The app can create routes for you if given a distance and rough direction, which is smart, but it often sticks to main roads with these routes. Even without connected shoes, though, MapMyRun is a helpful resources to runners. You can use it to find trails and roads for runs of any length, both near your house and far away. Perfect for the running route planners who prefer dirt to pavement, AllTrails presents plenty of possibilities for new off-road routes to explore. It’s as simple as entering your city or a local park in the search bar and scrolling through the possibilities. Each trail listed includes photos, descriptions of length and difficulty, ratings, and comments, and helpful tips from other users.

Key Features

The best navigation apps should be easy to use, and offer features like traffic and weather alerts, multiple stops, route optimization, and location sharing. To choose the best running app, you’ll need to determine your level and goals, identify the features that are most important, and set a budget. With all of this outlined, you can narrow your choice down to a couple of apps to test. In a survey conducted by PMC, just over half of runners use an app to track their runs. And there are some 368 million users of fitness apps globally (not all of them runners).

Map My Run GPS Running Tracker

Beyond basic metrics, Strava integrates seamlessly with smartwatches and GPS devices, ensuring precise data even on longer, solitary runs. Overall, Strava inspires friendly competition and helps you feel like your running journey is a part of a larger movement, which is pretty cool. Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or just starting with a Couch to 5K, these apps integrate with your favourite wearables (or work perfectly on their own) to give you detailed insights and motivation. It tacked on an extra 0.2 miles to my run somehow, which lowered my overall mile time.

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We loved unique tools like Hill Splitter for unimeal reviews breaking out climb and descent splits on hilly runs and Fuelwise that generates effort-based fuelling strategies. There’s military-style multi-band GPS, designed to improve GPS accuracy in areas where regular signals can struggle. Though it’s impressive, our tester found it’s not totally infallible. It locks routes as well as any watch we’ve tested, though it suffered a few wobbles under heavy tree cover. Overall, though, total distances landed well within the margin for error.

PLATFORM

This isn’t the best app for serious runners – there are no training plans or competitive running metrics, but if you want to make running with your local running club more fun, it’s a cool way to do that. The Nike Run Club app is a completely free running app that allows you to track your runs, tune into coached runs, and connect with runners in your local area. The breadth and depth of this free content feels generous, especially when you consider that Strava now hides this kind of stuff behind a paywall.

What are the different route types?

Craving a personalized training plan to reach your next running peak? Runtastic offers a robust toolkit that empowers you to plan, track, and analyze your runs, all with the goal of making you a stronger, more knowledgeable runner. Finally, several apps include community features that help maintain motivation. Being able to share activities, join challenges, and follow other runners adds a social element to training that many runners find encouraging. A great running app can not only track your distance, show elevation and route, but provides some additional tools that make running easier to stick to or more fun.

Our web-based route creator at routes.rungoapp.com has the deepest set of features and integrations to help chart your next run or race. Additionally, it has fun challenges to keep you motivated, like running a certain distance each week. AllTrails Pro is $29.99 annually, offering offline maps, PDF printing, and an ad-free experience.

• Most running apps automatically record key metrics such as distance, pace, time, elevation, and heart rate.
• Pacer throws out the guesswork, providing real-time audio cues to keep you on track and hitting your pace goals every run.
• Caltopo provides next-generation digital enhancements sought after by search and rescue responders, as well as backcountry explorers who require the highest quality terrain mapping and analysis.
• Moreover, Runkeeper’s social connectivity aspect fosters a sense of community engagement, as users can share their running activities, achievements, and favorite routes within the platform’s network.
• After that, there’s an option to upgrade to Roadtrippers Basic, Pro, or Premium, all of which come at varying costs.
• You can even search with Yelp from within the app to find more places to go.

Watch a demo video

This route planner is better for runners with laptops, which can then be saved to a mobile phone. Apart from being compatible with a wide range of devices, Garmin Connect also offers a long list of great features for you as a runner. With Garmin Connect, you can create custom routes for a change of scenery that fits in with your personal routine. This integration enhances the overall planning experience by providing a realistic preview of the running path, which can be particularly beneficial for exploring new or unfamiliar areas.

Garmin Enduro 3

At the more basic level is breadcrumb navigation (which allows you to follow a line on your wrist, with turn-by-turn navigation). If you’re frequently heading off road, you’ll want downloadable, full-colour, offline maps that allow you to see your surroundings. MapQuest is the original mapping app having first launched way back in 1996. They set the standard for mapping tools and have stuck close to their original concept since then. With an interactive map where you can discover hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and more, Mapquest offers real-time traffic data including traffic slowdowns, incidents, and webcams. It also offers real-time traffic information, music streaming and Google assistant integrations, trip progress sharing, and the AI-powered “explore tab”.

RunGo’s city pages help you find the most popular routes, runner-friendly hotels, highlight races, and other unique adventures. Zwift is an online training ground inhabited up until recently by cyclists, although now used by runners, especially by those who love their Wahoo Kickr Run Treadmill. Log in, sync your avatar to your iPad or other device, then ride or run around courses, surrounded by other virtual athletes from all over the globe doing the same thing. You can also download Zwift to other equipment to keep track of your runs. This 12-week program for those who haven’t run before or who haven’t run in a while includes three workouts of 30 minutes or less each week, and the goal is to have you running for 25 minutes straight in three months. The website has strength videos so you can use them when the plan calls for a workout.

At the core of NRC’s appeal is its user-centric approach to route planning, empowering runners to create, discover, and save customized running paths with precision and ease. The app’s interactive map interface allows users to plot their desired routes, incorporating specific distance targets, landmarks, and terrain preferences. This level of customization ensures that runners can curate routes that align with their desired running experience, whether it involves urban pathways, scenic trails, or challenging terrains. Furthermore, Mapometer’s route planning features are enriched by its integration with GPS tracking, providing real-time distance measurements and route mapping during runs.

Can these apps track my running progress over time?

You sub in for Frodo and take his journey, though with hilariously non-copyright-infringing versions of the characters and events. Make your way to ‘Mount Fire’ over the course of a year, that’s the app’s challenge. It even has another person, Frodo himself, walking the same journey, so that you can track your progress and see if you’re ahead or behind Schedule. I’m slipping this last app in because, hell, it’s my article and I’ll do what I want. Yes, it has ‘hike’ in the name, but this app is a basic distance tracker which challenges you to walk – or, get this, run – the distance between the Shire and Mount Doom a la good ‘ol Lord of the Rings.

INTERFACE AND USER FRIENDLINESS

Our guide dives into the top six tools that will turn your routine jog into a tailored running adventure. The best GPS running watches can track every stride you take — and some are packed with additional sensors and technology to provide a 360 degree view of your training and recovery, too. Badger Maps is a routing & mapping app that automates data collection and uplevels field team performance.