop running, because obstacles and intersections shouldn’t get in my way of my goal pace during workouts.

OutRun is still a 1.0, so there is plenty or time for improvement. I can’t wait to contribute to this app again when the developer has added more of my desired features. Maybe we will see a version 2.0 in time for fall marathon season?