The 11 Best Free Workout Apps Tested by Experts 2026

Best fitness tracker app strava alternatives Questions Privacy Guides Community

It is not a medical device, and does not provide medical services such as diagnosis, cure, mitigation, prevention or treatment in relation to any disease or medical condition. It is not a substitute for the advice of a medical professional based on your personal circumstances. You should always consult a doctor before making any medical decisions. It uses this data to provide HRV and Resting Heart Rate datapoints in the morning and pacing insights throughout the day. In-app challenges transform routine workouts into engaging experiences that dramatically improve adherence. Research shows apps with community-driven challenges see 30% higher weekly active usage compared to those without competitive elements [21].

The screen itself is nice and bright at 2,000 nits, and you get an estimated 10 days of regular use on a single charge. (In testing, I got closer to eight or nine days as a power-user.) European users also get NFC payments. As a way to calm down from all that working out, the Shapes app helps reduce stress levels with calming puzzles accompanied by music. It’s a great experience on a smartwatch with soothing colors that help take your mind off the daily grind.

Super Easy Interface , Great Community.

This is especially true since newer software updates often make their way to older Garmin hardware, and Garmin users tend to hang onto their devices for a good while. From simple fitness bands and rugged sports watches to rings, these are the best trackers you harnafit reviews can get. However, if you use a non-Apple fitness tracker, you may be a bit limited for now. For example, I wasn’t able to connect my best Garmin watch to the SWEAT app.

Home Workout — No Equipment

You don’t need a fully equipped gym to build real strength and transform your body. The best fitness apps understand this, delivering powerful bodyweight routines that require nothing but your determination and a small patch of floor space. Look for apps that offer comprehensive libraries with equipment-free options, where certified trainers demonstrate proper form and technique [12]. Smart apps increasingly use performance data to automatically adjust future workouts based on recovery needs. Quality apps offer guided meditation sessions and wellness series focused on sleep, nutrition, and self-care alongside workout content to support mental recovery [10]. Beyond scheduled rest days, top apps incorporate active recovery options.

Focused workout trackers

With enough battery life to last you through most ultramarathons, plus precise dual-frequency GPS, the Coros pace pro tracker is an endurance athlete’s dream. And it comes at a reasonable, mid-range price, considering that many of its features — such as coach-designed training plans and turn-by-turn navigation — are typically only found in more premium smartwatches. Speaking of the impressive battery life, the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro lasts for 16 days (even when using it for workouts), which is much longer than any other device on my list of best fitness trackers. What I love about the Fitbit Inspire 3 (aside from the price) is how easy it is to use, making this a great fitness tracker for beginners. This premium tracker now offers a sleep score, helping you tune into your nightly routine and optimise your daily recovery.

best fitness tracker app

Quick summary: The best fitness trackers

You can start workouts, log sets, and view timers directly from your wrist. For Android Wear, options are more limited—Strava and Google Fit integration work best. Most strength training apps prioritize iPhone and Apple Watch over Android Wear. Different workout apps will provide different levels of tracking for workouts. Most free ones allow you to record loads and times for daily workouts, but you might also be able to track basic metrics, like weight, water, and inches. Again, make sure the tracking and logging functions match the needs of your fitness goals.

best fitness tracker app

JEFIT Gym Workout Plan Tracker

Most workout-focused apps don’t include nutrition features, operating on the principle that specialized tools work better than all-in-one solutions. Adidas Running focuses on making running accessible for beginners while providing enough features for experienced runners. The app includes training plans for various goals, from running your first 5K to completing a marathon. You can log sets quickly, see your previous performance, and track progress over time. The app also includes video demonstrations for every exercise, which helps with form.

It can help you keep all of your workout records in one place, without having to scour notebooks or fitness logs to check for your one-rep-max deadlift. Also, the app can allow you to train wherever—either at-home workouts or while traveling—cutting down on commutes to a commercial gym. “I think the social network-esque aspect of it is what really differentiates it from other free cycling GPS apps,” our tester and long-time Strava user Amanda Capritto says.

Full Body Workout vs Split: Pros, Cons & How to Pick

Workout Buddy uses your fitness data to generate personalized insights, advice, and pep talks through a virtual assistant. Your Workout Buddy will remind you of your goals, recent achievements, and recap your results at the end of your workout. WatchOS 26 also comes to the Apple Watch SE 2, Apple Watch Series 6 and above, and all Apple Watch Ultra models. The standard version has a stainless steel case and tempered glass screen, while the premium version bumps you up to sapphire crystal and gets you an extra leather strap.

  • The Inspire 3 is the cheapest model in the current Fitbit line-up, making it an excellent entry point into fitness tracking.
  • With 24/7 monitoring across sleep, strain, stress, and heart health, WHOOP gives you a complete view of your health — so you can make smarter decisions every day.
  • ??No matter your experience level, training program or expertise, you can use Strong to record your progress and achieve your goals.
  • Killer tracking capabilities with streamlined interfaces for logging 200+ exercises, making them way more efficient than old-school notebooks [17].
  • If you purchased a monthly subscription, you will be charged every month.
  • Alongside biometric tracking, Visible also allows you to track self-reported sleep quality, symptom severity, levels of emotional and social exertion and other factors such as medication, infections and more.

