Spotify is rolling out a new Running Mode designed to take some of the guesswork out of building the right workout soundtrack. The feature helps Premium users create running playlists based on their fitness goals, listening preferences, and target beats per minute, or BPM. In its announcement, Spotify said the goal is to let runners “spend less time hunting for the right music and more time moving,” with customizable running presets and optional coaching tools built in.
The AI-powered Running Mode builds on Spotify’s personalization technology, including the Prompted Playlists feature introduced last year. According to Spotify, fitness-related prompts have ranked among the most popular ways people have used that tool. Running Mode is available through the Fitness hub, which Spotify launched in April, and requires a Premium subscription. Starting today, it is available in the Spotify iOS app for users in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden.
Users can start with 25 curated running playlist presets, then fine-tune them to match their preferred genres, workout length, BPM, and training style. Options include interval runs, steady sessions, and pyramid workouts. Spotify Running Mode also offers optional English-language audio prompts, which the company says deliver “timely cues and motivation without getting in the way of your music.”
Spotify has experimented with runner-focused features before. In 2015, it launched Spotify Running, a tool built to match music to a user’s pace, before discontinuing it in 2018. The new Running Mode works differently. Spotify Running relied on phone hardware to detect a runner’s pace automatically and adjust the music to sync with it. Running Mode, by contrast, asks users to set their workout and playlist preferences up front.
