A free way to hold your tempo: dial in a BPM, hit play, pocket your phone. The click sits over your music and keeps ticking with the screen locked.
Cadence Keeper is a free, dead-simple cadence metronome for runners, cyclists, and anyone training to a tempo.
Dial in a target BPM (40–240), hit play, pocket the phone. The click sits on top of your music at full volume and keeps ticking with the screen locked — so you can hold your stride or pedal cadence without thinking about it.
Drive it from anywhere — every surface stays in sync, so you never wonder which one is right.
• Apple Watch app — big BPM readout, Digital Crown to dial the tempo, ±1 buttons, play/pause. Let the phone play the click, or leave the phone at home and play it on the watch, up to an hour at a time.
• Smart Stack widget on Apple Watch — current BPM and play/pause at a glance.
• Home Screen widget — small shows current BPM at a glance; medium adds tap-to-control ± and play/pause right from the home screen.
• Lock Screen Live Activity — bump the BPM or pause without unlocking.
• Dynamic Island — same controls, one tap away.
• Control Center toggle — start and stop without ever opening the app. The icon flips to a pause state while playing so you can see what's going on.
Great for:
• Runners working on stride rate (~170–185 spm is the usual target)
• Cyclists holding a steady pedal cadence on climbs or flats
• Rowing, jump rope, lifting tempo work — anything tempo-driven
• Coaches who want a no-fuss beat for drills
• Anyone tired of metronome apps cluttered with subscriptions and modes
What you get:
• Sample-accurate tick that stays locked over long sessions — no drift
• Plays over your music at full volume, with the screen locked
• Slider + ± buttons for quick BPM changes
• Twelve tick sounds — Click, Beep, Clap, Clave, Drum, Tock and more — swapped mid-run without losing the beat
• Works fully offline — no account, no feed, no subscription
Free to download — no subscription, no account.
Set it. Pocket it. Run.
Really needed an app that was free, adjustable tempo and would play over music. This hit everything. I downloaded it on my watch and it works without my phone. The volume of the beeps is adjustable and can the beep can be changed. I don’t know how it can be any better. Highly recommend.
Developer Response
Thank you! Happy running!
👍🏼
AdiYES❤️
Keeps me on track during trainings!
Developer Response
Thanks so much! Glad it's keeping you on pace — happy training!
Watch issues
scharbb
I really like the design and most of the execution, but the watch app simply doesn’t work. The metronome shuts off as soon as the screen does. Would love to see a version with a usable watch ticker since I don’t take my phone on runs.
Developer Response
thanks for the feedback! while this feels like a harsh score for a solo developer for what could've been a feature request for something that it was not yet intended to do, look for it as a future feature!
Minor bug fixes and accessibility improvements.
Version 1.6.2
The developer, Cow Cow Technologies LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More
Supported Features
Larger Text
Dark Interface
Differentiate Without Color Alone
Reduced Motion
Information
Seller
Cow Cow Technologies LLC
Size
15 MB
Category
Health & Fitness
Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
Apple Watch Requires watchOS 10.0 or later.
Languages
English and 10 more
English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
