Anyone find that Runkeeper on an iPhone adds extra kms?

[the_tea_fairy]

Went out this evening and did 30 minutes running (wk9 run2 at last, hoo-blooming-ray! *Grin*), but I am pretty sure the distance Runkeeper says I covered is a km longer than what I actually ran (unless I have got a LOT faster by having a bad cold). Has anyone else had a problem with accuracy, or should I just accept what it tells me and walk around feeling like superwoman all evening?

[paul2014 Graduate]

I've read many similar stories regarding these issues, not only for Runkeeper. I was looking to get an app myself to use on my iPhone but decided to get a Garmin watch (when I graduate) instead.

[Oldgirl Graduate]

I found that it wasn't that accurate, I use iSmoothRun now and don't have the same problems with it.

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

I use runkeeper and have generally found it accurate. A couple of times it has gone a little crazy - one time adding about 1k and another suggesting I had done such a superb speed that I was expecting a call from the Olympic selectors! But I run 3 times a week and find it pretty reliable.

[the_tea_fairy Graduate]

Thanks all. Will keep going and check whether it happens again.

[Hidden]

GPS isn't going to be 100% accurate regardless, but a couple of things to try (which improved accuracy for me):

1) Wear the phone in an arm band and facing outwards - GPS signals are then easier for it to receive.

2) Turn off WiFi (iPhones use WiFi to improve accuracy but turning it avoids it defaulting to WiFi when GPS signal is lost) - ignore the messages about accuracy.

3) Turn of mobile data (for the reasons above) - Settings, Mobile, Mobile Data - OFF.

Turn them back on when you get home...

Good luck! Be interested to hear if this works for you... 2 and 3 will probably help I suspect...

[ajwyld Graduate]

I found that runkeeper measured the distance from where-ever I opened the app - even if I hadn't pressed Go running yet. For example if I switched the app on to listen to the warmup via its interface, then pressed Go running when Laura said to run, it measured the time from that point onwards, but calculted the distance from whenever I switched the podcast on. So I got some fantastic looking results but sadly a closer look at the map showed that the distance was over-measured compared with the time.

I now have a garmin F15. It doesn't seem to have the same problem.