Abstract Background Depressive symptoms result in considerable burden for breast cancer survivors. Increased physical activity may reduce these burdens but existing evidence from physical activity interventions in equivocal. Furthermore, physical activity intervention strategies may differentially impact depressive symptoms, which should be considered in designing and optimizing behavioral interventions for breast cancer survivors. Methods The Physical Activity for Cancer Survivors (PACES) trial enrolled 336 participants breast cancer survivors, who were 3 months to 10 years post-treatment, and insufficiently active (