How can we help?

• What's the difference between Cursa and Apple's Fitness app? ▼

  Apple Fitness records your activity and shows you rings. Cursa is a dedicated running app built around structured training — adaptive plans that change based on how your runs actually go, an interval workout builder, personal records tracked across every distance, race event discovery, run clubs, and live spectator tracking for friends and family.

  The two apps work well together. Cursa saves every completed run back to Apple Health, so your rings still close and your Health data stays in one place.

• What do I need to use Cursa? ▼

  An iPhone running iOS 26 or later. GPS tracking, training plans, race results, and shoe tracking all run entirely on your phone — no Apple Watch required.

  An Apple Watch (Series 4 or later) unlocks wrist-based runs, heart rate data during runs, and watch face complications. It's recommended but optional.

• Is Cursa free? ▼

  At launch, Cursa is free to download and use. Core features — GPS tracking, training plans, personal records, shoe tracking, and Apple Watch support — are available to all users.

  A premium tier is planned in the future, and some of those features may become part of the premium tier, but tracking a run will always be free.

• Will my training data be lost if I switch devices? ▼

  No. Cursa uses iCloud (CloudKit) to sync your runs, training plans, personal records, and shoe data across devices. As long as you sign in with the same Apple ID on your new iPhone, everything will be there when you open Cursa for the first time.

  iCloud sync requires a network connection on the new device. Large run histories may take a minute to fully download — this is normal.

• Why does the app need location permission? ▼

  Location is used to record your GPS route during outdoor runs. Cursa only reads your location while the app is open and a run is actively in progress. It does not track your location in the background when you're not running.

  If you run exclusively on a treadmill and never need GPS, you can decline location permission and use Treadmill mode — distance is estimated from your speed setting or the accelerometer instead.

• Why does the app need HealthKit permission? ▼

  HealthKit does three things in Cursa:

  Read: Cursa reads your Apple Health run history to personalise your training plan, calculate your fitness estimate, detect personal records from before you installed, and backfill shoe mileage when you add a pair with a past start date.

  Write: Every run you complete in Cursa is saved back to Apple Health so your rings close and your history stays in one place across all apps.

  Live heart rate (Watch): During a run, Cursa reads your heart rate from the Watch's optical sensor via HealthKit to display it on screen.

• What happens if I deny HealthKit permission? ▼

  Cursa will still work for GPS tracking and treadmill mode. The features that won't work:

  - Your completed runs won't be saved to Apple Health (rings won't close for Cursa runs)
  - Training plans will start from scratch with no fitness history
  - Personal records won't detect PRs from runs before you installed Cursa
  - Shoe backfill will show 0 pre-Cursa mileage even if you set a past start date
  - Heart rate won't show during Watch runs

  You can grant HealthKit access at any time: go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Cursa on your iPhone. Cursa will backfill missing data the next time you open it.

• What is Motion & Fitness permission used for? ▼

  Motion & Fitness powers step count and cadence tracking during runs. It's also the fallback for distance estimation in Treadmill mode when you haven't set a manual speed — your iPhone's motion sensors estimate distance from your step rate and stride.

• GPS seems inaccurate — my pace or distance looks wrong ▼

  GPS accuracy depends on satellite signal and a few things you can control:

  Start in open sky. Trees, tall buildings, and underpasses block satellite signal. If you start under cover, walk to open sky before tapping Start.

  Check your Location permission. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Cursa and make sure it is set to "Always" — not "While Using the App" and not "Never". Both "Always" and "While Using" technically allow tracking, but "Always" is strongly recommended: iOS is more willing to suspend "While Using" apps in the background under memory pressure or on long runs, which can cause silent GPS gaps. "Always" also stops iOS from periodically prompting you about background location use. Cursa never tracks you outside of an active run, regardless of which option you pick.

• Treadmill distance doesn't match the treadmill display ▼

  For the most accurate treadmill distance, enter your speed manually on the pre-run screen. Cursa will calculate distance as speed × time — the same method the treadmill uses.

  If you use the motion-sensor fallback (no speed entered), expect 5–15% variance for the first few sessions. iOS calibrates to your stride over time and accuracy improves.

  Note: treadmill machines measure wheel rotation, which does not perfectly represent running distance for a person. A small difference between the two is expected and is not a Cursa bug.

• Why does live tracking sometimes fail to start? ▼

  Live tracking requires an active internet connection at the moment you tap Start. If your signal is weak at the start line, the broadcast may not establish. A few things to check:

  Make sure you're connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi before tapping Start. Enabling Live Tracking in Aeroplane mode or on a congested race-day network is the most common failure cause.

  Try toggling Wi-Fi off if you're on a congested network (e.g. race-day Wi-Fi). Your phone's mobile data is often more reliable in a crowd.

  If the run starts but spectators see no map: wait 30–60 seconds — the first GPS point takes a moment to establish. Spectators who open the link before you've moved will see a loading state, then your dot once a GPS fix is confirmed.

