Support

No. GimmeSum runs on your iPhone, with or without an Apple Watch. With a Watch (watchOS 10+), voices play from your wrist, phone-free. Without one, start the session on your iPhone — pocket or armband both work — and cheers, announcements, and the boost button all play from the phone, even with the screen locked. Recording for a friend needs no app at all (see the next question).

Create a race, tap Invite your cheer squad, and send invites by text, email, or QR code. Friends with an iPhone open the link in the app; friends on Android or a computer record right in the browser — same link, no app needed. Either way: pick a spot on the course (or the finish line) and record. First come, first served on mile markers!

A boost is encouragement that isn't tied to any race. Boosts live forever in your bank, and one press of the ⚡GimmeSum⚡ button — on the Watch or on the iPhone session screen — or "Hey Siri, GimmeSum" plays a random one. Swipe a boost in the Boosts tab to favorite it (plays twice as often) or pause it (rests from rotation, never deleted).

Start your race on your iPhone and flip Share live with my squad ON at the start screen. From that moment your invite link — the one your squad already has — becomes a live page: your moving dot on the map, distance, time, pace, and a projected finish. It's off by default and remembered per race.

Yes — on your race page tap Add the course map and pick the course file from the Files app. GimmeSum reads GPX, TCX, and KML files (most races publish one on their website; sites like Strava export GPX). Fans then see the whole route before you start, with every claimed cheer spot pinned at its mile — and your progress paints over it live. A .zip or .kmz download needs unzipping first.

It appears when three things are true: the race has been shared (your squad has the invite link), the race is outdoors, and you're starting the session on your iPhone or Apple Watch. On the Watch, tap "Send plan to Apple Watch" on the race page first — the live key rides along with the plan. Going phone-free needs a cellular Apple Watch; WiFi-only models lose their connection the moment you leave home, so bring the phone or start from it.

Squad members with the app get a notification the moment you start (if they've allowed notifications) and a 🔴 door on your race page; everyone else just opens the invite link in a browser. Both get the live map — and a Cheer now button. A cheer sent while you're out there plays out loud on the course within moments, marked LIVE. After you finish, the page stays up as a replay for 24 hours, then deletes itself.

Every voice that reached you mid-race is kept with that race — the Live from race day section on the race page. It's your audio keepsake of the morning; archiving the race keeps it for good.

The squad member needs to have opened your race page in the app at least once and allowed notifications when asked. If it was declined, iPhone Settings → Notifications → GimmeSum turns it back on. The live page itself works regardless — the notification is just the tap on the shoulder.

Open the Watch app and keep it on screen for a moment — transfers only arrive while it's open. Then send the plan again from the race's page on your iPhone.

The magic words are "Hey Siri, GimmeSum love" or "Hey Siri, GimmeSum cheer" — say them during a session and a boost plays. ("Give me a boost with GimmeSum" works too.) Make sure Siri is enabled on your Watch; after an app update, open the app once and give Siri a few minutes to relearn.

On the Watch: turn the Digital Crown while a cheer is playing and the volume changes right away. To set it any other time, swipe left on the run screen to the music page and turn the Crown there — that's how watchOS routes volume. On an iPhone session, the side volume buttons work as usual, any time.

Open History and pull down to refresh — your sessions restore from your iCloud backup. Workouts are always safe in Apple Health regardless.

Ask your cheerer for a fresh take — the app cleans up background noise and evens out volume automatically. Recording in a quiet-ish room with the phone about a hand's width away works best.

A route is a course you name and run again and again — the River Loop, the track, your neighborhood lap. Create one from the Plans tab (+ → Route), then draw its course right on the map or import a GPX, TCX, or KML file. The course sets the distance automatically, and every route keeps its own record: your fastest time around it. Runs and rides keep separate records — your bike can't steal your running trophy.

On a race or route page, tap Draw the course. Tap the start line, then tap corner after corner — the line snaps along the real streets between your taps. Undo removes the last leg, Out & back mirrors you home, and Freehand draws straight legs for trails and parks. Tap Done and the course is saved, measured, and mapped.

Pick a race, answer four quick questions (days per week, your longest recent run — pre-filled from your History — and an optional goal time), and GimmeSum builds your whole calendar: easy days, tempo, intervals, long runs with cutback weeks, and a taper that lands exactly on race week. The Today card at the top of Plans greets you each morning with the day's workout. And here's the kind part: any matching run counts — start from the Today card, quick start, or a route, and the day still gets its checkmark. The app notices; you never bookkeep.

Once a route has a record, its start screen offers Race your best. Turn it on and a quiet line tracks you against your own fastest run — "12s ahead of your best" in green, or a gentle "26s back — finish strong." Claw back the lead past halfway and you'll get the moment: You passed your ghost! Beat the record to the finish and the route crowns a new one. (Send the route to your Watch again after setting a record — the ghost rides along with the plan.)

The Hare is a goal-pace pacer for races, named for the rabbit in our logo. Set a goal time on your race page (Set a goal time 🐇), and the start screen offers Race the Hare. It's one quiet line against even goal pace — and it always steps aside when a voice plays. Race day belongs to your people; the Hare knows its place.

Almost everything is free, forever: cheering for friends (always), unlimited training, races at every distance, live race day, routes, training programs, the ghost, and the Hare. The one thing the free plan limits is voices: three voices awake at a time — cheers and boosts alike. The rest sleep safely in your bank, saved forever, and you can swap which three are awake as often as you like. GimmeSum Unlimited ($9.99/year) wakes every voice — your whole bank, and every cheer along your course.

In the Boost Bank, sleeping voices show a 💤 Wake button. Tap it, choose which awake voice rests in its place, and the swap is instant — free, unlimited, no strings. Nothing is ever lost when a voice sleeps; it's saved in your iCloud, ready whenever you wake it.

Subscriptions are handled by Apple: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → GimmeSum. Cancel anytime; you keep Unlimited until the end of the paid period. You can also tap the subscription row on GimmeSum's About screen.

Open the paywall and tap Restore Purchases, or just make sure you're signed into the same Apple Account — entitlements follow your account automatically.

Those voices are asleep — the free plan keeps three awake at a time, and the rest are saved safely, forever. Tap 💤 Wake to swap any time, or go Unlimited to wake them all. GimmeSum never deletes a voice on its own; removing one is always your own deliberate choice, made by name.

Apple handles all App Store billing, so refund requests go through reportaproblem.apple.com. We can't see or process payments ourselves.