Your AirPods Pro 3 already read heart rate. AirHRM puts it on the PM5 — the same way a chest belt would.
Free 7-day trial, then $5.99/year
Concept2
Your Concept2 can show heart rate from your AirPods Pro. AirHRM rebroadcasts what's already in Apple Health as a standard Bluetooth heart-rate sensor. The PM5 pairs with it the same way it pairs with a chest belt. Setup takes about a minute.
You're already wearing AirPods Pro. You're already getting accurate heart rate in your ears. The PM5 just can't see it — Apple keeps that signal inside Health, so the erg defaults you back to the strap.
And the strap is the strap. Chafing through long steady-state work. Dropouts six minutes into a hard piece. Sweat-soaked elastic that fails inside a year. A cold belt in a colder garage in January.
AirHRM reads heart rate from your AirPods Pro through Apple Health and rebroadcasts it over Bluetooth as a standard heart-rate sensor. Your PM5 sees a device named AirHRM and pairs with it — exactly like a chest belt. No new hardware, no extra account, no analytics layer between you and the data.
Why the AirPods Pro
Wrist sensors take a hit whenever your forearm contracts under load — every stroke on the RowErg, every pull on the SkiErg, every hard grip on the BikeErg. Optical readers can mistake muscle tension for blood flow. AirPods sit in your ear canal, unaffected by what your hands are doing.
Glance-able
Once a session is running, your live heart rate also shows on the iPhone's Lock Screen. On iPhone 14 Pro or later, it also appears in the Dynamic Island.
Setup
Open AirHRM, insert your AirPods Pro (already connected to the iPhone), and tap Start. The HealthKit session begins and your iPhone starts broadcasting heart rate over Bluetooth.
On the PM5 Main Menu, select Connect. (Older PM5 firmware: select More Options instead.)
Select Connect Heart Rate. Within 5–10 seconds, the PM5 lists nearby heart-rate sensors.
Image Credit Choose AirHRM from the list, then select Confirm Selection. Your live BPM appears on the PM5 screen.
Train. Lock or pocket the iPhone — AirHRM keeps broadcasting in the background until you tap Stop. The PM5 records your heart rate alongside splits, rate, and pace the same way it always has.
RowErg, BikeErg, and SkiErg all use the same PM5 — the setup, the menu paths, and the pairing experience are identical across the three. Whichever Concept2 you train on, the answer comes down to which monitor it has.
Yes — every PM5 with current firmware, on RowErg, BikeErg, or SkiErg alike.
No. These monitors don't have a Bluetooth heart-rate receiver, so AirHRM (and any standard BLE chest belt) can't pair with them.
AirPods Pro 3 heart rate has been independently reviewed as very accurate — surprisingly close to a chest belt across most efforts. Ear-canal placement also sidesteps the wrist-motion problem that affects watches on the erg, since your ears don't move when you grip the handle.
Apple has managed to do something that really nobody else has: produce a pretty solid heart-rate sensing device in your ears. It's not absolutely perfect, but it's really strong.
DC Rainmaker
It's not flawless, though. Honest caveats:
For UT2, UT1, long steady state, and the daily intervals that make up the bulk of the work — AirPods are honest training data.
Accurate heart rate from the AirPods you're already wearing, on the PM5 you already use. Start the 7-day trial — cancel before it ends and you won't be charged.
after your trial ends
Less than a 3-pack of batteries.
Cancel before the trial ends and you won't be charged.
Yes. AirHRM just stands in for the chest belt — the PM5 records heart rate the same way it always does, and ErgData syncs to the Logbook as normal. Nothing changes downstream.
It needs to stay running, but it can be locked. AirHRM broadcasts in the background once the PM5 has connected. The phone can sit in the PM5's cradle or anywhere in Bluetooth range — locked screen, app in the background, no problem.
No. Only the PM5 has a Bluetooth heart-rate receiver. PM4 and earlier monitors can't pair with AirHRM — or with any standard Bluetooth chest belt, for that matter.
For all-out testing — a 2k on the RowErg, a 4k on the BikeErg, race-pace pieces on the SkiErg — a chest belt may still be the better tool, since it sees through cold skin and a poor ear seal. For everything else — steady state, intervals, daily training — AirHRM is what you'll reach for. Honest answer: keep the strap for benchmarks if you have one, and stop using it on every other piece.
Purpose-built, no ads, no data harvesting, one developer who reads every email. Less than a 3-pack of batteries. Free for seven days; cancel before the trial ends and you won't be charged.