  If live tracking fails to start, your run still records normally. Live tracking is opt-in and its failure never affects the run itself.

• My run didn't save — what happened? ▼

  Cursa saves your run to the device the moment you tap Stop — it does not require a network connection to save locally. If a run is missing:

  Check your run history. Open the Activity tab and look for the run. Short runs (under 1 minute) are not saved by default.

  Check iCloud sync. If you switched devices or recently reinstalled, your run history may be syncing from iCloud. Open Cursa and wait a minute on a good network connection.

  If the run was never completed: pressing the home button or locking the screen mid-run keeps it active in the background. Force-quitting the app (swipe it away in the app switcher) mid-run will discard the current run — a half-completed run with unreliable data isn't useful.

  If you believe a run was lost due to a Cursa bug, email support@cursa.run with the date and approximate time. We can check server-side logs.

• What happens to my training plan if I miss a week? ▼

  Cursa watches a rolling two-week window of your workouts. If your completion rate drops below 60% — across runs, tempo sessions, and long runs combined — it proposes a Volume Reduction: the next two weeks of training are reduced by 20% so you can rebuild momentum without stacking missed mileage on top of fresh mileage.

  If the missed sessions are specifically your hard ones (two or more tempo or interval workouts skipped in two weeks), Cursa proposes a Quality Session Reduction instead — keeping one hard day and swapping the other for an easy run.

  If you've gone 7+ days with no completed run, Cursa proposes a Return From Break ramp — easy effort only for two weeks, with 30% less volume.

  In every case, the adjustment is proposed as a card on the Training Plan tab with a plain-English explanation of what changed and why. Nothing is applied silently — you tap Apply Changes or Keep Current Plan. Your target race date is never moved by an adaptation — the engine only changes future workout volume and intensity.

  For guidance on using the training plan in full, see the Training guide.

• My training plan workout isn't showing today ▼

  A few things to check:

  Rest days are not shown. If today is scheduled as a rest or cross-training day, the Run tab will show the next upcoming workout instead.

  Check that a plan is active. Open the Plan tab. If no plan is shown, tap "Start a plan" to set one up.

  Force a refresh. Pull down to refresh on the Plan tab. If you're on an Apple Watch and your iPhone is nearby, open Cursa on the iPhone — the Watch picks up the latest plan over WatchConnectivity within a few seconds. If your iPhone isn't with you, the Watch falls back to iCloud and may take up to 30 seconds to update after a change on the iPhone.

• How does AI coaching feedback work? ▼

  After each completed run, Cursa analyses your pace, heart rate, splits, and the workout you were targeting, and generates a short personalised response — specific to how that run went against the workout you set out to do, not a generic template.

  This analysis runs on your device using Apple Intelligence. Your run data is never sent to a remote server for coaching feedback — it stays on your iPhone.

  The feedback appears on the post-run summary screen and in your run history. It takes a few seconds to generate. Apple Intelligence is supported on iPhone 15 Pro and later; on devices without Apple Intelligence support, coaching feedback is unavailable.

• My Watch run didn't appear on my iPhone ▼

  Runs sync via CloudKit — they don't need a direct Bluetooth connection. If it's been more than 10 minutes:

  1. Check that both Watch and iPhone are signed in to the same iCloud account (Settings → [your name] on both devices).

  2. Check your iPhone has a network connection — CloudKit won't sync over a completely offline device.

  3. Force-quit Cursa on your iPhone and reopen it. This triggers a CloudKit fetch.

  If the run still isn't there, open the Watch app and check if it appears in the recent runs section. If it does, the data is safe — CloudKit will sync it once connectivity is restored.

• GPS takes too long to acquire at the start of a run ▼

  Apple Watch GPS acquisition typically takes 10–45 seconds depending on how long since you last used GPS outdoors.

  Hold your wrist still during the countdown. Excessive movement can make it harder for the watch to establish an accurate satellite fix.

  Start outdoors with open sky. A building overhang, tree cover, or urban canyon slows acquisition significantly.

  Update your iPhone's Location & Time Zone. Assisted GPS (AGPS) on the Watch uses your iPhone to download almanac data. Go to Settings → Privacy → Location Services on iPhone and ensure Cursa has location access.

  Series 4 or earlier: Older models use the paired iPhone's GPS rather than their own hardware. Keep your iPhone within Bluetooth range at the start of the run.

• Heart rate isn't showing during a run ▼

  Check permissions: On iPhone, go to Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Cursa and ensure Heart Rate is enabled under both Read and Write.

  Check the Watch band: The optical heart rate sensor is on the back of the Watch. If the band is too loose or you have a tattoo on your wrist, the reading may be unreliable. Tighten the band slightly — it should sit flush against your skin.

  Clean the sensors: Sweat and sunscreen can interfere with the optical sensor. A quick wipe of the Watch back before your run helps.

  Note: heart rate may read -- for the first 10–15 seconds of a run while the sensor locks on. This is normal.

• Starting a run from iPhone doesn't trigger the Watch ▼

  The remote workout start uses WatchConnectivity, which requires Bluetooth on both devices and both apps to be installed.

