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Return to Home.
Know when to turn around.
Set a deadline before you head out. PeakPulse watches your pace and your route, and tells you the exact moment you need to turn around to make it back in time. Glanceable on phone and watch. Haptic when your budget runs out.
Most "time left" estimates lie
A flat-earth time calculator divides the remaining distance by your current pace. That's fine for a paved out-and-back. On real terrain it's nonsense.
You climbed for an hour to get here. Going back is going to be faster, sometimes a lot faster. Or you bombed down a singletrack and the return is a slow grind back up to the trailhead. A naive estimator can be off by twenty minutes or more — exactly the kind of error that turns a fun morning run into a frantic dash.
The mountain doesn't care about your average pace. PeakPulse knows that. It uses the actual terrain you've covered to predict the actual time you need.
How RTH works
Return to Home runs continuously while you're recording. It needs nothing from you except a deadline.
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Set a deadline before you start
"Home by 10:00." That's it. You can also set RTH mid-run from the pause screen, the watch controls, or by using the Apple Watch Action Button if you've bound it.
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PeakPulse models your return path
It assumes the trip back is the reverse of the trip out — which, on most out-and-backs, it literally is. For loops, it estimates the remaining distance along the loop. Either way, the elevation profile is flipped: climbs become descents, descents become climbs.
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It calculates the time you need
Your historical climb pace and descent pace get applied to the reversed elevation profile. The result is a return-time estimate that accounts for real terrain — not a flat-pace lie.
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Countdown until the turnaround
On the recording screen and on the watch, you see a countdown: how much further you can go before you need to head back. When it hits zero, you get a haptic and a soft alert.
What's in the budget
Surfaces & controls
RTH is glanceable everywhere your eyes already go.
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iPhone recording screen Optional data field. Big countdown number, color-coded as the deadline approaches.
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Apple Watch Available as one of the customizable workout fields. Always visible, always honest.
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Haptic on expiration When you reach the turnaround point, the watch buzzes. The phone vibrates if it's the only device.
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Set or clear mid-run Pause screen on iPhone, Digital Crown on Watch, Action Button intent on Watch Ultra.
Common questions
Does this work on loops, or just out-and-backs?
Both. On an out-and-back, RTH assumes you reverse the path you've already covered, which is highly accurate. On a loop, it estimates the remaining distance along the loop direction you're heading. Loop estimates are less precise than out-and-back estimates because the unrun portion is unknown — RTH compensates by leaning conservative.
What if I plan to take a different route home?
RTH is most accurate when you reverse your outbound path. If you know you'll exit a different way, you can set a manual return pace that better matches what you expect — or just give yourself a bigger buffer.
What happens if I miss the turnaround?
RTH keeps recalculating. The countdown will go negative, indicating you're now behind schedule. On the phone the field turns coral; on the watch you get a follow-up haptic. You can either pick up the pace, change your deadline, or accept being late — RTH won't lock you out of anything.
Does this work without cell signal?
Yes. RTH uses your GPS track, your elevation, and your pace history — all of which are recorded on-device. No network needed.
Can I set the deadline as a duration instead of a clock time?
Yes. "90 minutes from now" and "home by 10:00" both work. The watch interface defaults to duration; the phone defaults to clock time. Both are interchangeable.