Hello RunKeeper Community,
It’s been a while! Lots of news to report. I’ll get right into it and tackle things one by one below:
The big news is that we just published (awaiting Apple’s approval) two new, enhanced versions of RunKeeper (see below for descriptions)! Both new releases (RunKeeper Free and RunKeeper Pro) include the highly anticipated feature of mapping on the device (both real-time and for historical activities). However, in order to access these new features, you will have to download either RunKeeper Free or RunKeeper Pro from the App Store (both will be released any day now). As soon as they are released, we will not be making updates to the existing RunKeeper application and it will be pulled from the store going forward. You should be able to continue using it if you have downloaded it already but no future updates will be available.
Why are we making you re-download the app?
We need to transfer the license, and we were told that at some point we were going to have to pull down the app and republish it. We held out for a while hoping there would be a better way, but it is becoming apparent that Apple is not giving us any other options. Therefore, the sooner we do this, the faster we put it behind us. It is only going to get harder as our userbase continues to grow.
Where can you find these new applications?
Once approved, the new applications will be found in the health and fitness section of the App Store titled RunKeeper Free and RunKeeper Pro.
RunKeeper Free will be available as a free download to users. It is identical to the existing RunKeeper application, plus the addition of the mapping functionality (and a few ads).
RunKeeper Pro will be available for $9.99 USD (prices can vary in countries outside of the US). It is being launched in response to many users who have told us that you understand our need to monetize the free app with advertisements, but are more than willing to pay for a premium app that is ‘ad free’.
Initially, the feature-set for the two apps is the same other than the lack of advertising, but the premium one may have some additional “high end” features down the road.
New features
With our upcoming releases, we are excited to announce some new features. At long last, you will now have access to mapping on the device! This manifests itself in two ways. During your activity, you can now toggle over to a mapping screen within RunKeeper and see where you are at any point in time. If you stay on the mapping screen, the icon will actually move in (almost) real-time to show your current location as you navigate through your route. This means you can check on where you are on a map during your activity without leaving RunKeeper and without pausing your activity.
In addition, when you pull up each activity in the history section, you can now pull up the corresponding map with your exact path traveled right on the device! No longer do you have to wait until you log into the website to see the results of your labor-you can see it right when you finished right on the device. We hope you like it!
What about the users that paid for the app initially?
Due to the structure of the App Store, there is no easy way to enable you to get the premium version without paying for it. That being said, it is essential to us that we find a way to offer our initial paying customers the app without paying a second time. We are planning to launch RunKeeper Pro as a free application for the first 24 hours as a way to make sure all of our initial paying customers can download it without paying twice. We know this is not the ideal solution, but we hope it is an acceptable compromise. We unfortunately have to work within the constraints we are given. If you paid for the app initially, we will be sending you an email when the app goes live so you will know to go download it! If you didn’t pay for the app initially, you will also be able to download it for free during this time period, although we encourage you to make a donation through PayPal on our site if you are so inclined.
Can you transfer your data from the old app to the new app?
The good news is you should have all your data stored on the web dashboard, so your data will be safe. The only bad news is that you will not be able to port your data from the old app to the new app on the device. We have always viewed the iPhone as a temporary data collector and the web dashboard as the central repository for all of your historical data, so this remains consistent. We are looking at adding more robust synch capabilities between the device and the web in a future release, so you may be able to push your historical data to the device at that time.
How is everything else going with RunKeeper?
Things could not be going better. It is still early, and it is definitely a process in terms of getting all of the core bones in place and building out everything that we (and you, we hope) have been dreaming about. But we are getting closer to making those dreams a reality every day. There are lots of moving pieces right now, and many extremely positive developments that are looming on the horizon. We should have some interesting announcements for you over the coming weeks and look forward to showing you everything that we have in the works!
As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any comments/questions/feedback at info@runkeeper.com.
Thanks!
Jason