Support

Zone 2 Buddy is an Apple Watch app with an iPhone companion. Most questions are answered below; if yours isn't, get in touch.

Getting started

1. Install Zone 2 Buddy from the App Store on your iPhone. The Apple Watch app installs alongside it (see pairing if it doesn't appear).
2. Open the iPhone app. Onboarding explains Zone 2 training and asks for Apple Health access — allow it so the app can read your heart rate and save workouts.
3. Set your zones on the Setup tab: enter your age (or a measured max heart rate), pick a formula, and the five zones fill in.
4. On your watch, open Zone 2 Buddy, choose a sport, and start. Your watch taps you when your heart rate leaves the target zone.
5. End the workout on the watch. It is saved to Apple Health and appears on the iPhone app's History tab.

No account or login is required. There is nothing to sign up for.

How zones are calculated

Zone 2 Buddy uses five heart rate zones. Each zone boundary is a fraction of your maximum heart rate, applied with one of two formulas you choose on the Setup tab.

Your maximum heart rate

If you haven't measured your max, the app estimates it as 220 − age. A measured max from a test or a hard race is more accurate for most people; enter it on the Setup tab and it replaces the estimate.

Formula 1: % of Max HR

Each boundary is max HR × percentage. Simple, but it ignores fitness differences between people with the same max.

Formula 2: Heart Rate Reserve (Karvonen)

Each boundary is resting HR + (max HR − resting HR) × percentage. This scales the zones between your resting and max heart rate, so a lower resting HR shifts your zones up. The app reads your resting heart rate from Apple Health; you can also type it in. Recommended if you know your resting HR.

Default zone boundaries

Zone	Range (percentage)	Feels like
Zone 1	50 – 58%	Very easy, recovery
Zone 2	58 – 76.5%	Easy, conversational — the target
Zone 3	76.5 – 86%	Moderate, short sentences
Zone 4	86 – 95%	Hard, a few words
Zone 5	95 – 100%	Maximal

Example with the % of Max HR formula and a max of 180 bpm: Zone 2 runs from about 104 to 138 bpm. With the Karvonen formula, a resting HR of 50 bpm and the same max: Zone 2 runs from about 125 to 149 bpm.

With Zone 2 Buddy Pro you can drag every boundary yourself under Custom zones, if a coach or a lab test has given you different numbers.

Zone alerts

• Haptic: your watch plays a distinct tap pattern when your heart rate goes above the target zone (ease off) and a different one when it drops below (push).
• Spoken: optional voice coaching that calls out your heart rate and whether to ease off or push. Turn on Voice Alerts on the watch app's start screen, below the sport picker. It ducks your music instead of stopping it.
• Alerts fire only while a Zone 2 Buddy workout is running on the watch.

No alerts during a workout? Check that the watch is snug enough to read heart rate (a reading should show on the workout screen) and that Wrist Detection is on in the Watch app on your iPhone. Alerts only fire when your heart rate crosses a zone boundary, so if you are already inside the target zone you won't feel anything until you leave it.

Apple Watch pairing

Zone 2 Buddy requires an Apple Watch paired with your iPhone. Zone alerts, workout recording, and heart rate all come from the watch.

The watch app isn't on my watch

1. On your iPhone, open the Watch app.
2. Scroll to Available Apps and tap Install next to Zone 2 Buddy. (If Automatic App Install is on under General, it should already be there.)
3. Once installed, the app appears on the watch's Home screen. Keep both devices nearby for the first launch so settings can sync.

The Live tab on my iPhone shows nothing

The Live tab (and the Lock Screen Live Activity) mirrors the workout that is running on the watch, sent directly between the two devices. Start the workout on the watch first, make sure the watch and iPhone are connected (the phone icon on the watch's Control Center is green), and keep Bluetooth on. If it still doesn't update, end the workout, restart both apps, and start again.

My zones on the watch don't match my iPhone

Zones sync from the iPhone to the watch over Apple's Watch Connectivity when both are awake and nearby. Open the Setup tab on the iPhone, then open the watch app; the new zones apply to the next workout you start.

Health permissions

Zone 2 Buddy asks for Apple Health access the first time you run it. It needs to:

• Read heart rate and resting heart rate, for live alerts and heart-rate-reserve zones;
• Read the workouts it recorded, with distance, calories, and route, for History and Trends;
• Write the workouts you record on the watch, so they appear in Fitness and close your rings.

Health data stays in Apple Health on your devices and is never sent to us. See the privacy policy.

I declined, or the app says Health access is off

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
2. Tap your picture or initials, then Apps (under Privacy, or Sharing → Apps on older iOS).
3. Tap Zone 2 Buddy and turn on every category, or use Turn On All.

On the watch, Health permissions follow the iPhone settings. If the watch can't read heart rate, also check Settings → Privacy & Security → Health on the watch.

Zone 2 Buddy Pro

Zone alerts, all 82 workout types, workout recording, and history are free. Pro adds the live bike-mount dashboard on iPhone, weekly time-in-zone trends, an on-device weekly recap (Apple Intelligence iPhones only), and custom zones. Strava upload is coming in a future update.

Plan	Price	Notes
Pro Monthly	$4.99 / month	Auto-renewing subscription
Pro Annual	$29.99 / year	Auto-renewing subscription, 7-day free trial for new subscribers
Pro Lifetime	$59.99 once	One-time purchase, never renews

Prices are in USD; the App Store shows local pricing. Tap any locked card in the app, or open Settings (the gear on the History tab) → Zone 2 Buddy Pro, to see the plans. Pro is a family of Apple in-app purchases; Apple handles billing and we never see your payment details.

Weekly Recap isn't showing. It needs an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence, with Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings. On other phones the card is hidden.

Managing your subscription

Subscriptions are managed by Apple, not inside the app. To change plans, cancel, or check when the trial ends:

1. On your iPhone, open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Tap Zone 2 Buddy Pro. From here you can switch between monthly and annual, or tap Cancel Subscription.

You can also open the same screen from the App Store app: tap your picture, then Subscriptions.

Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Restoring a purchase

Pro is tied to the Apple Account that bought it. On a new iPhone, or after reinstalling, Pro usually unlocks on its own once you are signed in to that Apple Account. If it doesn't:

1. Open Zone 2 Buddy on your iPhone, tap the gear on the History tab to open Settings, then tap Zone 2 Buddy Pro (or tap any locked card).
2. Tap Restore Purchases at the bottom of the paywall.

If Restore finds nothing, confirm that the iPhone is signed in to the same Apple Account used for the purchase (Settings → your name), and that Family Sharing isn't involved — subscriptions bought by one family member only unlock for others if Share with Family was turned on for that subscription.

Contact

Email andersonday1444@gmail.com. Include your iPhone and Apple Watch models and iOS/watchOS versions if you're reporting a problem; there is no account to look up, so that's what helps most.

Zone 2 Buddy is made by Quiver Beacon LLC.