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A runner mid-stride on a lakeside path at golden hour, mountains and low sun behind her

The running coach for Apple Watch and iPhone

Run in the right gear.

Gears is a running coach in your ear. It learns your Easy, Steady and Hard from your own body, then calls every change as you run, right over your music.

For iPhone, with or without Apple Watch. One email when Gears is ready for you. No spam, unsubscribe any time. See our privacy policy.

  • Apple Watch or iPhone
  • Works offline
  • First coached run free

Easy runs creep into Steady. Hard days show up tired. Gears keeps every run at the effort it was meant to be, and tells you the moment you drift.

Your running zones

Easy, Steady, Hard. Measured on you.

Three pace ranges taken from your own running in Apple Health, and sharpened by every run with heart rate. No lab test, no zone chart to memorize. Your screen glows the color of the gear you're in, and when you get fitter, the coach tells you.

Mostly one. Some two. A little three.

How Gears finds your personal zones

  1. Walk

    Recover

    Feels
    Brisk walking, between efforts or to start.
    Talk test
    Full conversation.
    Builds
    Recovery between efforts, and the bridge into running for new runners.

  2. Gear 1

    Easy

    Feels
    Relaxed. Slower than you think.
    Talk test
    Full sentences.
    Builds
    The aerobic base: most of your running, most of your gains.

  3. Gear 2

    Steady

    Feels
    Working, but in control.
    Talk test
    Short phrases.
    Builds
    Strength that lasts: tempo, long-run finishes, race rhythm.

  4. Gear 3

    Hard

    Feels
    Strong, but controlled.
    Talk test
    A few words at most.
    Builds
    Speed and the top of your engine: intervals, hills, sprints.
Pace leads. Your heart stands guard. If an effort costs more than it should, the pace comes down, never up.

The voice coach

It watches the numbers. You watch the road.

Your coach reads your pace, heart rate, steps and the ground under you, and speaks only when the numbers back it up. Every line is pre‑recorded and picked by rules on your device, so nothing is improvised mid-run.

  • Your music stays on. The coach dips it for a sentence, then hands it back.
  • Quiet, Normal or Talkative. One tap hushes it mid-run. Safety lines always speak.
  • Calm to Ruthless. Five levels of toughness change the words, never the facts.
LukeThe voice Gears was first recorded in: low and even.
ChrisA low voice with an easy, everyday delivery.
SarahA higher voice, light and clear.
Hear what the voice coach says, and when
A Tuesday intervals run32 min
  1. 0:00Let's go. Gear one to begin. Find your rhythm.
  2. 6:40You're creeping up. Ease off, this is meant to be easy.
  3. 11:30Gear three is coming. Settle the breathing now.
  4. 12:00Go.
  5. 15:20Short climb coming up. Drive over it, same effort.
  6. 19:05Cadence is too slow. Smaller steps, faster turnover.
  7. 31:48Done. That was real. Not many people do that on a Tuesday.

Apple Watch and iPhone

Watch alone. iPhone alone. Or both.

A true Apple Watch running app, and a complete iPhone one. Every run works with no signal: coaching, gears, voice and hills, all offline.

The Gears run screen on iPhone in Gear 2 amber: pace 5:39 per kilometer, heart rate, time left and distance
Gears on Apple Watch in Gear 1 teal: pace, heart rate and the block's progress
  • 01

    Apple Watch alone

    Leave your phone at home. Your watch tracks, coaches and talks straight into your Bluetooth headphones. No cellular needed.

  • 02

    iPhone alone

    No watch? Your iPhone coaches the whole run by itself. Add a chest strap or a Garmin for heart rate if you have one.

  • 03

    Both

    Run on the watch, follow on your Lock Screen. The Live Activity shows your gear, time left and what's next.

Gears on Apple WatchChest straps and Garmin heart rate

Every morning

A gear for the day, read from your sleep and heart.

Each morning, Gears reads last night's sleep, your resting heart rate and your heart rate variability (HRV) from Apple Health, then gives the day the hardest gear you're ready for. On a Gear 1 morning, the hard run can wait.

Ready

82Good

Scored against your own last four weeks. Nobody else's.

Today's gear

Gear 2 day

  • Hard runs on two of the last three days

Always with the reason: short sleep, a resting heart rate above your week, HRV below it. Or nothing holding you back.

Training load

Productive

Your recent training against your own usual. A guide, not a medical reading.

Your plan

A plan that bends.

Built around your running and the minutes you actually have. Sick, sore or slammed? One tap and the week re-fits. Miss an easy run and there's nothing to make up.

  1. M
  2. T
  3. W
  4. T
  5. F
  6. S
  7. S

Your readiness scoreTraining loadYour personalized running planGuided running workouts

After the run

A grade for how well you ran. Not how fast.

Every coached run is graded on the run you set out to run: holding each gear, pacing the halves, form and control. Up to three lessons ride along into your next run, and your gears get sharper every time.

How your run is graded

Built for how you train

Whatever you're training for.

Privacy

Your heart, kept like it matters.

Gears keeps only what it needs to coach you and run the app. No ads. No trackers. No data brokers.

Read the privacy policy

  • Coached on your device

    Every run is coached on your iPhone or Apple Watch. Nothing in a run needs the network.

  • Kept only if you say yes

    Your health data goes to your account only with your consent, encrypted with a key unique to you.

  • Never sold

    Never used for ads, never handed to data brokers, never shown to another runner.

  • Yours to delete

    Delete your account and everything kept in it, from inside the app.

Pricing

Your first coached run is on us.

Free

$0

  • Your first coached run
  • Record runs: time, distance, pace, heart rate, route
  • Your gears, runs and history, always yours
  • Apple Watch alone or iPhone alone

Gears Plus

$89.99/year

$7.50 a month, billed yearly. Starts with one month free. Or $9.99 month to month.

  • Your coach on every run, live in your ear
  • Your personalized training plan, every day
  • Today's gear from your sleep and heart
  • Describe a run, or adjust your plan, in your own words

US prices; the App Store shows yours. Yearly starts with one month free. Cancel in Settings at least a day before it ends and you pay nothing. Pricing in full

Questions, answered

What is Gears?

Gears is a running coach app for Apple Watch and iPhone. It learns three effort gears from your own running (Easy, Steady and Hard, plus Walk), then coaches every run live in your ear, reacting to your pace, heart rate and the ground under you.

Do I need an Apple Watch?

No. Your iPhone coaches a whole run on its own, with its own GPS. Add an Apple Watch and you can leave the phone at home. Gears on Apple Watch.

Can I run with just my Apple Watch, without my phone?

Yes. The watch tracks, coaches and speaks into your Bluetooth headphones, with no phone and no cellular. The next two weeks of your plan live on the watch.

Is the coach a real person?

No. The coach is a set of pre-recorded voice lines, picked by rules on your device as you run, so nothing is improvised mid-run. You choose from three voices: Luke, Chris or Sarah.

Is Gears free?

Partly. Your first coached run is free, and recording runs stays free for good, with time, distance, pace, heart rate and route. Coached runs, the plan and Today's gear come with Gears Plus.

What does Gears do with my health data?

It reads Apple Health on your iPhone and watch to tailor every run. It keeps data in your account only if you agree, encrypted, and never sells it or uses it for advertising. You can delete your account and everything in it from the app. Privacy policy.

Gears is on its way to Apple Watch and iPhone. Join the list and we'll email you once, the day it's ready.