“Program is now behind paywall — Used this app in the past and it was great. Disappointing to see that you must now pay after the first week.”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 520 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-04.
4.8 ★171,172 ratings
—Downloads
4+Age rating
345 MBApp size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
■ The OFFICIAL C25K® (Couch to 5K) program with millions of success stories! ■ Official partners and featured on FITBIT and SAMSUNG smart watches! ■ Featured on The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Men's Fitness, Forbes, Mashable, Glamour Magazine, Popsugar Fitness, CBS News, NBC News, Macworld, Cosmopolitan, The Verge, Lifehacker, WebMD and many more!
"C25K is easy to use, as you would hope for a beginner app." - New York Times
"Daily programs that alternate between short bursts of walking and running until you're ready to go the distance." - Forbes
"One of the highest-rated health and fitness apps... A modest, realistic workout schedule." - Men's Fitness
Our community is our priority. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? See why our community has made us the #1 5K training app. [email protected]…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 5.3.36 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 5.3.36, updated 2026-08-26.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
1 theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Cheapest and priciest options are far apart
The disclosed in-app purchases span an unusually wide price range. Published as context: the cheapest and priciest items may be different kinds of product entirely, so the spread alone deducts nothing.
What we saw: In-app purchases run from USD 1.99 to USD 74.99 — a 38x spread across 6 items
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
From the store listing: Usable without an account
The app's own screens offer a way past sign-up — guest access, skipping, or browsing before registering — rather than gating the product behind an account. The store's privacy disclosure is checked alongside it: that disclosure is self-reported, so it corroborates this credit rather than establishing it.
What we saw: The store privacy disclosure (6 entries) links no contact details or identifiers to the user — consistent with an app that does not require an account. Self-reported by the developer.
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (1.0% of 520 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Paywall entire program? — I used C25K many years ago now, and while the program is great, returning to find they’ve changed their subscription model to restrict access to the entire program after day 4 is a laugh. Making one pay for…”
“Used to be Free — I used this program in the past and the app was completely free to complete for the 5K. I downloaded it again to complete a second time and now you have to pay after day 4! WHAT A JOKE!”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 5.3.36.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown5
Lowest$1.99
Highest$74.99
Zen Unlimited Pass Monthly$4.99
Zen Unlimited Pass Annual$74.99
Remove Ads$1.99
Unlock Your Potential$29.99
Go To Pro$4.99