Amazfit Band 7

Still, we can’t recommend using the AirPods Pro 3 as a standalone fitness tracker, not least because wearing the earbuds during vigorous activities can be difficult. Despite coming with five removable eartip covers of different sizes, the AirPods Pro 3 earbuds often move around and can feel loose during runs. And in a few of our test workouts, the earbuds’ data didn’t transfer to Apple Health.

We do a mix of benchmark testing and experiential, real-life testing. Some factors we consider in our rankings are durability, performance, accuracy versus consistency in metrics, and, of course, battery life. GearLab has been purchasing and rigorously evaluating fitness trackers through hands-on side-by-side testing since 2017. Our testing methods are designed to evaluate and compare each model’s accuracy and precision, data output and insights, and overall usability. Our tests were performed in meticulous side-by-side tests, where accuracy was compared across all the things you might want to track, like heart rate, sleep performance, and workout stats like distance and pace. We also talked to a diverse panel of judges at GearLab to gain perspective on comfort, appearance, and general wearability.

About Personify Health

If you genuinely split time between strength and cardio, either find an app that handles both adequately (like Hevy or MyFitnessPal) or use separate apps. The overhead of managing two apps is minimal compared to using one mediocre app for everything. While JEFIT’s 1,400-exercise database sounds impressive, most people use exercises regularly. The ability to create custom exercises matters more than a huge pre-built library. As long as the app includes common movements (squat, bench, deadlift, rows, presses), you can add anything else you need. If you combine strength training with cardio, you need an app that handles both.

Key Features:

With Home Gym Club Training, you’ll be able to access over a thousand strength-training programs, including over 100 programs created by certified expert coaches. This is the only place to access Foundations of Strength, a free program created by Team GGR, and Full Body Pump, a pro plan led by Lindsay Scheele, CPT, the lead reviewer at Garage Gym Reviews Everything. Caine is an Olympian, placing 9th in weightlifting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Having competed in Olympic weightlifting for over two decades, Caine has amassed several national and international titles over the years, including being a three-time Pan American Champion. A former gym owner, he also has more than 15 years of experience coaching other athletes in weightlifting, CrossFit, and functional fitness. My other gripe is that the sleep tracking didn’t perform as well as other sleep trackers I’ve tested.

This matters in gyms with poor cell service or when traveling internationally. Strava and adidas Running need GPS for route tracking but can log workouts offline and upload later. Compare the cost of premium subscriptions ($10-15/month) to personal training ($50-100/session). Free versions might include a few sample programs, but accessing the full library requires subscription. JEFIT boasts one of the largest exercise databases in any fitness app—over 1,400 exercises with detailed instructions and animations. This makes it particularly valuable for beginners learning proper form.

Sweat: The Fitness App Trusted By Millions of Women

This transparency helps users make informed decisions before downloading. The App Store excels at surfacing quality applications through its editorial picks and user-driven charts. Apple’s “Editor’s Choice” selections and curated lists often highlight innovative or exceptionally well-designed apps, saving you the effort of sifting through countless options. This is particularly useful for finding apps that adhere to scientifically-backed training principles. If you love to ride your bike but don’t want to hit the road during the coldest days of winter, Zwift is your solution. The app gamifies your workouts, pitting you against yourself, your friends, and fellow Zwift users in races, group rides, and targeted workouts.

Trusted by the world’s top strength coaches, teams & facilities.

Plus, given the expense of having a coach in the real world, the subscription doesn’t seem too extortionate at all. If you want to, you can also add strength work, Pilates, and mobility-focused sessions into your plan, with a calendar view detailing your sessions for the week. While there are plenty to choose from in 2025, Runna is our favourite of all the running apps. I’ve used this app myself for a year now for a mix of marathon training and regular cardio exercises. I love how it’s completely personalised, despite being AI-led, and the interface is so easy to use.

  • Fitr supports various program types, including group-based and one-on-one coaching, and provides mobile apps for both coaches and clients to enhance the training experience.
  • The app comes with your very own customised training plan after sign-up.
  • The layout is clean, a fresh week of workouts every Sunday night.
  • Its in-depth insights and workout plans are great for maximizing your strength training and reaching new goals.
  • To cut through the marketing noise and find a truly effective training partner, ask yourself these three critical questions.
  • I used to go to a spin studio in person a few years ago, and then, over the pandemic, they came up with online classes.

Centr’s performance fitness training and equipment solutions are built to help women achieve their goals in every life phase. For those seeking a trusted second opinion before committing to a subscription, Tom’s Guide provides some of the most thorough, hands-on reviews and editorial awards in the fitness tech space. Rather than a marketplace, it’s a high-quality resource where experts test and compare the best fitness apps of this year, culminating in clear, well-reasoned award winners. This is an excellent stop for seeing how top apps perform under real-world testing conditions. The guide excels by providing practical summaries, clear pricing information, and Android-specific insights you won’t find in generic app store descriptions. This resource stands out for its detailed editor commentary, which goes beyond marketing copy to discuss real-world use cases and practical benefits.

