What is a tap on the back?
Updated
While you follow a runner who’s live, tap “Give them a tap on the back”. Their phone buzzes and sparkles, and they see how many taps they’ve had. Sign up, and they see it was you. Race maps on the web show the race’s total.
When someone you follow is running live, you can give them a tap on the back. It’s the next best thing to cheering from the roadside.
Give one
- Open the runner: from their link, from Follow a runner, or on the race’s live map.
- Tap Give them a tap on the back.
Their phone buzzes and sparkles, and the count goes up. You can give another every minute.
Signed in, they see your first name and initial: “Thandi M., Sam R. and 9 others gave you a tap on the back”. Not signed in, they’re counted but not named, so sign up and they’ll know it was you.
The race’s total
A race’s live map on the web (runfast.tech/live/race/…) shows how many taps on the back everyone has given in the race: “1,248 taps on the back”. It counts every runner in the race, including runners who don’t show on the public map. It shows only the number, never who gave the taps or who got them.
- On race day it’s that day’s taps: “312 taps on the back today”. On a race that’s run every week, that’s today’s.
- Any other day it’s the whole race.
- It goes up as you watch. The page checks every 10 seconds while people are running, and the number counts up when it grows. Your own tap shows straight away.
- Give one from there: tap Find your runner and give them one to search the race for your runner. If you follow someone in the race, it says Give Megan a tap on the back and opens their page.
The total is on the race map on the web only. The apps show each runner’s own count.
Getting them, when you run
While you’re live, every tap reaches your phone with its next update, within about 30 seconds:
- iPhone: a buzz, and a sparkle on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with who it was from. Then the count stays beside your kilometres and pace.
- Android: a buzz, and the same words on your live notification, then the count.
See everyone who tapped
- In the app: while you’re live, tap the live bar and open Taps on the back. After the race, open it in Past and tap Your taps on the back.
- On the web: on your runs, open the race’s ⋯ menu and choose Your taps on the back.
You see each person by first name and initial, how many times they tapped and when, and how many taps came from people who weren’t signed in. Only you see the list. It’s kept for 30 days.
Don’t want them? Turn off You → Taps on the back. People following you then don’t see the button.