Spotify has launched Running Mode, an AI-powered experience that builds personalized workout playlists around a runner’s music preferences, target tempo, duration, and training format, while adding optional English-language coaching prompts for Premium subscribers using its iOS app.
TL;DR
- Spotify Running Mode offers 25 customizable playlist presets for interval, steady, and pyramid runs.
- Users can adjust the music genre, workout duration, and beats per minute.
- The feature is available to Premium iOS users across seven markets.
- Unlike Spotify’s retired running feature, the new version does not automatically detect a runner’s pace.
Spotify is giving runners more control over their workout soundtracks with the launch of Running Mode, a new feature designed to match music with a user’s preferred pace and exercise plan.
The experience is accessible through Spotify’s Fitness hub, which the company introduced in April 2026 as a dedicated destination for workout playlists, guided classes, and fitness content. Running Mode is currently limited to Premium subscribers using Spotify’s iOS app.
Users can begin with one of 25 curated running presets and customize the playlist according to their preferred music genres, workout duration, and target beats per minute, or BPM.
Running Mode also supports interval, steady, and pyramid workouts. This allows the playlist to follow the planned structure of the run instead of maintaining the same energy level throughout the entire session.
Spotify said the feature was designed to help listeners “spend less time hunting for the right music and more time moving.”
Runners can also activate optional English-language audio prompts that provide cues and motivation during different parts of a workout. According to Spotify, the prompts are designed to offer timely guidance without interrupting the music experience.
Spotify Running Mode is initially available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company has not detailed a wider rollout schedule in the launch coverage.
Spotify Builds On Its AI Playlist Technology
Running Mode builds on the personalization technology behind Spotify’s Prompted Playlist experience, which lets Premium users describe what they want to hear and receive a playlist shaped by their request, listening history, and current music trends.
Speaking about Prompted Playlist earlier in 2026, Spotify’s then-Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong said, “Prompted Playlist offers a more intuitive entry point, letting users begin with moods, moments, or ideas in their own words.”
Spotify said fitness-related requests became one of the most popular uses of Prompted Playlist, providing the company with a foundation for a more structured running experience.
Topics For More Insights
Spotify Previously Retired Its Pace-Detecting Running Feature
This is not Spotify’s first attempt at building a product specifically for runners.
Spotify Running launched in 2015 and used a smartphone’s hardware to detect a runner’s cadence before selecting music synchronized with that pace. Spotify officially retired the feature on February 26, 2018.
The new Running Mode takes a different approach. Instead of detecting and reacting to a runner’s movement automatically, it asks users to define their workout requirements before they begin.
That makes the new experience more configurable, although less reactive than Spotify’s original pace-detection feature.
