#The four tabs

Settings open with the gear icon at the top right, on every tab.

The order follows what you do, and how often: train daily, plan weekly, look back occasionally, create something new rarely. You start sessions on Today; the Library is the shelf, not the home screen.

#Where your data lives

Everything is stored in your private iCloud and synced between your devices with the same Apple ID — iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. There's no account with us, no server and no third-party analytics.

Whether sync is actually running is shown in Settings under DATA — and if it isn't, the iCloud diagnostics under HELP tell you why. See "When something's wrong".

#Two languages

The app speaks English and German and follows the system language. Under Settings (gear) → LANGUAGE you can switch it for IronStride only, without changing your whole iPhone.

#Setup

On first launch, the app asks for two things: your name and your body weight.

Nothing more — on purpose. Body weight isn't a statistic here, it's the base load for pull-ups, dips and everything else that moves your own body; without it, those sets wouldn't be comparable.

#The five example templates

Everyone gets the same five templates: two strength, two running, one mobility. They live in their own group, are marked as examples and can be deleted like anything else. Once the last one is gone, the hint about them disappears too.

They're meant to be used: open them, look at them, rebuild them, train with them. An empty app on first launch isn't a fresh start, it's a wall.

#The fastest way to your first session

You don't need a template to get going:

• Today → Quick start → "Free workout" — add exercises as you train.

• Today → Quick start → "Free run" — start running, the rest follows.

• "Build a workout" / "Build a run" (also in Quick start) — put a session together in a minute without saving anything.

#What's new after an update

After every update, the app shows once on launch what's been added. Skipped versions are included: jump from build 2 to build 5 and you see everything in between. On the very first launch the screen doesn't appear — setup comes first.

#Templates

A template is a recurring workout: exercises, sets, targets, order. Templates can be organized in groups (like "Push/Pull/Legs" or "Upper/Lower"), renamed, duplicated, archived and deleted.

In the template editor exercises are collapsed, so a template fits on one screen instead of sixty rows. At the top right you can expand or collapse everything at once.

Swap exercise: replace an exercise without losing its sets, targets and position — the common case of "the bench is taken today, so dumbbells".

#Building a workout

For sessions you need now and don't want to keep. There are two views of the same data:

• Overview — one row per movement, one column per day. You immediately see "flat bench Monday, so incline Thursday": the variation sits side by side instead of one after another.

• Day by day — the familiar list, one workout after another.

Switching only changes the view, not the plan; you can switch mid-way.

#The exercise database

The database has two levels: exercise family (bench press) and variation (barbell, flat, overhand). Variations come from the variation builder — equipment × angle × grip × execution — so not every combination has to be maintained by hand. The Smith machine is its own piece of equipment, not a special case of the barbell.

Search goes down to the variation: "Smith" finds the Smith variations, not just the family they belong to — the same everywhere in the app. Matching families expand by themselves so the result is visible.

You can filter by muscle group, equipment and sport focus.

#Your own exercises

Anything missing, you add yourself: name, muscle groups, equipment, optionally a note. Your own exercises behave just like the built-in ones — they show up in search, filters and insights.

#The workout

A workout in progress shows one set after another with a suggested weight and suggested reps. At the top: elapsed time and set progress. Check off a set, the rest timer starts by itself.

Also:

• RIR (reps in reserve) or RPE per set

• Set types: warm-up, working, back-off, drop set, myo-rep, rest-pause, cluster

• Supersets — two or more exercises alternating, grouped in the display

• Rest timer with a notification, even when the app is in the background

• Notes per set, exercise or session

• Lock Screen: the current session appears as a Live Activity without opening the app

#The plate calculator

Which plates go on the bar for 127.5 kg? The calculator does it for you — and tells you when a weight can't be loaded exactly with your equipment. In a home gym that's the more common case.

Under Settings → EQUIPMENT → My own plate set you enter what you actually have, so the calculator doesn't assume an imaginary gym set.

#Rack settings

Above the sets you'll find the hole numbers for J-cups and safeties — and the first time, the app asks for them instead of offering an empty field. A field you only find when you're looking for it stays empty.

Because the printed scale on many racks is aligned with the frame or the cable system rather than the height where a J-cup hooks in, there's a fine adjustment next to the number: −, 0, +, ++.

#What the app suggests

Each exercise can have a progression rule: when the weight goes up, by how much, and what happens when you miss the reps. The suggestion for the next set comes from this rule and from what you actually logged last time — not from a table.

The watch uses the same progression as the iPhone; there's no second, simpler logic on the wrist.

#Max strength and percentage targets

• Enter a 1RM: if you know your max, enter it directly.

• Estimate an e1RM: from weight × reps, the app estimates a max (Epley).

• Deload 1RM test: in the deload week you test your main lifts with several reps; the result becomes the new base for the next wave's percentages.

• Training max: the basis for a block's % targets, deliberately below your true max.

#Logging later and correcting

A workout done without the app can be logged in full afterwards — with date, time and all sets. Existing sessions can be edited later; everything you can create, you can also edit and delete.

