Ruckus logoRuckusGet the app

Let’s make a ruckus

Built for serious ruckers.

Everything rucking demands in one app — GPS routes, heart-rate zones, honest calories, challenges, and your crew. Not a hike with a backpack setting.

Coming soon to theApp Store

14-day free trial · then $1.99/mo or $19.99/yr

9:41
GPS
Rucking
1.21 MI
00:14:32
24%
GOAL
1.21 / 5.0 mi
Calories
288 KCAL
Steps
3,980
Heart Beat
Z3 · Aerobic140 BPM
Ruck Weight
30.0 LBS
End

Step counters don’t know what you’re carrying

Calories that know your load

A 30-pound pack changes everything. Ruckus folds body weight, ruck weight, pace, and terrain into every calorie estimate — not a step counter's guess.

Routes, pace, and elevation — live

GPS tracking built for long miles under load, with background tracking that keeps working when your screen is off and your head is down.

History that proves the work

Every ruck logged: distance, time, weight carried, calories burned. Watch the totals stack up week over week.

See it yourself — drag the weight

30 lbs
on your back
1060
1.3x
the burn of walking it empty
0+
calories an hour, tracked honestly

Drag the weight. Figures for a 180 lb rucker at a 17-minute mile on flat ground — and flat ground is the floor. Climbing burns meaningfully more, which is why Ruckus folds elevation gain into every calorie estimate too.

Live tracking

Every mile, measured

Follow your route as you go, with pace, elevation, and calories that respect the weight on your back. Heart rate rides along the whole way.

  • Heart rate from your Apple Watch via Apple Health
  • Elevation gain folded into every calorie estimate
  • Background GPS that works offline and syncs later
A completed ruck in Ruckus: route map with distance, pace, calories, ruck weight, and average heart rate
Ruckus stats screen showing distance, time, calories, total weight moved, and a trend chart
Progress

The proof stacks up

Totals by day, week, month, and year. Distance, time, calories, and total weight moved — the tonnage that only a rucker counts — climbing session after session.

  • Tonnage: weight × distance, tracked over time
  • Current and all-time streaks on your dashboard
  • Lifetime totals that keep score for you
Achievements

Earn your patches

Miles, hours, weight, and streaks all get recognized. Unlock badges as you go and watch the ones just out of reach fill up — a reason to grab the pack on a slow day.

  • Badges for distance, weight carried, hours, and counts
  • Live progress bars toward the next tier
  • Every earned patch saved to your profile
Ruckus achievements screen with badges and progress bars toward the next tier
Ruckus monthly challenge with tier ladder and a friends leaderboard
Challenges

Push each other

Monthly challenges give the crew a shared target. Climb the Bronze-to-Platinum tiers and see exactly where you land against your friends on a live leaderboard.

  • New challenges every month — miles, time, tonnage, and more
  • Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum tiers to chase
  • A friends leaderboard, recomputed fair and square
Crew

Bring your crew

Rucking started as a team sport. Connect with friends, see their miles, and let the quiet pressure of people who show up keep you showing up too.

  • Add friends by phone and trade requests in-app
  • See each friend's rucks, badges, and streaks
  • Push notifications when someone joins or catches up
Ruckus friends screen with a friend request and crew members
Ruckus Find Friends screen matching contacts who are already on Ruckus
Find friends

Your people are already here

Match your contacts against people already on Ruckus and send a request in a tap — or share an invite with the ones who haven't joined yet. Building your crew takes seconds.

  • Find the contacts who already ruck with Ruckus
  • One-tap friend requests — no usernames to hunt down
  • Share an invite link with everyone else
Apple Watch

Leave your phone at home

Track a full ruck right from your wrist. The Ruckus watch app runs its own GPS and heart rate, so the phone stays home — no armband, nothing in your pocket. When you’re back in range, the ruck syncs to your history like any other.

  • Standalone GPS + heart rate — the phone stays home
  • Start, pause, and finish right from your wrist
  • Mile splits buzz your wrist; the ruck syncs back on its own
Preview of the standalone Ruckus Apple Watch app showing a ruck in progress: elapsed time, distance, pace, heart rate, and calories
Events

Find your next ruck

Real events, from GORUCK flagship challenges to the grassroots meetups down the road — surfaced in the app with a tap to register. Show up, carry weight, meet your people.

