I’ve been using Endomondo since 2011—when I got my first smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 3G.  Sadly, it will be shutting down by the end of the year.  Another casualty of 2020.

Back in 2011, when Assisted GPS was a new thing and smartphones were just getting capable enough to effectively replace Garmins, there weren’t that many good apps to leverage this technology.  Endomondo easily stood out because there weren’t that many options from the BlackBerry World (BlackBerry’s app store) and that it’s one of the few apps that’s also available in other platforms like Android, iOS, and even the defunct Windows Phone.  I figured that in case I switched platforms, I don’t have to transfer my logs.  And as history can attest, I made the right choice as almost a decade later, I’m still using it, this time in iOS.

For whatever reason though, Endomondo will be retiring effective December 31, 2020.  This makes me sad as Endomondo is still my preferred tracker despite a plethora of options.  It doesn’t have the fancy animations of other newer apps and it arguably looks dated, but that simplicity was exactly why I liked it.  All I wanted was a simple and reliable app that would track my outdoor runs as accurately as the hardware it’s running on can.  And with its departure, I’m forced to use its successor, the UA MapMyRun.

I’ve used UA MapMyRun alongside Endomondo a while back and while it arguably has better UI, it tracks the same run consistently shorter than Endomondo that’s why I’m hesitant to use it.  Endomondo usually matches Fitbit’s measurements closely that’s why I trust it better than UA MapMyRun.

But as I can’t really do anything about Endomondo’s retirement, all I can do is save all my data to UA MapMyRun.  Instructions are available as soon as you log onto Endomondo.

Thank you, Endomondo, for tracking all my runs for almost a decade!  You’ve seen me at my best and my worst.  Your successor has big shoes to fill and I’ll definitely miss seeing your green screen whenever I start logging my runs.

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