Spotify Adds Running Mode to iOS App With Tempo-Matched Music

Spotify today announced a new Running Mode that turns playlists into structured running sessions built around workout type, tempo, and listening habits. It's launching on iOS first.

Located in the app's Fitness Hub, the feature lets runners choose from 25 presets that can be tweaked to fit workout type (interval, steady, or pyramid, for example), with options for duration, beats per minute, and the preferred kind of music. Spotify then matches track selection to the chosen tempo and moves through songs as the session progresses.

Optional audio cues can be enabled to guide users through their run, although these are English-only for now.

Spotify suggests the feature grew out of its fitness-based "Prompted Playlists," a natural-language playlist feature that has seen a lot of fitness prompts directed its way.

Running Mode sits alongside the fitness content Spotify added in April, when it began featuring Peloton classes and creator workout videos in the app.

Strava discontinued its in-app Spotify integration late last month, and removed the music controls that had lived in Strava's workout display since 2023, so Spotify's new mode could be a timely salve for runners who want to keep listening.

Spotify says the new Running Mode is available to premium subscribers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden, starting today.