Recording runs on iPhone

lope can record the run itself. You start today's plan from the app, carry your iPhone, and the run comes back with splits, heart rate and the plan it was run against. Here's what happens between the start button and the finish line.

What you need

  • An iPhone on iOS 26 with the lope app. During early access the app comes through TestFlight.
  • Location permission, so lope can use GPS while a run is recording. lope reads your location only during a run you record in lope.
  • Apple Health permission, if you want the run saved to Health when it ends. Optional, and asked for in the app.
  • A heart-rate source if you want chimes and heart-rate data on the run. Without one, lope records distance, pace and splits.

Starting from Today

The Today screen shows the run the coach has planned. Start it from there and the recorder knows the plan: the target effort, the heart-rate range and, for a workout, the warm-up, repeats and cool-down. That plan is what the chimes and the voice work from, and it's what the run is classified against afterwards (see run classification).

The distance engine

GPS on a phone is good most of the time and poor in two predictable places: the first minute, before the fix settles, and under tree cover or between buildings. lope's distance engine uses your steps to correct GPS in both. It keeps a stride calibration between runs, so the correction gets better the more you record.

This is also why a brand-new install can show a distance that looks slightly off on the first run or two. The calibration needs a few runs to settle.

Splits and auto-pause

lope marks a split at each mile or kilometre, in whichever units you use. Auto-pause is optional: turn it on and the recorder stops the clock when you stop moving, at a crossing or a water fountain, and starts it again when you do.

Strides

For strides, use the lap button. Each press marks a lap, so a set of strides at the end of an easy run shows up as its own segments rather than disappearing into the average pace.

Heart-rate chimes

When your heart rate drifts above the plan's range, or above the cap on an easy day, lope plays a chime. A chime, not a lecture: it's a nudge to ease off, and it stops once you're back in range. The ranges come from your zones, which are explained in heart rate zones.

The recorded coach voice

A recorded coach voice speaks at a few points in the run: the start, each split, pause and resume, and a finish line matched to the run you did. These are recorded clips bundled with the app. Nothing is generated live and nothing is sent anywhere to produce them.

Live Activity

While a run is recording, distance, pace and heart rate show in a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. If you wear an Apple Watch, the same card appears in the Smart Stack, so you can glance at your wrist without a lope watch app.

After the run

The run saves to lope and, if you allowed it, to Apple Health. The coach reacts to it the way it reacts to any run, with the plan alongside the result. If you've turned on sending to Strava, the run goes there too; that setting is off by default. See Your data for what goes where.

Troubleshooting

The distance looks off

Check that lope has location permission. The first minute of a run is corrected from steps while GPS settles, and the stride calibration improves over your first few runs. A route under heavy tree cover will lean on steps more than GPS.

I can't hear the voice or the chimes

Check the silent switch, your volume, and whether audio is going to a Bluetooth device you're not wearing. The voice and chimes play through whatever your iPhone is currently using for sound.

Something else

Email support@lopeapp.com with the date of the run and what you saw.