Which Watch for NHS Couch to 5K, and Then for parkrun?

What Couch to 5K asks of a watch

The NHS plan is written in minutes, not kilometres. It runs for nine weeks, with three runs a week and a trainer in your headphones. Week one is one-minute runs with 90-second walks in between. By the end you're running for 30 minutes without stopping. The plan is set out on the NHS Better Health page, and nothing on that page mentions GPS, distance or a watch.

So a watch has three jobs. The first is prompting the intervals on your wrist, so you're not fishing a phone out mid-run. The second is measuring distance. That matters by week nine, when the question is whether 30 minutes gets you to five kilometres. The third is reading your heart rate. The plan never uses it, but every watch here has it.

The NHS app itself runs on the phone. Its App Store listing is marked as iPhone-only, and names iPhone, iPod touch and Apple Vision, but not Apple Watch. For Android, the NHS page offers it on Google Play. So the phone does the coaching, and the watch does the recording.

Route one: a smartwatch, with the plan on the phone or in a third-party app

The simplest set-up is the NHS app on your phone, in a pocket or an armband. Then start an Outdoor Run in the watch's Workout app to record distance, pace and heart rate. On an Apple Watch, that works from day one.

If you'd rather leave the phone at home, two third-party plans run on the watch itself:

Watch to 5K, from Spaceman Digital, is a nine-week plan. Its App Store listing says it runs independently of the iPhone and taps your wrist at each change. It's a one-off purchase.
None to Run, from UniqueBits, is a twelve-week plan that builds to 25 minutes of continuous running. It's phone-free too, and it's a subscription after a free trial.

Or use no extra app at all. Apple's guide to the Workout app describes a Custom Workout. It has a warm-up, work and recovery intervals that repeat (set by time or distance), and a cool-down. An Up Next view shows what's coming. For week one, that's a one-minute work interval and a 90-second recovery, repeated.

Route two: a running watch with the intervals built in

For a Couch to 5K runner, the most useful feature here is Garmin's Run/Walk alert. You set a run time and a walk time. Each time an interval ends, the watch shows a message and beeps or vibrates. Garmin's manuals describe it for the Forerunner 55 and Forerunner 165. The vívoactive 6 manual lists the same alert, as timed walk breaks at set intervals. You set it before you press start, and it stays on for every run until you turn it off.

All three also have Garmin Coach, a plan that adapts as you go. It lives in Garmin Connect, Garmin's app, and you set it up by answering a few questions. The manual's example is a plan for finishing a 5 km race. The day's workout appears on the watch.

Coros and Polar sell similar watches, but none of them is one of our picks. Amazfit's UK page for the Bip 6 lists Zepp Coach plans, including a 5K plan. Fitbit's page for the Charge 6 lists an interval timer. But neither is a Run/Walk alert you set in seconds.

What changes at parkrun

parkrun is a free, timed five-kilometre event every Saturday. It starts at 9:00 in England and Wales, and at 9:30 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Walking, or a mix of walking and running, is fine. At the finish you take a numbered token, and a volunteer scans your barcode and the token. Your official time comes from that, not from your watch.

The barcode. The policy is "No barcode, no time, no exception". You can print the barcode or download it to an electronic device, parkrun's support article says. Digital barcodes have been accepted since November 2021, where a printed one can't be shown. If a barcode won't scan, a volunteer can write it down. But parkrun still asks everyone to carry a scannable barcode, because it holds their emergency contact details.

On a Garmin, you can carry it on your wrist with a free Connect IQ widget called parkrun barcode. (Connect IQ is Garmin's app store.) The widget shows your barcode, a QR code, your name and your emergency contact. Its listing says the QR code scans better, and lists the Forerunner 55, Forerunner 165 and vívoactive 6 as compatible. A separate data field, which sits on the watch's running screen, shows it without ending the run. That works on the Forerunner 165 and vívoactive 6, but not the Forerunner 55.

On an Apple Watch, the way to do it is a Wallet pass. Exmouth parkrun's notice board recommends a free web tool that puts the barcode in the iPhone's Wallet and the watch's.

Kilometre splits. A split is your time for each kilometre. Set Garmin's Auto Lap by distance, and it shows the lap time and buzzes at each kilometre, so you know whether a personal best is on. Apple's Workout app has a Split view among its Outdoor Run screens.

