Heart Rate Variability tracking used to require $100+ in hardware. Pulse Rate captures it using your iPhone camera — every morning, for free.
Most HRV apps are free to download and then paywall the part you actually came for. Pulse Rate keeps the daily workflow — a morning reading, your RMSSD and SDNN, and a recovery trend — free, measured straight from the iPhone camera. This page explains what you get and how to build a reliable HRV habit.
The variation between heartbeats — your nervous system's report card.
Two metrics, one number. Why Pulse shows both — and which to watch.
Training-impulse: your weekly training load, in one chart.
Take your HRV reading within 5 minutes of waking, before coffee or movement. Consistency of timing is the most important factor for reliable HRV trends.
HRV requires a longer sample than basic heart rate. Keep your fingertip steady on the camera for at least 2 minutes to capture enough beat-to-beat intervals for analysis.
Individual HRV readings fluctuate widely due to normal daily variation. Pulse Rate shows your rolling 7-day average — this trend line is far more meaningful than any single data point.
Log notes on sleep quality, training load, and stress alongside your HRV. Over weeks, you'll see clear patterns in what raises or suppresses your recovery baseline.
The same chart that lives on your iPhone's Progress screen — rebuilt so you know what you're looking at.
Outstanding score. Your key heart metrics are above normal.
Most healthy adults fall within this range.
Not necessarily alarming — but worth monitoring.
If this persists, please consult a healthcare professional.
TRIMP = duration × intensity. A 60-minute easy run scores about 70 TRIMP. A 30-minute interval session scores 110. Pulse adds them up daily and tells you when your week is too light, just right, or about to overcook you.
Yes. Core heart-rate logging and HRV tracking (RMSSD and SDNN) are free with no subscription and no trial expiry. You can take a daily reading indefinitely without paying.
Both summarise the variation between heartbeats. RMSSD reflects short-term, parasympathetic ("rest and recover") activity and is the usual morning-readiness metric; SDNN captures overall variability across the reading. Pulse shows both.
First thing in the morning, lying or sitting still before caffeine or activity, gives the most comparable number day to day. The same time and posture each day is what makes the trend meaningful.
Yes. Pulse writes HRV and resting heart rate into Apple Health, and keeps the readings on your device rather than a third-party cloud.
You've already got the hardware — your iPhone. Pulse does the rest.
Free to download · Core tracking always free · iOS 15+