The short answer: The Apple Watch shows your pace on your wrist, and its Workout app can buzz when you go outside a target pace range. Between those buzzes you get no feedback. Steady Pace plays your pace as a tone that changes as your pace changes, so you always know where you are. If you own an Apple Watch, you can use both. If you do not, you can hold a pace by ear on your iPhone.
How they differ
The Apple Watch does a lot, and pacing is one small part of it. It helps with pace in two ways: you glance at the face to read the number, or you set a pace-range alert that buzzes when you cross the top or bottom of the range. Inside the range you get nothing, and at the edges the buzz comes after you have already drifted.
Steady Pace gives you the whole range as sound. The tone sits at your target and moves as your pace moves, so you hear yourself drift and correct early, without raising your arm.
Steady Pace and the Apple Watch compared
| Steady Pace | Apple Watch Workout | |
|---|---|---|
| How you sense pace | A continuous tone | A glance, or a buzz at the range edges |
| Feedback between the limits | Continuous | None until you cross a boundary |
| Heart rate, workouts, safety features | No | Yes |
| Extra device needed | No, it uses your iPhone | Yes, the watch |
| Price | A one-time app purchase | Watch hardware, then a free app |
What the Apple Watch is for
The Apple Watch does heart rate, structured workouts, contactless pay, fall detection, and much more, and it runs without your phone. Its pace help is a glance at the face or a buzz at the edge of a range. That is the extent of its pacing.
What Steady Pace is for
Steady Pace suits runners who want to hold a pace closely. A continuous tone catches drift as it starts, and you do not need to own a watch to get it. If you do wear an Apple Watch, let it record heart rate and the run while the tone keeps you on pace.
Steady Pace gives continuous pace feedback by ear and needs no watch to do it.
Compare
Steady Pace vs a running watch
The general case for wrist against ear.
Guide
Audio pace alerts
A tone against a buzz at the boundary.
Blog
Hold pace without looking
Holding a pace with your eyes up.
Can the Apple Watch hold me at a running pace?
It can buzz when you cross the top or bottom of a target pace range, and you can glance at the current pace on the face. Between those limits it gives no feedback. Steady Pace's tone moves the whole time, so you feel drift as it happens.
Do I need an Apple Watch to hold a pace?
No. Steady Pace runs on your iPhone and plays your pace as a tone, so you can hold a pace by ear without buying a watch.
Can I use both together?
Yes. Let the Apple Watch handle heart rate and record the run, and let Steady Pace keep you on pace by ear.
Why is a continuous tone different from a pace-range alert?
A range alert only fires when you cross a boundary, so within the range you get no feedback and at the edges it comes late. A continuous tone tells you as soon as your pace starts to drift.