GPS under trees. Arrive early, and start the watch searching before the briefing, not on the start line. Garmin's advice for good reception is an open area away from tall buildings and trees, and a few minutes standing still. It also says to sync first, so the watch holds several days of satellite data. Fitbit says to wait up to 30 seconds before tapping Play.

Battery. Garmin rates the Forerunner 55 at up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and 20 hours of GPS. It rates the Forerunner 165 at up to 11 days and 19 hours, and the vívoactive 6 at up to 11 days and 21 hours. Amazfit rates the Bip 6 at up to 14 days and 32 hours of GPS. Apple gives the Series 11 up to 24 hours and the SE 3 up to 18. That means charging every night, so Saturday's fine as long as you charged it on Friday night.

Which phones each watch works with

On an iPhone, any of the seven will do. On Android, it's the Garmins, the Amazfit or the Fitbit.

An Apple Watch pairs only with an iPhone, and Apple's specs call for an iPhone 11 or later. Wear OS, Google's watch software, has the opposite problem: Google's help page says the Pixel Watch doesn't support iPhones. None of our picks runs Wear OS, though. Garmin's watches pair with either, according to Garmin's own blog. The only difference it notes is that replying to messages works on Android. Amazfit lists the Bip 6 for Android 7.0 or iOS 14.0 and above. Fitbit lists the Charge 6 for Android 11 or iOS 16.4 and newer.

Which of our picks fits which runner

All seven have GPS, so nothing on our smartwatch page is ruled out. The caveat is the Charge 6, whose default Dynamic GPS setting uses the phone's GPS when the phone is with you and moving.

Garmin Forerunner 55: the Couch to 5K watch. It has the Run/Walk alert and Garmin Coach. Its memory-in-pixel screen is dim indoors but readable in full sun. It goes a week or more between charges, and it's the cheapest of the Garmins here. It has one of the largest numbers of owner ratings in the category, and it's the oldest model here.
Garmin Forerunner 165: the same idea with a modern screen. It has an AMOLED colour screen, the same alert and Coach plans, and training and recovery data for later. It's on both parkrun Connect IQ listings, the widget and the data field. The battery doesn't last as long as the Forerunner 55's, but it still runs for days.
Garmin vívoactive 6: for the runner who also wants a smartwatch. You get the same alert and Coach plans on an AMOLED all-rounder, with Garmin's full health suite. It costs more than the Forerunners, and its app library is thin next to Apple's.
Apple Watch SE 3 and Apple Watch Series 11: for iPhone owners. Both run the same apps, so Watch to 5K, None to Run and the Custom Workout route work identically. The Series 11 adds the advanced health sensors. The downsides are the nightly charge and being tied to an iPhone. For Couch to 5K alone, the SE 3 is enough.
Amazfit Bip 6: the budget option with a fortnight of battery. It has a large AMOLED screen, GPS with offline maps, and Zepp Coach plans including a 5K plan. It costs less than anything else here. The trade-offs are a more modest owner rating and less refined software.
Fitbit Charge 6: for someone who wants a band, not a watch. It has built-in GPS, heart rate and up to seven days of battery, and it's the lightest thing here to sleep in. It records a Couch to 5K run while the NHS app runs on your phone, but it coaches nothing. Its included Google Health membership renews at a cost.

Does the NHS Couch to 5K app work on Apple Watch without the phone?

No. The App Store listing is marked as iPhone-only, and doesn't list Apple Watch. That leaves three options. Run with the phone. Buy a plan that runs on the watch (Watch to 5K or None to Run). Or build each week's intervals as a Custom Workout. Only the first uses the NHS trainers.

Can I put my parkrun barcode on a Garmin?

Yes, and all three Garmins here are listed as compatible. Install the free parkrun barcode widget from the Connect IQ store. Enter your parkrun ID in the Connect IQ app on your phone, then show the QR code at the scanning table. Carry a printed copy or a wristband too. It holds your emergency contact details, and it's what the scanners fall back on.

Do I need a running watch or will a smartwatch do?

A smartwatch will do if the phone comes with you, or if you pay for a plan that runs on the watch. A running watch is the better tool if you want two things. One is the intervals prompted with nothing installed. The other is a battery that reaches Saturday without a thought. That's the Forerunner 55. Once parkrun is a habit, the gap narrows, because every watch here records a five-kilometre run.