It’s a week out from Christmas, but we’ve got a little gift for you all: a RunKeeper integration with the brand new mobile app from WeightTraining! 

WeightTraining allows you to follow scheduled workout plans, view workout summaries, search a database of more than 2,000 exercises, track fitness data, and earn badges for workouts over time.

It joins the ranks of other mobile strength training tools like GAIN Fitness and Stronger, and more than 100 other health-focused apps, devices (like the new Gear4 Renew Sleep Clock), and services that integrate with RunKeeper!

One hundred is a pretty momentous number, so we wanted to pause and reflect on this awesome, booming community of RunKeeper partners.

We understand that activity tracking is just one piece of being the personal trainer in your pocket, and we envision a world where you can tie disparate sources of your health data into one accesible place. In summer 2011 we launched our Health Graph API to begin our pursuit of that. 

In addition to the integration with strength training apps, you can now see the connection between your RunKeeper activity and your weight via partners like TactioWeight Pro, Withings Health Companion, and Weighty; what you’re eating, with nutrition trackers like LoseIt and ShapeUp Club; and how you’re sleeping at night thanks to Zeo and Sleep Cycle. 

We also like to help RunKeepers find what motivates them most to work out, so we’ve enlisted rewards programs like GymPact and Earndit, and fitness games like Nexercise, Fitocracy, and Notch. And corporate wellness programs like Limeade, RedBrick Health, and soon Virgin HealthMiles can give employees credit for workouts they track through RunKeeper.

We’re really excited that our vision is getting early validation from these 100-plus partner apps and the RunKeepers that are using them, but we’re just in the early innings of what we see as a big game. We hope that that we can keep integrating these more deeply with RunKeeper ato create a better, smarter, and and more insightful machine that helps you get healthier. So stay tuned, because things are just heating up around here! 

Halloween doesn’t just have to be about eating candy or finding that perfect costume! Check out some of the fun apps we’ve come across that will help you get a bit more in the spirit today.

Looking for a festive soundtrack for your run? The Scary Sounds app has plenty of spooky noises that you can loop for just the right mix. You can also check out the Zombies, Run! app, which is an action-packed game that offers simulated missions for you to collect essential supplies and outrun some Zombies for a high-speed workout.

Or if you’re into themes of the apocalypse, TheEndApp (a RunKeeper connected app) will challenge you to “run like Hell,” collecting duct tape and other gear for end-of-the-world survival. 

Another RunKeeper partner, Notch, is taking its knack for awesome visualizations to a whole new level. It’s sending its users a Halloween infographic to show them just how their running stats break down for the month of October (see below). You even get the scoop on just how much candy corn you’ve avoided. 

Speaking of candy corn, we know sweets are everywhere today, so use one of our partner calorie counters, like ShapeUp Club, to make sure you don’t go too overboard. Oh, and you’ll need muscles to haul that big bag of treats around, so track your strength training with GAIN Fitness, which brings you awesome workouts and insights from strength training experts. 

What do you think? Festive enough for you? Give these apps a whirl and let us know what you think! And be sure to shoot some pictures and send them our way! If the Instagram filter isn’t doing the trick for you today, you can even use SpookyPic to add some Halloween effects to your snapshots! 

Wondering how you’ll stay motivated to achieve your fitness goals? We’re excited to announce a partnership with GymPact, to help you conquer your excuses by putting real money on the line as a motivator.

By using RunKeeper + GymPact together, if you don’t stick with the “Pact” you commit to around your fitness goals, you have to pay.  And if you stick to the “Pact”, you get paid!  Now THAT is motivation.  More info on how it works here.