#Run templates and intervals

A run template is made of segments: warm-up, interval, recovery jog, cool-down. Each segment has a target — time, distance or "until I stop" — and optionally a pace window.

The interval builder creates repetitions without adding forty segments by hand: 6 × 1000 m with 400 m recovery jogs is three inputs.

Strides automatically get their recovery jog in between — without it, there'd be 60 seconds of full effort in one go.

#Building a run

A run that's described by its numbers and therefore needs no template: enter distance, time or intervals, start. Nothing is saved; the name comes from what you run.

#The run

During a run, the distance is shown big on its own; below it time, current pace and average pace, then heart rate, cadence, elevation gain and steps. Distance and pace follow your unit setting (kilometers or miles). Also:

• Voice cues at kilometer marks and segment changes, ten seconds ahead rather than at the moment of change

• Pace alerts when you leave the target pace — on by default, and calm: after an alert there's 30 seconds of quiet, and it only re-arms once you've been back in range for 15 seconds

• Auto laps per kilometer

• Heart rate zones using Karvonen, from resting and maximum heart rate

• Pace zones from your easy pace

• Live Activity on the Lock Screen

• Weather at the time of the run

#Heart rate from a chest strap

Polar, Garmin, Wahoo and almost all other chest straps speak the same Bluetooth standard. Under Settings → Chest strap, put the strap on, moisten it briefly (it only transmits with skin contact) and tap it in the list. From then on, IronStride connects on every run by itself — even with the screen locked. The strap takes priority over the watch and Health, because it measures electrically at your chest rather than optically at your wrist. The pairing page shows the live value as a test.

#After the run

The summary shows map, splits, elevation profile, heart rate and — if the distance allows — new best efforts (fastest 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and so on). A run can be corrected afterwards, for example if GPS jumped at the start, and exported as GPX.

If the watch ran alone, the run moves to the iPhone later by itself.

#How distance is measured

IronStride calculates distance from the Doppler speed of the GPS signal, integrated over time — the same approach sport watches use. The position itself is only used where no usable speed is available. Apps that add up the distances between positions tend to measure more on straight roads, because GPS noise gets counted as zigzag. If you want to know which app is right, a 400 m track is the reference: run ten laps in lane 1 with both apps recording.

#Shoes

Shoes are a counter, not a collection: every row shows the mileage, not the purchase date. You can set a default shoe per run type so not every run triggers a question.

#Free planning or training block

• Free planning — put individual sessions on days, without a block and without periodization.

• Training block — a period with a weekly structure, waves, deload weeks and goals.

#Creating a block

A block has a name, a time span, a phase (strength or running) and a periodization model. Important: the phase does not decide what's possible. Every block offers both groups of models, and both strength and running can be periodized — the phase only sets the order of the suggestions. What counts is what's actually in your week.

#Year plan: blocks back to back

At the top of "Blocks" you see the year as a bar, with every block of that year below it and its state: active, planned, ended. Use the arrows to switch years.

• A block that starts in the future is planned: the current block stays active, and the new one takes over by itself once the current one has ended. A block starting today replaces the active one right away — the creation form tells you beforehand what will happen.

• "Plan a block" suggests the Monday after the last block as the start. Duplicate also queues the copy at the end.

• Move (row menu) can take all planned blocks after it along — for holidays, injury or a rescheduled race.

• End the active block with "Finish" above its card or in the menu; it's kept and can be activated again. If two blocks overlap, the row says so.

#Planning the week

Single sessions go straight into the week (the Plan tab). For a whole block there's the weekly pattern when you create it: all seven days on one sheet. Per day, one tap on "+ Strength" or "+ Run", done. For a run you can assign the run type right away — easy on Wednesday, long on Sunday — without needing a template.

Optional sessions — "if there's time": when adding a session, in the weekly pattern (the "Optional" button on the row) or later in a session's menu. An optional session doesn't count towards the day's progress, gets no kilometers from the weekly volume and is only suggested on "Today" once the required sessions are done. A run of type "Optional Easy" counts as optional automatically.

#Weekly running volume

The block sets how many kilometers a week covers — either steadily increasing (starting volume plus a percentage) or towards a target volume. The planned runs get their target distance from this weekly figure.

It's distributed according to what's actually in the week: how many runs, which of them are hard, whether there's a long one. The share of hard kilometers follows the chosen model — with "Polarized (80/20)" that really means 80/20.

Caps per run type ("the long run ends at 14 km") are entered once in the block instead of every week. What doesn't fit into one run moves to the others; if the week still doesn't add up, the shortfall shows up instead of silently disappearing.

#Deloads: separate for strength and running

The running deload can have its own rhythm and be offset from the strength deload. Your legs rarely need their break in the same week as your pressing, and dialing both down at once wastes a week.

Peak and taper weeks, on the other hand, apply to both: they describe where you are in the block, not how a single discipline is loaded.

#Changing blocks later

Waves, deload rhythm, weekly volume and caps can be adjusted after creating a block as well. Saving is gentle: weeks you set by hand stay as they are. Only "Recalculate weeks" really rewrites everything.

