It's Mobile Nations Fitness Month, and that means we're going to be highlighting a few apps that can help you meet your own fitness goals. We know that not everyone is a runner, but if you are you know that it can be hard to keep up with a pace and on a schedule from week to week. MapMyRun does just what you'd expect -- it gives GPS-based mapping of your runs, and offers a lot of insight into your workouts. Best of all, the app displays this great information in a clean and designed UI.
Stick around after the break and see if MapMyRun is what you need to keep up the pace.
The interface of MapMyRun is pretty basic, but has been updated quite a bit in the last few months. Right at the top of the home screen you get the important parts -- "Record" and "Log" -- that let you start a workout or enter a previous one that wasn't tracked. The record function lets you dive straight into a run and start recording, but its nice to be able to enter a workout that you had done separately and maybe forgot to track at the time.
Once you decide to start a run and record it, hitting the record button lets you jump into a settings screen and choose the workout type, your route (you can have it auto-populate the route as you run), and whether you're going to want to send this workout to Facebook and/or Twitter when you're finished. The app has always locked on to GPS quickly and tracked accurately. If you choose to have "Live Tracking" during the run, you can see your time and pace as you go. If you'd prefer though, every piece of data you'd want to know about in the run can be found afterwards.
When finishing a workout, after waiting a little while for it to save and show up on your account, it can be accessed from the "workouts" button on the home screen. You're taken to a listing of your recent workouts -- categorized by week, month and then "older" -- with a few pieces of information like the date, distance and time. Tapping into a workout will give you every detail you'd ever want out of a run tracking app. The basic view gives your time, distance, pace, calories burned and a snapshot of the map of the run.
Diving into the "View Route Details" button will give you even more information. Here you can see a more granular Google Maps view of the run, which is detailed enough to even show what side of the street you were running on. If you're interested, you can even see the elevation gains and drops throughout the run. The "Courses" tab will show you a listing of the different routes that you have ran if you'd like to compare.
Most users may not even dive into the more granular information available in the app, but its nice to know that the option is there if you want it. The interface is easy to use, and has all of the features anyone would want -- from casual workouts to marathon training. Even if you just use MapMyRun to just see courses ran, distance and pace, you won't be disappointed. Best of all you can get a full-featured app -- if you're willing to put up with a few ads -- for free.
If you're a runner looking to get more data on your workouts, or maybe just someone that wants to get in on the Mobile Nations Fitness Month, MapMyRun is certainly worth a look.
Reader comments
MapMyRun: up the pace with this run tracking app
If anyone has used this and Endomondo, how does it compare?
Wondering the exact same thing...
I use endomondo almost every day...I love it, the interface is easy, and the pro version (which I got for .25 during a sale), adds interval training and a few other things. The website isn't my favorite, but I don't use it very often. The one thing that I wish it had was the ability to post to google plus. But then again, maybe none of them do...
I strongly prefer RunKeeper to MapMyRun - mostly because MMR is incompatible with playing music through Bluetooth while running, and MMR's voice prompts (current pace, elapsed time, etc) are in a horrible '90s-esque text-to-speech voice.
RunKeeper plays flawlessly with music over Bluetooth and its voice prompts are a modern, intelligible voice.
Jogtracker also works flawlessly in this regard.
You have to wonder if Andrew M. doesn't get tired of running the same route every day.
MapMyRun dev here, this is the first Ive heard of the Voice Feedback not working over BT, I will take a look at this today. As far as the voice, MapMyRun currently uses the text-to-speech engine built into Android, but I will be looking at using a custom engine later this month. We originally decided against a custom voice engine as a means to keep the size of the APK down for older phones.
I can confirm the problem with Voice Feedback playing back over the phone speaker when playing music via Bluetooth headset and using live tracking during a run. Can this be resolved in the near future? Otherwise, I really like Map My Run, thanks for your excellent work!
Committed MotaActv user here...
Runkeeper has to be my #1 favorite running app and then Strava #2 mostly because I use it for cycling and it also supports running as well.
I have used about 8 of these apps. Runtastic pro is where it's at! Google Earth, maps, music integrated and tracks your course with a lot of other sweet features. Plus you can do a playback of your run.
How is this different than MyTracks?
I would like to know too
MyTracks is not very well suited for fitness tracking. MapMyRun has GPS correction logic that is fine tuned for a device carried on a person at walking/running/riding speeds, MyTracks does not. MapMyRun also provides realtime stats on the display or by voice that are relevant to running, like time, distance, pace and calories burned.
i like RunKeeper better. MyTracks would be good BUT GPS seems to be off.
Does this store your runs locally if you choose not to Facebook or twitter? I want my runs on my device only. I don't care about social features or "the cloud."
Yup it always stores locally (and syncs to your MapMyRun acct), its an extra option if you want to share to Facebook or Twitter that's not required.
I dropped this app for RunKeeper. No ill will though. RK just does what I want a little better.
i use mapmyride and endomondo, to track my rides both seem to work very well as far as tracking of stats and gps. endomodo is capable of much more if you buy the pro version though. they even let you add features a la carte style but it seems pretty pricey.
can anyone recommend any other cycling apps?
I use Zombies, Run! and I love it and the fact that they now share information with RunKeeper is terrific so I can use that to track all my running and walking (I don't walk using Zombies, Run!) in one location.
Then I have that go to GymPact so I can also make a little money for working out. So far this has worked great!
do apps like these work if you run on a treadmill/elliptical machine? i've always figured they prob wouldnt especially if i had it resting on the little stand the machines provide.
I've found Nike+ works well for indoor/treadmill running but I'd love to find other options if anyone has ideas.
even if its resting on the treadmill itself? no need to put my phone in my pocket or anything?
I use an arm band for my GS3; I'd imagine it needs to be attached to you somehow, perhaps your pocket?
Just downloaded the the MapMyRun app for my Droid HTC Incredible, looks amazing.
I do have a question about posting to Facebook; the only options I see are: Post at Start and Post in Progress. Is there an option to Post after finish? I was browsing some boards and people say there is an option like that, but I don't see it.
Also can you explain the options:
Post at Start:
Will this post that I have already finished the route even though I just started?
Post in Progress:
Will this option post every few miles until I finish the route? That sounds a bit much.