As an added incentive, GymPact is giving $5 to the first 1000 users who connect to RunKeeper and track their first activity that counts towards GymPact.RunKeeper activities that count towards GymPact:- All runs, walks or bike rides tracked by RunKeeper’s GPS- Minimum 1/2 mi (.8 km) distance- Minimum of 30 mins of activity with pace above 2 mi (3.2 km) per hour- If in doubt, add an extra 5 minutes of walking, running or biking- Maximum 3 hours long

Different people are motivated by different things, and we’re committed to providing a variety of ways to get you motivated towards being healthy, so you can find the ones that are most motivating for you.  We know that real money is something very motivating to many people, so we’re interested to see what happens when there is real money on the line around sticking to your fitness goals.  What are you waiting for? … connect your RunKeeper account with GymPact today! :)

Stay tuned for additional cool ways to bring more motivation to your fitness activities.  If you have ideas/suggestions for what you’d like to see, let us know in the comments.

Do you love to conceptualize and build cool apps? Have you been dreaming about the perfect RunKeeper integration over the last few months? Like to enjoy an ice cold beer? Can you make it to the Boston area for an awesome event?

Now that we’ve released the Health Graph API, it’s time to combine all of these things that you love, and put our new API to good use!

We’re pleased to announce the first RunKeeper / Health Graph API hackathon. Our friends over at Terrible Labs are hosting the event as part of their new APIs and IPAs event series.Learn more or sign up to attend the event.

Yep, drinking beers and building apps—what could be better? Teams of entrepreneurs, developers, marketers, students and closet hackers will meet up and compete to win $1,000 in prizes, thanks to sponsors Silicon Valley Bank and Winter Wyman. Code, eat, drink, win money and build some cool stuff for RunKeeper’s community of over 6 million users.

Important: You must be on the registration list and bring ID to enter the Gemvara building.

Event DetailsWhen: Sunday, September, 11th @ 10:30 a.m.Where: Gemvara HQ (One Financial Center, 8th Floor, Boston, MA)Who: Hackers, marketers, entrepreneurs, students & moreHow: Sign up here

Schedule10:30 am - 11:00 am Breakfast & Announcements11:00 am - 12:00 pm App ideas, Create teams12:00 pm - 3:00 pm Build3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Lunch, Code Review4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Build6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Presentations & Awards7:00 pm - ????? Drinks & socializing

DocumentationGet a leg up on the competition—check out these helpful Health Graph docs. before the hackathon:

Health Graph API: What it is and how it worksHealth Graph API Technical OverviewHealth Graph API App IdeasHealth Graph API Developer ForumRunKeeper App Directory

Help kick off the discussion by letting us know which apps you’d like to see developers build. The RunKeeper community has voiced interest for calorie and nutrition apps in particular, but the possibilities are endless!

Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

Sign up here

Questions? Email Terrible Labs.

In a blog post last week, we mentioned that we have been blown away by the initial response from the developer community following the launch of the Health Graph API last month. With more than 20 integrations complete and many more in progress, we’ve been working closely with the initial group of developers who came on board to work out any remaining bugs and make sure the Health Graph API is ready for primetime.

Today, we are pleased to be announcing that the Health Graph API is now in public beta! Any developer interested in building on top of the Health Graph can get started without having to request access. If you are a developer who wants to learn more, learn more here.

It’s still early, but we couldn’t be more encouraged by the vibrant developer community that’s already starting to emerge around the Health Graph API. As more apps and devices continue to integrate, the experience for RunKeeper users will continue to be more and more robust; track new health and fitness data types on the RunKeeper platform and do all kinds of cool stuff (like play games or earn rewards).

Stay tuned everybody!  We hope you are all as excited as we are.

Jason

It’s been just over a month since we announced the Health Graph and the Health Graph API, and things are really heating up!  Close to twenty partners have integrated and hundreds more are in process, and the API is not even out of alpha yet.

As more apps and devices integrate with the Health Graph, we expect the experience for RunKeeper users to continue to improve as you get a more holistic view of your health and can utilize an increasing variety of additional apps and services as part of your core RunKeeper experience.

Today, we are pleased to announce the following new partners:

iSmoothRun	Swim Converter	Jog Log	Fitness Widget Generator
WeightConnect	Arookoo: Walk + Game	Fitocracy	Withings Blood Pressure Monitor

Jog Log is an iPhone app that helps you track your running and other fitness activities using GPS.

iSmoothRun lets you use your iPhone as a training aid for running and multisports.

