Help, tips
& a real
human reply.

Installation & updates

How do I install Run2Beat?
Open the App Store on your iPhone and search for “Run2Beat”, or open the App Store page and tap “Get”. The Apple Watch app is installed from the Watch app on your iPhone once Run2Beat is on your phone.

The link opens a web page on my Mac or Android device.
Run2Beat is an iPhone and Apple Watch app. Open the App Store link on your iPhone, or tap “Show QR code” on the home page and scan it with the iPhone camera.

How do I get updates?
Updates arrive automatically through the App Store. To check manually, open the App Store, tap your profile picture, and pull down to refresh.

Importing music

What file formats are supported?
MP3, M4A (AAC) and WAV. DRM-protected files (such as tracks from streaming services) cannot be imported — Run2Beat works with music you own as files.

How do I get files into Run2Beat?
There are three paths:

• The in-app Import view. Pick one or more audio files (MP3, M4A or WAV) or pick a folder — Run2Beat scans subfolders too and can optionally create one playlist per folder. iCloud Drive files are downloaded automatically before the import starts. Files are copied into Run2Beat’s private sandbox; the originals stay where they are. The same screen also has From library backup, which merges selected tracks from a .r2blibrary file without replacing the Library.
• AirDrop of a Run2Beat playlist from another user. A friend who also runs Run2Beat can “Send via AirDrop” from a playlist on their iPhone. You receive a .r2bplaylist package containing the audio files, BPM values, artwork and play order, and the app imports it as a fresh playlist.
• Settings → Library backup. Create a backup, restore the whole file (replaces everything), or import selected tracks from a backup without wiping what is already there.

Run2Beat is a local-files app and does not pull from streaming services or generic share-sheet sources.

Some tracks show up without a title or artwork.
Run2Beat reads the metadata embedded in the file. If the file has no tags, you can use the built-in Shazam tagging to identify the track and fill in the details.

Library backup

How do I move my library to a new iPhone?
In Settings you can save the whole Library as one .r2blibrary file — audio, playlists, BPM lists, BPM and loudness data, favourites. Restore on the new phone replaces everything currently in Run2Beat on that device; it is not a merge. Export first if you still need what is already there.

Can I add tracks from a backup without replacing the Library?
Yes. Import Music → From library backup, or Settings → Library backup → Import tracks from backup… Pick the songs you want. Duplicates are skipped. Playlists and BPM lists in the backup are not imported on that path.

Library

How do I delete songs?
In the Library, tap Select and then Delete. You can remove the songs you have marked, or every song shown when a filter narrows the list. The whole library cannot be deleted that way.

BPM analysis

How is BPM measured?
Locally on your iPhone. Run2Beat analyses the audio waveform itself — no internet lookup, no servers. The first analysis of a large library may take a few minutes; after that, results are cached.

One of my tracks got the wrong BPM.
It happens, especially with half-time or double-time tracks. Open the track, tap “Re-analyse”, or enter the correct BPM manually. Your override is remembered.

Apple Watch sync

How do I get music onto my Apple Watch?
Open the Sync screen on iPhone, review the pending changes and start the sync. Keep iPhone and Watch close together — files are sent over Bluetooth. Both devices need to be active at the moment you start; after that, both screens can be off. The Watch screen does not need to be on for the transfer to continue, and you do not need to put the Watch on its charger — that’s an Apple Music-only requirement that doesn’t apply to Run2Beat. A normal-length playlist routinely takes several minutes the first time; subsequent syncs are much faster because only changes are re-transferred.

The Watch shows nothing during sync — is that normal?
Yes. The Watch screen stays unchanged while a transfer is in flight; the progress overlay lives on the iPhone, not on the Watch. As long as the iPhone shows the sync overlay (or you can see pending items on the Sync screen) the transfer is running. After a successful sync, each list gets a green “On Watch” indicator confirming the Watch has the latest version. If iOS suspends the transfer (out-of-range, drained battery) the next sync simply picks up where it left off — nothing has to be re-sent manually.

See the Apple Watch sync deep dive for the full picture.

How do Favourites reach the Watch?
Starred songs sync as a normal playlist at the original tempo. They sit first under Playlists on the watch and keep the same order as on the iPhone. Turn Favourites on per device on the Sync screen; the row appears once at least one song is starred.

What can I do on the Watch without the phone?
Play any synced BPM list or playlist. Home can replay the last list (Continue last, on by default). An optional Move-goal column of ticks shows today’s progress. Swipe left in the player for Move, Exercise, battery and songs played this visit. Two watch-face complications: Last list resumes that list; Run2Beat only opens the app. Crossfade, Beat matching, Sahara and outline buttons are set on the watch.

The Watch asks for Health and Bluetooth. Do I have to accept?
No. Health is used for the Move ticks on Home and for Move and Exercise on the session page. Bluetooth is used only to read the headphone battery while that page is open. Decline either prompt and playback still works; those rows stay empty. Neither kind of data leaves the watch.

How do I add Run2Beat to a watch face?
In the Watch Face editor, add a Run2Beat complication. Last list shows the list name and BPM and plays it again on tap. Run2Beat opens the app and starts no music. Both use the music-note symbol. On a tinted face the words follow the face colour; on the rectangular slot the note stays the app green.

Where is help for the Watch app?
On iPhone, open the Sync screen and tap the info button. That leads to a screen that explains how the watch app works.

Sound & playback

Volume normalisation, EQ and crossfade
These are all controlled from Settings inside the app and applied during playback — they never modify your audio files. Volume normalisation measures every track’s loudness in LUFS (ITU-R BS.1770 / EBU R 128, the same standard Apple Music and Spotify use) and gently raises or lowers it to a reference level you pick (−14 LUFS by default), with built-in clipping protection. The equalizer has ten sliders spanning 32 Hz to 16 kHz at ±12 dB; save a preset per pair of headphones and switch between them in a tap. Saved presets sync to Apple Watch automatically. Crossfade or Gapless, and Beat matching, you set on iPhone and separately on Apple Watch. Swap candidates on iPhone sets how long a BPM-list track must play before a skip marks it (0 to 20 seconds, 5 by default); Apple Watch uses the same time. After a phone call, the song continues from where it paused, on iPhone and in CarPlay.

See the deep dives for volume normalisation and BPM analysis for more.

Playback through AirPods, car or speakers
Run2Beat plays through any output iOS routes audio to. If a Bluetooth device sounds wrong, try forgetting and re-pairing it in iOS Settings.

Privacy & data

Run2Beat keeps music files, BPM data and playlists on your device. If you are signed in with your Apple ID, listening history and EQ presets are also saved to iCloud (not to Run2Beat). Settings shows when that copy was last saved once the iCloud card is open. We don’t run analytics or tracking. See the full Privacy Policy for details.

Feature requests & bug reports

Send them to hello@run2beat.com. For bugs, please describe what you did, what happened, and what you expected to happen. A screenshot and your iPhone and watchOS version help us reproduce the issue quickly.