Lissa for walking and running: Phone in your pocket. Music at your pace.
Lissa's Move sessions play music whose tempo follows your steps or your heart rate, mark every change of pace with a bell, and save the walk, run or ride to Apple Health.
01 · How a session runs
The shape of a session
Every Move pattern warms up and cools down; between them it holds a steady stretch or alternates hard and easy blocks. A bell rings at every hand-off, so you never need to look at the screen.
- Phase 1
Ease In
The warm-up.
- Phase 2
Steady
The main stretch at a pace you can hold.
- Phase 3
Push
A hard block on an interval pattern.
- Phase 4
Ease Off
The recovery between pushes.
- Phase 5
Ease Out
The cool-down.
02 · Patterns
Which one to pick
Each pattern is a ready-made session. Lengths can be changed in the app, and Arrange can build one from a sentence.
| Pattern | Length | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| StrollWalk | 20 min | The walk after lunch: around the block and back before the next meeting. |
| Long WalkDefaultWalk | 40 min | The default, for a weekend walk. |
| Interval WalkWalk | 40 min | Japanese-style interval walking: five rounds of three minutes brisk and three easy. |
| Steady PaceWalk | 1 h | An hour at one comfortable pace. |
| Easy RunRun | 30 min | A run at the pace you could hold a conversation at. |
| Interval RunRun | 31 min | Run five, walk three, three times over: week five of the NHS Couch to 5K. |
| Long RunRun | 1 h | An hour, steady. |
| Easy RideRide | 30 min | A spin before breakfast. |
| Interval RideRide | 40 min | The four-by-four: four hard four-minute efforts after a ten-minute warm-up. |
| Long RideRide | 1 h | An hour, steady. |
03 · The tempo
The music keeps your step
Move Tempo Follows has two settings. Cadence reads your steps from the phone's pedometer, and across a normal walking range the music's tempo matches it, so the beat lands on your step. Heart Rate maps your pulse to the tempo instead.
04 · The activity
Walk, run or ride. It tells which.
With Motion & Fitness allowed, the session shows a walker, a runner or a rider as you go, and the workout is logged to Apple Health as Walking, Running or Cycling, with your heart rate where a sensor is paired.
05 · On the way
The Dog Whistle
For the dog that bolts mid-walk: one tap, from the player or the Lock Screen, pauses the music, plays a whistle through the phone's speaker, and picks the music back up.
06 · Afterwards
Every walk, on the record
The summary shows workout time, average heart rate, calories, distance and steps, and the Move page keeps your workout time week by week.
Getting the most from it
- Lead with walking: it is where Move is strongest, and Interval Walk follows a published interval-walking protocol.
- Choose Heart Rate in Move Tempo Follows if you wear a watch and want the music to push you on.
- Leave the phone in your pocket; the bells tell you each change.
Worth knowing
- Cadence following is tuned for walking; following a run and a ride more closely is still being built.
- Heart rate during a session needs a paired sensor or watch.
The research
What the studies say about move
Lissa's own articles, on lissa.app.
Questions
Lissa for move: questions
Is Lissa free?
You can keep one soundscape free in the web player at lissa.app. In the app, Lissa Premium starts with 7 days free on the yearly plan.
Do I need an Apple Watch?
No. Cadence comes from the phone's own pedometer. A watch or a heart-rate sensor adds your pulse, and lets the tempo follow it.
Does it work for running and cycling?
Yes: there are run and ride patterns, including intervals, and each logs as its own workout. Tempo following is tuned for walking first.
Can I use my own music?
Yes. An Apple Music playlist can replace Lissa's music in a Move session; the bells and the workout stay the same.
The other guides