Swim Converter tracks your swimming activities in yards or meters.

WeightConnect lets you connect your WeightBot measurements with your Runkeeper account.

Fitocracy helps you surpass your fitness goals by turning fitness into a game.

Arookoo sends you on challenges that motivate you to move around your city.

Fitness Widget Generator creates a widget you can include on your site to display your activities.

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor takes your blood pressure and updates your RunKeeper profile automatically.

As a sneak peak, check out these other apps that will be live within the next few weeks:

Kinetic, a GPS app for running, walking cycling and other activities.

Weight Meter, a web site that can be used to keep track of your daily scale readings.

Superproof, an online fitness game and iPhone mobile app that helps you rally your friends to achieve your health goals together.

Take a look at the RunKeeper App Directory to stay on top of all of the apps that have integrated with the Health Graph API. This is only the beginning!

My name is Martin Kretz, and I’m the co-creator of runstar™ - a running application for Android. runstar™ is a joint project between my software company, Bitbetter, and my friends at the design agency, Color Monkey.

HistoryWe launched the full version of runstar™ in March 2011; it has all the features included in the free version, plus distance and time run modes, as well as more goals. The full version of runstar™ initially generated great feedback for its clean and easy to use interface, but users were still telling us they wanted web upload. But could runstar™ create a web service better than our biggest competitor, RunKeeper?

win-win-winWell, when the Health Graph API was announced, we had our answer; we didn’t need to create our own web service - RunKeeper was giving it away. We now had a well-tested platform to which we could publish workouts, which was exactly what our users had screamed for!

Some may argue that runstar™ and RunKeeper are in competition with each other, but with the Health Graph API, it’s more like a partnership where we all win:

- It’s a win for runstar™, since we get a web upload service.- It’s a win for RunKeeper, since existing runstar™ fans can start to use the RunKeeper platform.- And it’s a win for all the users, since they get more running apps to choose from.

It’s a win-win-win!

Quick integrationWe were able to integrate the web upload of workouts via the Health Graph API very quickly - it only took only two days to get it working; yes, two days! Since the Health Graph API is based on standards, like OAuth, and has well known formatting, like JSON, I could focus on the task at hand, and not on learning new protocols and formats. The API was in already great shape when it was launched in alpha status just a few weeks ago.

Daily sales up 100%Since launching the full version of runstar™, we’ve had a pretty steady level of revenue. When we added the Health Graph API integration, our daily sales jumped up 100%, and have held steady ever since. And as a bonus, our ranking in Health Apps in Android Market went from number 85 to number 35 in two weeks!



FutureOur mission going forward is to continue to make runstar™ the best, most simple and friendliest running experience possible. At the moment, we are busy perfecting audio feedback (if you want to help we still have a few slots left for beta testing).

The Health Graph API opens up endless possibilities for innovation, and we are very excited about all the cool features we can build now. Keep an eye out for new runstar™ features!

- Martin

Guest post from Andres Moran, the co-founder of Earndit.com, a fitness rewards app that recently integrated with the Health Graph API.

My name is Andres Moran, and I’m the co-founder of Earndit.com. For those that don’t know about us, Earndit rewards you for exercising with a verifiable tracking service such as RunKeeper.

In the fall of 2009, well before launching Earndit, we spent quite a bit of time studying the different fitness app communities, because we knew we’d be partnering with them at some point down the road. It became readily clear to us that RunKeeper was going to become a leader in this space. We were impressed by the way the company engaged its users; we were impressed by how it made product decisions; and we were impressed by the company’s vision for the future. So, when we learned that they would be releasing the Health Graph API, we eagerly reached out to them and asked if we could be one of their early integration partners. Fortunately, they viewed Earndit as a good fit.