#Closing and pausing weeks

A week can be closed — if sessions are still open, the app asks whether to cancel them. You can also insert a break before it when holidays or illness get in the way; the offset belongs to that week, not to the whole block.

#The training calendar

A month grid, with the selected day spelled out below. The grid answers "how does the week look", the day list "what's on that day". Dots instead of names: a cell forty points wide can't show "Push A", it shows "Pu…".

Only sessions from active blocks and your free planning are shown — not those from blocks long finished.

#Apple Calendar and reminders

Planned sessions can be written to a calendar of your choice. They appear at your usual training time, not as all-day events you'd overlook next to a busy day. If the plan changes, "Refresh" brings the events up to date.

Reminders are set separately and are optional.

The calendar works in both directions. Drag an event to another day in the Calendar app, and the planned session moves with it — even across weeks, where it moves into the corresponding week of the block. The other way round: deleting in the calendar never deletes a workout. The plan keeps its session and the event is recreated on the next sync. In short: IronStride decides whether a session exists, both decide when.

#Strength

• Weekly volume (weight × reps) over time

• Sets per muscle group in the current week — what's missing stands out

• History of a single exercise with the e1RM trend

• Best lifts per rep count (best single, triple, five …)

#Running

• Weekly distance and moving time

• Distance records over the common distances

• VO2max estimate and pace trend

• Activity over 16 weeks at a glance

#Body

Weight, body fat, muscle mass and measurements over time, plus progress photos. "Trends" shows measurements and composition over the chosen time range.

#Totals and yearly overview

What actually added up in the period — sessions, kilometers, volume — and a yearly overview for comparing with the previous year.

#What the watch does on its own

The watch records a run on its own — distance, pace, heart rate, elevation and map. Your iPhone can stay at home; the run moves into IronStride later by itself.

#Strength on the wrist

One set per screen, weight and reps already suggested — from the same progression math as the iPhone. Check it off, the rest timer starts by itself.

#Building and starting runs

Your run templates are on the watch and guide you through the segments with taps on the wrist. Distance, time or intervals can be put together right there; anything more elaborate you build on the iPhone.

The watch asks for the current state itself and keeps your templates ready, instead of waiting for the iPhone to send something.

#Units

Kilograms or pounds, kilometers or miles — set separately. Data is always stored in metric; switching only changes the display, never the data.

#Appearance

Several color themes, plus light/dark following the system setting.

#Training times

Your usual training time per weekday. It decides when calendar events and reminders are placed.

#Data

• Backup as a file — contains all workouts, runs and body measurements, plus your own max and rack positions per exercise, even without Pro. Templates, blocks, shoes and the GPS tracks of runs live in your iCloud, not in the file

• Restore backup

• CSV export for spreadsheets

• iCloud status: whether sync is running and when it last ran

#Help

• Glossary — 29 training terms, searchable

• Heart rate diagnostics — checks step by step why no heart rate arrives

• iCloud diagnostics — checks step by step why devices don't show the same data

#What's free

The whole app. Unlimited templates, building workouts and runs, periodization, recording, Apple Watch, widget, Live Activity, Health, weather, voice cues, export. Every insight is free too — just over the last 90 days.

#What Pro changes

Pro is a one-time purchase that removes that limit: the complete view back over your entire training history, including year-over-year comparisons.

The idea behind it: in 90 days you've seen every feature. The limit doesn't sit at the start but after the value is proven — and it grows with use instead of slowing it down.

#What explicitly doesn't happen

Nothing gets deleted and nothing stops being recorded. Older sessions stay fully stored, keep counting towards progression and personal bests for your current training, and backup and CSV export always contain your entire training history — even without a purchase. The limit only affects looking back.

Buying Pro supports a single developer who builds this app in his spare time.

#Two devices don't show the same data

Settings → HELP → iCloud diagnostics. It checks the chain link by link: iCloud account, database reachability, environment and how much data is on this device. The first line that isn't right is the cause.

The most common and least visible reason: one device runs a build from Xcode, the other one from TestFlight or the App Store. Those are separate databases; the two devices never see each other, even if everything else is fine.

If everything checks out and something is still missing: open the app on both devices and leave them open for a minute. Sync runs in the background and needs power, Wi-Fi and an unlocked device.

#No heart rate

With a chest strap: see "Heart rate from a chest strap" in the Running chapter.

Settings → HELP → Heart rate diagnostics. It checks the chain watch → iPhone → Health step by step. Three of its four links don't report on their own — without this page you can only guess.

Missing values are filled in from the Health app after the run.

#The Lock Screen stays empty during a run

Check under iOS Settings → IronStride that Live Activities are turned on. If the display can't start, IronStride shows the reason at the top of the run screen.

#Calendar events are wrong

The plan changes but the events don't? Tap "Refresh" in planning. And check your training times — they set the time of the events.

#The distance is off

At the start of a run, GPS needs a few seconds to settle; a jump there adds distance. The summary lets you correct the distance afterwards without discarding the run. See also "How distance is measured".