Spotify’s Running Mode, a feature that builds a custom playlist around a runner’s pace, is now rolling out on Android, a few weeks after it launched on iOS in late July.
How Spotify Running Mode works
Spotify detailed the Spotify Running Mode rollout in a newsroom post published Tuesday. Premium subscribers pick from 25 presets, then adjust the workout type (interval, steady, pyramid and others), the duration and a target beats-per-minute range, according to AndroidAuthority, which read through Spotify’s own writeup of the feature. Each workout type is further split by genre, with a choice between familiar songs and new discovery, plus two optional extras: Beat Matching, which syncs track tempo to running cadence, and Audio Coaching, which layers spoken prompts over the music. The feature is live in select markets only, including Canada and the US, and sits behind a Premium subscription, so free-tier listeners don’t get it.
9to5Google reported that the Android rollout lands in the same week as a second, unrelated feature called User Notes, which lets listeners leave notes throughout their library to refer to later. The two ship together but aren’t connected: Running Mode is workout-specific, User Notes is a general library tool.
The Premium gating fits a pattern Spotify has leaned on for a while: its newer personalisation tools tend to launch behind a subscription rather than on the free tier.
Runners have generally solved the pace problem in one of two ways: building a playlist by hand and hoping the tempo holds, or reaching for a separate app that matches music to running cadence. Running Mode folds that second approach into Spotify itself, generating the BPM match automatically from the workout type a runner selects, rather than requiring another app running alongside it.
iOS got there first
Spotify shipped Running Mode to iOS in late July and held Android back for several weeks. By our arithmetic, that’s roughly a three-week gap between platforms, in keeping with Spotify’s habit of testing features on iOS before extending them to its larger Android user base.
What to watch
Spotify hasn’t said when Running Mode will expand beyond Canada and the US, or whether User Notes will land on Android on the same schedule it reached iOS. Given the roughly three-week lag between platforms for Running Mode, Android users hoping for User Notes shouldn’t expect it immediately. Both are worth checking as Spotify updates its newsroom blog.
