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20 best iPhone apps to get you started

Here's a selection of some essential and not-so-essential apps that will help you get by in a world increasingly dependent on digital interaction. 

20. Endomondo

  • By Andrew Averill Contributor

There are many mapper apps that track your distance exercise and tell you how your average speed and time stack up against other runners, cyclists or skaters who took the same route.

But Endomondo is one of two that lets you watch your friends’ route progress in real time. Then if they’re struggling to keep up with your time, or maybe close to beating it, Endomondo lets you talk to them over the phone. No, really – type them a message through Endomondo’s online site and it will be transmitted and read aloud by Endomondo’s in-app coach.

Endomondo’s interface is designed with large buttons that are easy to tap. Users can choose from a number of exercises including running, cycling, kayaking, and rowing.

Social exercise is a big part of Endomondo’s offerings. Users can search for nearby routes that were completed and uploaded by others and race against the best time for that route. Their website has dozens of sponsor- and user-created challenges to undertake.

Unfortunately, Endomondo’s route making capabilities are limited. In competing applications, like Strava, users can edit completed runs into segments. They can not only see their average speed during a short sprint versus a maddening climb, but also can upload the segments and invite others to race them. 

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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