The team behind the Runstastic mobile apps have introduced a new line of hardware goodies. The new items include a heart rate monitor and some cycling hardware and these will both sync up with the Runstastic apps. In addition to the hardware, the Runstastic team has also shared a little bit in terms of app downloads and users.
On the user side, Runtastic is now touting 25 million mobile users with 10 million having registered on the Runtastic.com website. While we haven’t seen all the specifics on this one, they have also said the Runtastic app had been averaging “one app download per second.” While 25 million mobile users sounds like a number that one should brag about, perhaps for some, the new hardware is more exciting.
With that in mind, the Runtastic heart rate monitor connects over Bluetooth and uses the 5.3kHz frequency to broadcast to the smartphone running the app. Additionally, the Runtastic heart rate monitor will also work with the Runtastic GPS Watch. The cycling hardware is a speed and cadence sensor that works in conjunction with the Runtastic Road Bike or Runtastic Mountain Bike apps.
The company also offers a smartphone bike mount to complete the setup. By combining the cycling hardware with the mobile apps running on your Android smartphone you will get data to include speed and cadence as well as your GPS position, distance and the gain and loss of elevation. Basically, it looks like the Runtastic team is stepping away from the software only side and looking to help users see the complete picture.
“The best way to improve performance is to track and monitor your activities,” said Florian Gschwandtner, CEO of Runtastic. “By offering hardware, apps and services that are all developed in-house, Runtastic creates an integrated experience that is easy and fun.”
Another product available from Runtastic is an arm band that will hold your smartphone. For now these items will be available online by way of Amazon.com. That being said, while the Runtastic hardware is said to be proprietary and designed to work with Runtastic apps, we have seen other software based exercise apps also include hardware support. Take RunKeeper for example, they offer compatibility with the Polar line of products and also integrate with others such as the Fitbit.
