VERA is a dead-simple interval timer for HIIT — Tabata or anything else you can build from exercises, rounds, and rest. Hit start and get moving. Train by yourself or in sync with others: one timer, every phone, vibrating in lockstep. No account, no clutter — just train.
Open the app and go. No account, no setup screens, no ads.
Exercises, rounds, work seconds, and the rest between each. Your workout, your rules.
Share a workout by QR and run the exact same timer, in sync, on every phone in the room.
Runs in the browser and installs like an app. Add it to your home screen — the timer and voice cues keep working offline.
Hundreds of hand-picked, royalty-free tracks. Ordered by tempo and crossfaded so one flows nicely into the next. Pick your favorite genres.
Put on any Bluetooth sensor and VERA records your pulse right through the workout. Finished sessions go straight to Health Connect, so they appear in the health app you already use. Android only.
The workout itself is identical everywhere — same timer, same cues, same music, same live sessions. These are the differences.
| Feature | BrowserAny phone or laptop | InstalledAdded to the home screen | AndroidFrom Google Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timer, saved workouts, exercise library Everything the app is built around, identical on all three. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Voice cues and beeps Spoken countdowns and phase changes. The voice pack is in English. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in music Streamed from the curated pool, so it needs a connection. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Train together Share a QR code or a link; every phone runs the same timer in lockstep. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works offline The timer, the cues, and vibration keep going with no signal at all. | After the first visit | Yes | Yes |
| Own icon, no browser bars Opens straight into VERA and uses the whole screen. | No | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the screen awake Needs the browser's wake-lock support; the Android app does it natively. | Most browsers | Most browsers | Yes |
| Held in portrait In a plain tab, the layout turns back rather than the screen. | Layout only | Yes | Yes |
| Vibration iOS gives web pages no vibration at all, in a tab or installed. | Not on iOS | Not on iOS | Yes |
| Heart-rate monitoring Any Bluetooth strap — or fitness watch that broadcasts — on the standard heart-rate profile. No brand app needed. | No | No | Yes |
| Saves to Health Connect Write-only, and off until you switch it on in My VERA. | No | No | Yes |
| Updates The web app fetches its own update and applies it on the next launch. | Automatic | Automatic | Google Play |
Tabata is a HIIT protocol of eight rounds of 20 seconds of hard work and 10 seconds of rest — four minutes in total. A Tabata timer counts those intervals for you so you can keep your eyes off the clock. VERA runs classic Tabata out of the box, and any other interval scheme you can describe with exercises, rounds, work, and rest.
No. There is no sign-up, no login, and no ads. Open the web app and start your first session. Your workouts are saved on your own device, not on a server.
Yes. VERA is a progressive web app: add it to your home screen and it installs like a native app. The timer, voice cues, and vibration keep working with no connection at all. Music streams and training together needs the network, so those two want a signal.
One person sets up the workout and shares it as a QR code or a link. Everyone who scans it joins the same session, and the timer runs in lockstep on every phone — same phase, same countdown, vibrating together. The host drives the session; nobody has to install anything.
Yes, and it is built in — nothing to connect and nothing to pay for. VERA ships with hundreds of hand-picked, royalty-free tracks, ordered by tempo and crossfaded so one flows into the next. Choose the genres you want, or turn it off entirely. With the built-in music turned off, you can listen to music from e.g. Spotify instead, if you prefer.
On Android, yes — VERA can save each finished workout to Health Connect, so it appears alongside everything else in whichever health or fitness app you already use. It is off until you switch it on in My VERA, and it only ever writes: VERA records the workout you just did and never reads your health data back. Each session carries its duration and its work and rest intervals, as well as your heart rate if you trained with a sensor — Android asks for that as a permission of its own, so it is yours to refuse without losing the workout. No calorie estimates, though: VERA asks nothing about your body, so any figure would be a guess your health app would then fold into your daily total as if it had been measured. Nothing reaches us; the record passes straight from the app to Health Connect on your phone, where you can review it, delete it, or revoke VERA's access at any time.
Any Bluetooth LE sensor that speaks the standard heart-rate profile — the same one the machines at the gym read — so there is no companion app to install, no account, and no approved-brand list to be on. Chest straps and armbands: Polar H10, H9 and Verity Sense; Garmin HRM-Dual, HRM-Pro and HRM 200; Wahoo TICKR and TICKR FIT; Coospo H6 and HW9; belts from Magene, Suunto and Decathlon; and the inexpensive unbranded straps sold simply as Bluetooth heart-rate belts. Many watches can send their wrist reading the same way once you switch broadcasting on — Garmin vívoactive, Venu, Forerunner, Fenix and Instinct, Polar Vantage and Grit X, WHOOP, and recent Amazfit models — so look for a setting called Broadcast heart rate. Apple Watch, Fitbit, and most Wear OS watches cannot broadcast at all and cannot be used as a sensor. Heart rate is in the Android app only, it is off until you turn it on in My VERA, and the readings stay on your phone.
The watch sends heart rate once you've turned on the Broadcast heart rate feature. Nothing is paired in Android's Bluetooth settings — VERA reaches the watch directly, and the watch keeps its usual connection to Garmin Connect. On a vívoactive this takes about ten seconds.
Yes, completely free. No subscription, and no advertising.