Events near you3 upcoming
  • JUL26
    Star Course — 26.2
    Austin, TX · GORUCK
  • AUG09
    Sunrise Lake Loop
    Lady Bird Lake · Community
  • AUG23
    Heavy Hour Challenge
    Town Lake · Community
Our story

Ruckus isn’t a company. It’s one person’s project.

Bradley with his wife and daughter at a pumpkin patch near Lake Tahoe
My crew — minus the dog and the cat.

Hi — I’m the guy who made Ruckus. I’ve built a handful of VC-funded startups over the years, and Ruckus is not one of them. There’s no team, no investors, no growth deck. I built this because I ruck, and I thought an app this good should exist. So I made it — every part of it, from the calorie math to the map on your screen.

I kept it deliberately cheap, and here’s why that matters: Ruckus is a side project, not my job. I’ve got a day job that pays the bills, so I don’t need Ruckus to make me rich — which means I’ve got zero reason to squeeze you or your data to turn a profit. The subscription just keeps the lights on and keeps it affordable for everyone. (I might add the odd affiliate link down the road, but I’ll never make a dime by selling or tracking you.)

I will never sell your data

Not now, not ever. No data brokers, no ad-tracking, no fine print. Because Ruckus is paid for by the people who use it, I never need to — and never will — sell you or your rucks to anyone. Your data stays yours.

I’m part of this community, same as you. I’ve got a kid, a dog, and a cat, and I get my miles in around Lake Tahoe. Ruckus is the app I wanted for my own rucks — so when something’s off, it’s me you’re talking to, and it’s me who fixes it.

Built by one person
Not a company
Made in
Lake Tahoe
Crew at home
A kid, a dog, a cat
Priced so
Everyone can afford it

Thanks for rucking with me. — Bradley

Everything else in the pack

The details that turn a tracker into a training tool.

Heart-rate zones & intervals

Build interval workouts and train by zone. Ruckus cues you through work and recovery and tracks time in each zone.

Apple Health sync

Heart rate straight from your Apple Watch, and every ruck written back to Health as a workout — calories and all.

Offline GPS

Your route records out of signal and syncs when you're back in range. No dead zones, no lost miles.

Streaks & consistency

A streak that rewards showing up. See your current run and your all-time best right on the dashboard.

Full ruck history

Every session saved with distance, time, weight, calories, and route — searchable and yours to keep.

Load calculator

Dial in pack weight and see calories change in real time — honest math, built on load-carriage science.

How it works

01

Set your load

Dial in your pack weight — the number every calorie estimate hangs on.

02

Start tracking

Hit record and go. Background GPS keeps logging with the screen off and your head down.

03

Watch it stack up

Distance, pace, elevation, honest calories — every ruck logged, badges earned, week over week.

Grab your pack

Every feature, every plan. $1.99/month or $19.99/year — start with a 14-day free trial, so the only thing you commit to up front is the miles.

Coming soon to theApp Store
  • No charge for 14 days
  • Cancel anytime
  • We never sell your data

Questions

Does it track without cell signal?

Yes. GPS works offline — your route records out on the trail and syncs when you're back in range.

Does it work with my Apple Watch?

Yes. Ruckus reads heart rate from Apple Health, so your Watch's HR flows into every ruck — and each finished session writes back to Health as a workout, calories included.

Is there a standalone Apple Watch app?

Yes. A standalone Ruckus app tracks a full ruck right on your wrist — its own GPS and heart rate, phone left at home — then syncs the ruck back to your history automatically.

Can I train by heart-rate zones?

Build interval workouts and Ruckus cues you through work and recovery, tracking your time in each zone so easy days stay easy and hard days count.

What are challenges?

Monthly challenges — distance, time, tonnage, elevation, or streaks — with Bronze-to-Platinum tiers and a leaderboard of you and your crew.

How does the free trial work?

Two weeks free, no charge up front. Cancel anytime in a tap before it ends and you pay nothing.

What makes the calories different?

Most apps count steps. Ruckus uses a load-carriage model — body weight, pack, pace, and elevation — so the burn reflects the weight you actually carried.

More questions? Visit support.