  1. Make sure Cursa is installed on your Watch. Open the Watch app on iPhone → My Watch → Installed Apps.

  2. Make sure Bluetooth is on on both devices. WatchConnectivity doesn't work over Wi-Fi alone.

  3. Open Cursa on your Watch before starting on iPhone. The Watch app must be awake for the fastest response.

  4. If the Watch shows "busy": a previous run may be active on the Watch. Open Cursa on the Watch, end any active run, then try again.

• The complication isn't updating after my run ▼

  Cursa triggers a complication refresh after each completed run, but watchOS controls the actual update timing — it may take a few minutes.

  Force a refresh: Press the Digital Crown to go to the app grid, open Cursa on the Watch, then close it. This often triggers a timeline reload.

  If the complication shows zero or stale data: open Cursa on your iPhone. The monthly distance is recalculated from your run history and syncs to the Watch on the next background refresh cycle.

  Note: the complication shows current-month distance only — it correctly resets to zero on the 1st of each month before you've run.

• Watch and iPhone show different iCloud accounts — what breaks? ▼

  CloudKit sync and WatchConnectivity both require the same iCloud account on both devices. If they're mismatched, Watch runs won't appear on iPhone, training plan workouts won't push to the Watch, and settings won't sync between devices.

  Fix: go to Settings → [your name] on both devices and verify the Apple ID is identical. Sign out and sign back in on the device that's wrong, then open Cursa on iPhone to re-establish the connection.

• Why isn't my run syncing to Apple Health? ▼

  Cursa writes your run to Apple Health automatically when you complete it. If a run isn't appearing in the Health app:

  Check HealthKit write permission. Go to Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Cursa. Under "Turn On to Allow Cursa to Write Data", make sure Running Workouts, Distance Walking + Running, and Active Energy are all enabled.

  Check that Health is not restricted. On iCloud Family Sharing accounts with Screen Time, HealthKit access can be blocked. Go to Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Health and check it's not set to "Don't Allow".

  If you recently reinstalled Cursa, permission needs to be re-granted. Open Cursa → Me → Settings → Permissions and follow the HealthKit prompt.

• I see duplicate workouts in Apple Health ▼

  This can happen if a run was saved by both Cursa and a third-party app (Garmin, Strava, etc.) that also writes to Apple Health. Apple Health doesn't automatically deduplicate workouts from different sources.

  You can delete a duplicate directly in the Health app: open Health → Browse → Activity → Workouts → tap the workout → scroll down → Delete Workout. This does not affect the run in Cursa.

  If you see duplicates from Cursa itself (two identical entries from the same source), email support@cursa.run — that's a bug we want to fix.

• Can I export my data? ▼

  Yes. Go to Me → Privacy → Download my data. You'll receive a JSON file containing all of your runs, training history, personal records, and account information. This is your data — no restriction on when or how often you can export it.

  Your GPS routes are stored on your device and in iCloud. They are included in the export. If you also want to export in GPX format for use in other apps, that option is in Run Detail for each individual run.

• How do I delete my account? ▼

  Open the Me tab, scroll to the bottom of the Settings section, and tap Delete Account — it's below the Sign Out button.

  This permanently removes your profile, social connections, and any shared data from our servers. Deletion is immediate and irreversible.

  Your on-device data — GPS routes, Apple Health runs, training plans stored locally — is managed by iOS, not Cursa's servers. To remove that data, delete the Cursa app. Your Apple Health data remains in the Health app regardless — to remove that, manage it from Health directly.

• What data does Cursa store on its servers? ▼

  Cursa stores only what is necessary for features that require a backend — primarily social features (followers, run clubs, live tracking), race event data, and push notifications. Your GPS routes, run data, personal records, training plans, and shoe history are stored on your device and in iCloud — not on Cursa's servers.

  For the full picture, see the Privacy in plain English page and the Privacy Policy.

• I'm in the EU — what are my GDPR rights? ▼

  You have the right to access, correct, export, and delete your personal data at any time. The export and delete functions are built into the app (Me → Privacy). For data correction requests or questions about how your data is processed, email privacy@cursa.run. We will respond within 30 days as required.

• How do I sign in or create an account? ▼

  Open Cursa and tap Sign In on the first screen. Cursa uses Sign in with Apple — no separate password to create or remember. Your existing Apple ID is all you need.

  If you previously used Cursa on another device with the same Apple ID, your account and data will appear automatically after signing in.

• How do I change from kilometres to miles (or vice versa)? ▼

  Go to Me → Settings → Distance Unit and toggle between km and miles. The change applies everywhere immediately — live metrics, run history, personal records, training plan paces, and Watch complications all switch units at once.

Email support@cursa.run and include:

• ▶ Your iOS version and iPhone model (Settings → General → About)
• ▶ The Cursa version number (Me → About)
• ▶ A brief description of what happened and what you expected to happen
• ▶ Screenshots or a screen recording if the issue is visual

We aim to reply within three business days. We read every email.