Runtastic is a series of health and fitness apps available for iOS and Android. Read our Runtastic review to find out if these apps are the right choice for you.
What is Runtastic?
Runtastic is a series of dozens of health and fitness apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. There’s the core Runtastic app, which helps you track your basic activity, along with specialized apps for different exercises.
The specialized apps include a “Sleep Better” app, for example, as well as a Mountain Bike app. There are also apps called Pull-Ups, Squats, and Runtastic Butt Trainer.
These apps are self-explanatory: they help you get better at a specific type of training or exercise.
As the company explains on its official website, “No matter what your activity of choice, we have an app for that!”
The Runtastic App
Runtastic is best-known for its core Runtastic app, available for free from Google Play, the iTunes App Store, and the Windows Store. This app is a multi-purpose fitness tracker that can track your running, jogging, and biking.
This app tracks all of the things you expect your fitness tracking app to track, including your distance, time, speed, elevation, and calories burned.
The Runtastic is optimized for platforms like Android Wear and the Apple Watch. When you download Runtastic, you also become part of the global Runtastic community, which includes millions of users around the word.
Runtastic App Features
- The core Runtastic app comes with all of the following core features:
- Personal fitness tracker, letting you track fitness workouts using your GPS data and maps
- Voice coach that gives you audio feedback for your first mile
- Yearly running goal that lets you continuously push towards a target distance
- Shoe tracking to help you keep track of the mileage of your running shoes and learn when you need to get a new pair
- Running leaderboard that lets you track which of your friends has run the furthest in the last week or month
- “Powersong” and workout music integration, letting you add songs to your daily runs
- Integrates with Google Fit and MyFitnessPal
Runtastic App Premium Features
There’s also a premium version of Runtastic that comes with additional benefits. Those features include:
- Personalized 12 week body transformation plan displayed in the Runtastic Results app
- Unlimited Training Plans from your running trainer (including 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon training plans, among others)
- Unlimited story runs
- Running ABC videos expertly designed by a professional running trainer to help improve your running technique
- Records and personal bests that let you track progress on your favorite running routes and let you know when you’ve set a record
- Advanced stats and analysis
The Runtastic premium membership is priced at $2.99 per month (when you sign up for one full year). Otherwise, it costs around $5 per month.
Other Runtastic Apps
As mentioned at the top of this review, Runtastic has dozens of other apps for all different types of fitness and activities. Here are some of the apps currently available through the company:
- Runtastic Me: View your Runtastic stats across all Runtastic apps in one place.
- Runtastic Results: Helps you work towards specific body training results over time using a customized 12 week plan, including training regimens and a nutrition guide.
- Road Bike / Mountain Bike: Tracks your cycling performance with over 50 cycling features. You can also connect cycling hardware to gain additional insight into your biking activity. There are two Runtastic cycling apps, including Road Bike and Mountain Bike.
- Pedometer: The pedometer tracks your daily steps activity (similar to the feature built into newer smartphones).
- Altimeter: This app tracks your elevation changes during hiking, walking, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and other activities. You also get additional weather info, GPS positioning, and sunset/sunrise data.
- Heart Rate: The Runtastic heart rate monitor lets you track your heart rate using your smartphone’s camera sensor. Again, this feature is similar to the one that’s built into modern Androids and iPhones.
- Sleep Better: Runtastic’s Sleep Better app lets you track your sleep, monitor your dreams, and improve your sleep habits.
- Timer: This is a straightforward timer app that lets you set interval workouts or just time yourself.
- Pushups: This is a personal pushup trainer that helps you reach pushup targets using easy-to-follow training plans.
- Situps: Like the pushups app, this app helps you reach specific training targets for sit-ups. You’ll receive a custom plan to work towards every day.
- Pull-ups: Perform more pull-ups over time with the help of a daily training plan.
- Squats: Work towards doing more squats with a day-to-day training program.
- Six Pack: Want six pack abs? This Runtastic app will help you work towards the best abs of your life with a daily training program.
- Runtastic Butt Trainer: Want to get the best butt of your life? This Runtastic app will recommend different daily workouts you can use to improve your butt over time.
- Runtastic Leg Trainer: The Runtastic Leg Trainer app makes your legs stronger over a period of time.
- Libra: The Runtastic Libra app works with the Runtastic Libra scale, a hardware device that tracks your weight, body composition, and overall weight management.
- Nutrition Quiz: The Runtastic Nutrition Quiz app tests your knowledge of nutrition. You’ll answer questions like, “Does restless sleep lead to weight gain?” or “Does non-alcoholic beer contain alcohol?”
The above apps are all available for iOS and Android (and a select few are available for Windows Phone)
Who Makes Runtastic?
Runtastic is made by an app developer of the same name based in Linz, Austria. The company’s About page describes itself as “a talented and internationally diverse team that shares one vision”.
In August 2015, Adidas bought Runtastic for $239 million.
Runtastic was originally launched in 2009-2010. Today, the app is available in 18 languages, including English, German, Russian, and French.
Starting in 2012, Runtastic branched into the hardware world. In 2014, they launched a 24-hour fitness tracker named Orbit. In 2015, they followed up with another fitness tracker called Moment.
You can learn more at the company’s Wikipedia page here.
Is Runtastic’s Premium Membership Worth It?
Runtastic’s premium membership is priced between $3 and $5 per month, depending on your commitment (3 month, 6 month, and 12 month commitments are all available). That pricing is in line with most other fitness apps on the market.
What do you get with your Runtastic Premium membership? Here are all of the things you get through Premium that you don’t get with the free app:
- 12 week body transformation guide, including a customized fitness and nutrition program
- Nutrition guide
- Standalone workouts (you only receive a limited number of standalone workouts in the free app)
- Training plans
- Story runs (limited number available through the free app)
- Real voice coach (limited through the free app)
- Extensive statistics and analysis on your fitness training
- Weekly fitness report
- Records tracking and goal setting
Ultimately, many users will be happy with the basic free version of Runtastic. However, if you’re committed to losing weight, getting in shape, or becoming stronger, and don’t mind paying the price of a coffee every month, then you may want to consider subscribing to the premium version of Runtastic. It’s like having a cheap personal trainer in your pocket.
