AudioStep - improve your run cadence with BPM match app for iPhone and iPad
Developer: Audioforge Labs Inc.
First release : 18 Jun 2013
App size: 4.78 Mb
Reduce your risk of injury when running. Run faster! AudioStep helps you to run consistently by running to the beat of all your music.
AudioStep analyzes your music and adjusts the tempo on the fly. The pitch does not change. No Chipmunks were harmed building this app!
You select your BPM (beats per minute) and all your music plays at that tempo.
Initially AudioStep was designed to consistently run at 180 steps per minute by matching each step to the beat of the music playing at 180 beats per minute.
Eventually, testers found different use for listening to music at different BPM and so we added a slider where you can set your target BPM going from 120 up to 200 BPM.
Studies have found that running at 180 BPM reduces the risk of injuries.
Why?
The slower the cadence, the longer you are in the air and the harder you land. Slow turn over means more impact, which causes more injury.
Most non-elite runners maintain a cadence of around 160 steps per minute.
Increasing the step count to 180 per minute will reduce your risk of injury.
As a side effect it also makes you run faster. While there have been no studies identified to prove this, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence available online.
- Normalized volume (all songs use the same perceived volume, no more Taylor Swift being louder than Metallica, they both are now normalized to the same perceived volume)
- Runkeeper support
- Bluetooth heart rate monitor support with warnings for high and low heart rates
- Voice over status updates (distance, time, split pace, average pace, step count). You can set your own update interval as text entry in miles or meters
- 5 eq presets (import for Equalizer presets is in the works) to make it sound the way you want (bassbooster, treble booster, u-shape, extrabass and flat)
- Sophisticated Beat Detection library by SampleSumo
Read more about a personal account on how AudioStep was developed on our blog at blog.audioforge.org
Also please note that continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.