Nike on Thursday released an update to its Nike+ Run Club club app — the heart and soul of Apple Watch Nike+ — that brings a number of software enhancements save battery life and increase autonomy.

Of note to Apple Watch users, Nike+ Run Club version 5.3 includes improved GPS capabilities and route syncing with runs started on Apple Watch.

In addition, the latest app iteration helps conserve battery life by limiting app activity to the device on which a run is started. Specifically, runs initiated on Apple Watch no longer trigger the Nike+ Run Club app on iPhone. Since Apple Watch Series 2, and consequently Apple Watch Nike+ , features an onboard GPS radio, running the iPhone app for tracking purposes is redundant and a waste of energy.

Finally, the NRC app now includes time splits in the post-run summary page on Apple Watch.

According to an entry posted to Nike's dedicated Run Club blog on Wednesday, the latest app version also includes battery optimization tweaks and improvements to GPS mapping reliability.

Nike+ Run Club is available as a free 196MB download from the iOS App Store, which in turn updates the watchOS version via the Watch app on iPhone.