Your Apple Watch + Strathlon: live heart rate, hands-free

12 June 2026 · 5 min read

If you own an Apple Watch, Strathlon turns it into a proper training companion — live heart rate streamed beat-by-beat, the workout started for you automatically, and each block logged neatly to Apple's own Workout app. The good news: the part most people want is completely free.

Strathlon Apple Watch screen showing live streaming heart rate during a session

The one-time setup (about a minute)

You only need to do this once:

Open the Strathlon watch app on your Apple Watch one time. Just launching it once is enough — after that you can leave it closed.
Allow Health access when prompted. This is what lets your heart rate flow through to your phone.

That's it. From then on, when you start a session on your phone — warm-up, workout or HIIT — Strathlon starts the recording on your watch for you, even if the watch app is closed. Your live heart rate appears straight away, shown as a clear two-colour cue: red when you're at or above your target level, bright amber when you're below.

One rule: don't also start Apple's Workout app yourself

This is the one thing worth remembering. While Strathlon is recording on your watch, do not open Apple's own Workout app and start a workout there too. If you run both at once, your calories get counted twice and your numbers stop being honest. Let Strathlon drive — it records as one continuous workout of the right type (warm-up, strength, HIIT) with calories and duration, so it shows up correctly in Apple's Workout app and Fitness rings on its own.

No watch at all? You still get a live heart rate during warm-ups and HIIT, read from Apple Health where recent data is available — it's just slightly less instant than a wrist reading.

What's free and what's premium

Free with any Apple Watch: automatic workout start on your wrist, live streaming heart rate, and each block logged to Apple's Workout app with the right type, calories and duration. No subscription needed.
Premium: running the whole workout hands-free from your wrist — your watch shows the current exercise, your set ("Set 2 of 4") and the rep target with one big button. Tap Done and your phone logs the set and starts your rest countdown; a tap during rest skips it. It carries you from warm-up through every set and rest to your HIIT finisher, so you never reach for your phone.

Example: You get to the gym, open Strathlon on your phone and tap to start your session. Your watch buzzes and begins recording on its own — you didn't touch it. Through the warm-up your heart rate glows amber; as you work, it ticks into red, telling you you're in the zone. Between sets you glance at the rest countdown on your wrist and watch your heart rate come back down before the next set. If you're premium, you never pick up your phone again — you drive the whole session from the watch, tapping Done after each set. Afterwards it's all there in Apple's Workout app as correctly-titled blocks, calories and all. You never opened Apple's Workout app yourself, so nothing was double-counted.

If your heart rate ever looks stale, give the watch a moment — Strathlon holds your last reading and gently dims it when it's a little old, rather than blanking out.

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