Meet the Expert Coaches

best fitness app

Glo has one of the largest ranges of yoga sessions I’ve seen from a home workout app, helping users to make the most of their workouts. Along with daily live classes with an online instructor, there are pre-programmed classes to do when it suits you. If you track nutrition in MyFitnessPal, some workout apps sync to provide calorie burn estimates.

“WHOOP continues to transform my approach to health and wellness daily.”

best fitness app

Fortunately, many of these sessions are now available for free in the Nike Training Club app. But that’s not to say Netflix will never offer free workouts again. There’s free and paid options, but you get plenty of value if you do decide to pay, and you can access a free trial if you’re unconvinced. harna fit reviews Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.

Nutrition Tracking and Meal Planning

Fitness trackers or smartwatches can also be a decent assistant in staying motivated and tracking training successes, for example, based on one’s resting pulse heart rate or sleep quality. Start by identifying your fitness goals, as they will guide your app selection. Whether you’re aiming to lose weight, gain muscle, improve flexibility, or train for a specific event, choose an app that specializes in the type of workouts and progress tracking aligned with your objectives. Clear goals can also help you stay motivated and measure your success over time.

The 10 Best Fitness Apps You Should Use in 2025

Centr Align is the 4-week program where yoga meets Pilates to strengthen, tone and build confidence. Master a true blend of strength and dynamic mobility in this 6-week gym-based program. Get the competitive edge with the only certified training program for total race-day performance. I am pretty athletic and have fairly extensive fitness knowledge, but gym motivation never resonated with me. One of the best decisions I made to get this program… I ultimately started to see great results and overall improvement in my mobility and flexibility along with strength. My partner and I have been using this app for almost 18 months and still going strong.

Support from the Sweat Community

Every client gets a certified fitness professional who will prescribe training programs, follow up daily to assess progress, make program adjustments as needed, and offer accountability. From free classics to premium features, we’ve tested the top 10 fitness apps that will take your training to the next level. You get started by calculating your caloric needs, reviewing the meal plan, and taking your ‘before’ photos. If you’re new to a gym or at home workout routine, the supplements, protein powders and portion control containers they have built into different programs may be a great introduction to nutrition. For more advanced fitness-ers I found it easy to swap out or adapt and still get great results. If you’re looking for an at-home workout that’s beginner-friendly, I think this one of the best workout apps to look at.

The best free fitness apps for Android and iOS

You will have heard of Joe Wicks, but it would be churlish not to include him. An object lesson in why you don’t need to reinvent cardio every six months to get the benefit. He will run through 10 exercises, most of which are recognisable from an aerobics class of any era, and at the end you will feel like a good person.

I do like the included modules for chair yoga and personalized weight loss journeys, but I don’t believe there’s enough content to keep things interesting or engaging for extended periods. Plus, each chosen module has its own questionnaire, which can become annoying when trying to sign up for multiple sessions at once. You don’t need the best squat rack or a bevy of kettlebells and free weights at your disposal, your coach can prescribe bodyweight exercises if you’re limited on training gear. If you’re looking for an immersive training experience that’s rich with motivation, advice, and engagement, we highly recommend subscribing to Future.

The 12 Best Fitness Apps of This Year (2026 Edition)

The app features energetic instructors and a vibrant community, enhancing motivation and engagement. Notably, it offers a robust selection of workouts for free, making it accessible to a broad audience. With Virtuagym, your app isn’t just a tool, it’s an extension of your coaching style. As fitness trainers, you know your tools are everything. Work out anywhere with celebs and world-class trainers who will motivate you to reach your goals. Covering health, fitness tech, home gym equipment, and more.

It’s often easier to ditch your workout routine for that one long weekend. The Yoga Studio app provides most of the pros of a live yoga class, but lets you go at your own pace with step-by-step instructions. When it comes to working out in the gym or with weights, this format is great to review the form and how-to. Not to brag, but right before I made the leap into full-time travel (aka being a Digital Nomad), I was finally making some serious gains in the fitness department.

The 12 Best Workout Apps to Help You Get Fit, According to Certified Trainers

The platform offers features such as a workout builder, nutrition coaching, client management, branding customization, and integration with wearable devices. Fitr supports various program types, including group-based and one-on-one coaching, and provides mobile apps for both coaches and clients to enhance the training experience. Caliber caters to various fitness levels and goals, providing tools to monitor progress and stay motivated throughout the fitness journey. Users can create personalized workout routines tailored to their goals and track their progress with advanced logging features. In this article, we’ve tested and reviewed the best fitness apps of 2026, handpicked with trainers like you in mind. We’ve done the hard work for you, comparing free workout apps alongside premium options to find the best fit.