RunKeeper has all the right ingredients in place to make the integration process a really smooth one. They’ve done a fantastic job with the documentation, and the couple of times there have been questions, they’ve been extremely responsive and helpful both via email and on the developer board. It’s obvious that they care about the success of the integrations with the Health Graph. On a technical note, we were very pleased that they went with Oauth2; in total, it took us just one week to integrate!

The results thus far have been nothing short of astounding! We knew that we’d get a flood of new users from the RunKeeper integration, but we didn’t expect it to be this large. There were actually two different phases of post-launch traffic that corresponded with different types of messaging: the first phase was a result of messages RunKeeper posted to Twitter, Facebook and their blog, along with listing Earndit in the RunKeeper App Directory. This provided consistent traffic for several days, and we received close to 100 new signups per day.



Then came the second phase: an email from RunKeeper to all its users telling them about the integration. The email brought our already-upgraded servers to a screeching halt! We were able to upgrade our servers to maximum levels, in order to quickly re-establish service, but it was a scary five minutes. We’ve been in this second phase for a few days now, and signups have been close to 1,000 per day! Each of those days represents a significant increase over the biggest signup days we’ve had in the past.

There’s a phrase used in the startup world when the popular tech blog, TechCrunch, writes about your company and sends you an overwhelming amount of traffic. That phrase is “We got TechCrunched.” Well…we have a new phrase for you: “We got RunKeepered!”

We couldn’t be more optimistic about the continued success of this partnership. RunKeeper users have reacted so positively to Earndit, and we’re blown away by all the nice things they’ve said about us. We believe the future growth of RunKeeper will undoubtedly help drive the future growth of Earndit. Finally, we’re really excited about all the third-party services that will tie into the Health Graph because, in doing so, those services will be also potential partners of Earndit.

A couple weeks ago, we announced the release of the Health Graph API (to learn more, read Wired’s How RunKeeper Could Become the Facebook of Fitness), enabling devices, apps, and web services to build on top of one centralized hub for health and fitness data.

So, what exactly does this mean for members of the RunKeeper community? Your running, body weight, sleep and nutrition (to name a few) all affect one another; we know from your feedback that many of you track several of these activities and data types. Wouldn’t it be great if all of the websites, devices, and apps that you use to track this information worked together? Thanks to the Health Graph, now they will!

As more devices and apps integrate with the Health Graph, you’ll be able to consolidate your health and fitness information, and access tools to help you optimize your training. Compare metrics in your FitnessReports and share even more of your fitness achievements with friends and family for support and encouragement. Any time you use an integrated device or app, the corresponding data will post both on their site (if they have one), as well as in your RunKeeper FitnessFeed and FitnessReports. The image below illustrates the type of link that will appear in your FitnessFeed if you’re sending data from third party devices and apps to RunKeeper, helping you to share this data with your Street Teammates.



When we announced the Health Graph, developers enthusiastically flocked to start integrating with the platform. In addition to the initial launch partners (see full list), we are thrilled to announce that three additional partners have now complete their integrations:

Swimsense advanced monitor for swimmers tracks key performance information such as distance swum, pace, stroke count, across all stroke types.

Earndit lets you enjoy awards simply by exercising. Earn points for your workouts, collect trophies, compete with others and redeem your points for rewards.

runstar™ helps you track your running progress and share results with friends using this social Android app.

While some may be surprised that we would integrate with another running app, the Health Graph is way too important for the greater good of health and fitness to let competition stand in the way.

Many additional integrations are currently in the works, and new partners are signing on every day. It’s great to be announcing three exciting partnerships in just the first couple of weeks since we first announced the Health Graph API. We look forward to announcing many more in the weeks to come, so your health and fitness tracking will continue to become more enjoyable and easier to understand. Developers can learn more about integrating with the Health Graph by reading our Health Graph API documentation.

This is just the beginning of an exciting new chapter here at RunKeeper. Check out the RunKeeper App Directory for the an up-to-date list of apps that are integrated with the Health Graph. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for news on many more exciting integration partners. Thanks everyone!

Jason