What app can I use to check my running form?
You can check your running form with a phone app that reads a 10 to 20 second side-view video and grades foot landing, torso lean, knee angle, arm swing and cadence, with no wearables or lab visit.
What a running form app actually does
You film yourself running. The app finds your joints in every frame and draws a skeleton over you. Then it picks out the three moments coaches care about. Foot strike, midstance and toe-off. At each one it measures a few angles and distances.
From a side view that means how far ahead of your hip the foot lands, how far your torso leans, how much your front knee bends, your elbow angle and where your head sits. It counts foot strikes over the clip to get cadence. The full pipeline is explained in how running form analysis works.
Then it turns those numbers into a score and a plain cue. That last step is the useful bit. A number on its own does not tell you what to do on Tuesday.
Which apps do this
There are two kinds of app, and they get mixed up a lot.
The first kind grades you. Caden uploads your clip with the audio removed, runs pose estimation on its servers, and gives a form score out of 100, six metric dials and cadence, then lets you start a practice plan from the weakest metric. Ochy is an AI running form app that also grades your video, on a paid subscription. Movaia does it as a web upload with a free tier. Forma is a free web tool.
The second kind only shows you the video. OnForm is a video tool for coaches. You can slow the clip down, draw lines, and share it. Nothing is measured automatically. Kinovea is free desktop software that does the same. Coach's Eye used to be the popular one and is now discontinued. These are good if you already know what to look for. Most runners do not.
Runeasi sits apart. It is built for physios, with sensors and clinic reports, not something you use alone on a Sunday.
iPhone, Android and free options
Caden is iPhone only, iOS 17 or later. There is no Android version yet. The web tools work on any phone with a browser, because you upload the clip to a server. Caden uploads too, but privately: the clip is stored under your account until you delete the analysis, and the audio never leaves the phone.
If you want to try before you pay, see free running form analysis. Caden is free to download, with the price shown in the app before any subscription.
What no app can tell you
A phone video is 2D. An app can measure what the camera can see in its plane. It cannot measure force on the ground, pronation, or how your hip rotates in 3D. And a video cannot tell you why something hurts. If you have pain, an app can show you what your stride looks like. A physio tells you what to do about it.
The other limit is the clip itself. A dark, distant or shaky video gives the app noisy joints and noisy numbers. Caden rejects clips it cannot read rather than guessing. That is a feature. Read how accurate running form apps are before you trust any single result.
How to check it with Caden
- Tap Run a new analysis. Prop the phone at hip height and film 10 to 20 seconds from the side at easy pace. See how to film yourself running.
- Read the form score and the six dials. Tap the lowest one, often the foot landing dial, to see what was measured.
- Open Breakpoints and tap Foot strike. The skeleton shows where your foot landed relative to your hip.
- Read the coach's tip, then start a 4 or 8 week plan from the result, built from your lowest scores.
FAQ
Is there a running form app for Android?
Caden is iPhone only for now. Web tools like Movaia and Forma work from any phone browser because you upload the video.
Do I need a smartwatch or sensors?
No. A video app only needs the phone camera. Sensor systems measure different things, like ground contact time, and cost more.
Can an app replace a coach?
For a first check, yes. It shows you what a coach would see in the first minute. A coach still wins on judgment, especially if you are injured or racing.