RunRoutes

Runners often don't know where to run, and this quiet uncertainty, along with boredom from repeating the same streets, is enough to make someone skip a session. Most running apps assume the user already knows where to run and only track pace and distance along a route the runner worked out themselves. Even route planners like Strava and Komoot mainly offer a drawing tool, which takes time and still requires the runner to decide the path. Finding a route near a given distance that returns to the starting point today means checking heatmaps, asking a local club, or manually drawing a loop.

RunRoutes is a route generator app that builds a loop along real streets sized to a distance the user picks, starting and ending at the same spot, such as a front door. The app shows the exact length before committing, offers the closest match if an exact distance doesn't fit, and lets users tap again for an alternative loop. Guidance is delivered via spoken turn-by-turn directions through headphones and, on Apple Watch, a tap on the wrist at every turn and run-walk switch, with a live map mirrored on the phone. Every route, generated or hand-drawn, can be exported as a free GPX file to Garmin, Coros, Strava, Komoot or other apps. It also includes customizable run-walk interval workouts and a built-in nine-week Couch to 5K program, and builds its maps from OpenStreetMap data, caching a neighborhood's map after the first request there.