Category Archives: The Best Workout Apps for Women in 2026: Tried and Tested

Strong has helped millions of people in over 100 countries complete over 30 million workouts. Keep track of your best sets, max 1RM, body fat percentage, and more. Of course, since we also want to know how it performs and which features are available when it’s paired with an iPhone, we make sure to squeeze that into our testing as well. Once we’ve collected all the data and information we need, we take all of it and compare it to the smartwatch’s price, finding out if it’s a great value for our readers before making a recommendation. For the price this is a formidable smartwatch with a great range of features, and well worthy of our five-star rating. Apple isn’t the only brand to consider when picking the best smartwatch for iPhone.

My favorite third-party Apple Watch apps

The best cheap smartwatch you can buy that works with an iPhone is the Amazfit Active 2. It’s got amazing battery life, loads of health and fitness features, and a classic design. This app is a visual timer designed to help keep you focused for a preset amount of time. I initially downloaded this app to help my kids stay focused on their schoolwork, but it’s a great tool for adults to stay motivated and on task too. Besides the visual circle timer, the app also has features like interval timers.

The Role of Spleeft in Enhancing Health and Fitness

When you’ve successfully completed a workout, you’ll be treated to app upgrades and funny rewards. Strava also gives you info on distance, pacing, and other stats – no iPhone needed. Once your recordings are on your iPhone, everything you recorded on your Apple Watch can be synced with iCloud so you can access them on your iPad and Mac as well. It’s also possible to use Just Press Record to transcribe once on iPhone and there’s support for over 30 languages no matter what language your device is set to. Speaking of heart health, Cardiogram is another very valuable app that can show you how well your heart is working over time. You can track up to 12 habits at a time and categorize them as negative or positive.

How we test the best Apple Watches

Garmin has its own suite of advanced fitness metrics, and you could check out our best Garmin watch guide for more options as they’re entirely system-agnostic. The app will offer to create routines for you using its SmartTrainer tool, or allow you to create your own. First, ensure you have downloaded Smartgym on both your iPhone and Apple Watch, head back to your iPhone, and follow the onscreen instructions for setup. Ensure you authorize Smartgym to be able to use your health data, by hitting the “yes” option when the prompt appears. That said, folks wishing for the most in-depth workout tracking tools may be better served by one of the best Garmin smartwatch models instead of an Apple Watch.

Waterful

1Password will show one-time login keys for any of your 2FA accounts right on your Apple Watch. If you do a lot of work with those types of accounts, 1Password is definitely an app you need to check out. The interface is great too, and everything is end-to-end encrypted.

Essential Guide to Food Logging

• This is reflected in the platform’s booming popularity, with 120 million users and counting.
• The Watch app means that users don’t have to remember specific timings, laps or rest times, as they are all recorded and measured by the device.
• But we felt like it deserved a special mention in this list because you really do benefit by having it work on your wrist.
• Take advantage of tracking two of the major components of your health and wellness journey straight from your watch.
• If you also download it on your Apple Watch, you’ll notice that it aggregates data from both iPhone and Apple Watch for a more comprehensive picture.
• The entry-level Apple Watch SE is offered in 40mm and 44mm and the Apple Watch 10 comes in 44mm and 46mm.

The Apple Watch SE 3 — is the best affordable smartwatch on the market today and the best budget Apple Watch. Starting at $249, the SE 3 doesn’t have all the same bells and whistles found on its pricier siblings, but it’s still a mighty capable, handsome, and easy-wearing smartwatch for the money. The case size is the same as the Series 10, coming in 42mm and 46mm.

Which Is The Most Accurate Fitness Tracker?

Fantastical is perhaps the best-known and most prolific calendar app in the Apple ecosystem. It boasts a stunning interface and features including tasks, calendar sets, conference calls, weather, time, zones, and more. On Apple Watch, you can get day-to-day looks, tasks, and even a Fantastical custom watch face so you can stay on top of your schedule. In keeping with the aesthetic we mentioned earlier, Mindllama gamifies its roster of characters by having you collect them one by one.

Cronometer: Calorie Counter

Garmin watches also support tracking for more nuanced workout types, especially extreme sports and outdoor activities, like backcountry skiing, boulder and electric mountain biking. The Apple Watch Series 11 is our favorite Apple Watch yet, and we’ve been reviewing them since they launched. It supports all the same marquee health and fitness tracking features as the higher-end unimeal review Apple Watch Ultra 2, but at a more wallet-friendly price.

Guided Workouts

From interval training to recovery insights, these apps take your workouts to the next level. Gentler Streak is refreshingly different from traditional workout apps, putting your wellbeing ahead of anything else. It’s designed to help you find a balance between exercise and rest — because the latter is just as important in case you didn’t know. The Peloton iPhone app is excellent, packed with plenty of workouts across a range of sectors, and the Apple Watch companion app doesn’t disappoint. You’ll need to start a workout on the iPhone app, but once started, you can see all your metrics at a glance on your wrist, from calories burned or distance travelled to heart rate and heart rate zones. Sweat is one of the top fitness apps for women who want guided programs and strong community support on Apple Watch.

What is the best Apple Watch for health monitoring?

Far too many apps are geared towards runners and cyclists, yet water dwellers are a little less catered for. Sure, successive governments may be intent on making leisure centres and community pools a thing of the past, but MySwimPro is a great tool for those pining for a paddle. Yes, there’s no shortage of fitness trackers out there, but the Apple Watch has long proved itself as one of the best on the market. And, naturally, there are many an app out there to help up your game. End the day with a calming sleep story in Calm or Headspace, while AutoSleep automatically tracks your rest.

For those looking for a Peloton alternative that cuts out the equipment cost, Apple Fitness+ fits the bill. To get you fitter, faster and stronger, better than their competitor. It truly is a minefield out there, littered with influencer-tied apps and fad diet-eating routines.

In fact, the Apple Watch App Store is absolutely brimming with options. Below, I’ve highlighted my seven favorite third-party apps for Apple Watch, including options for fitness tracking, entertainment, navigation, and more. The latest Apple Watch models ship with tons of useful apps built right in. These include apps geared toward health and fitness, safety, travel, note-taking, communication, and much more. Swingvision is one of those ingenious apps that leverages the technology of the Apple Watch to its full potential.

Amanda gives NTC a 4-out-of-5-star rating for equipment demands, noting that you’ll need equipment for the majority of workouts, but you can filter workouts by what type of equipment you have available. While we love Boostcamp, and there’s a free version, it’s pretty limited in terms of scope. Some popular programs, as well as advanced analytics, are locked behind the Boostcamp PRO paywall. While there’s plenty to do in the free version, gym goers who love crunching numbers and data will get more stats and charts in the PRO version.

What’s the difference between Apple Fitness and Apple Fitness+?

Ready to build serious strength beyond just following app workouts? Check out our complete guides on muscle building fundamentals to maximize your results with proper programming, nutrition strategies, and recovery protocols that complement your chosen training platform. This best home workout app suits you if you want structured strength progression from coaches who understand periodization and programming principles.

Progress Body Tracker: My BMI

We’ve given a short overview to the best overall, best budget, and best for iPhone owners, but if you’re after more options, we go into greater depth further down the page. The app offers live classes every day of the week — filmed in a fun neon studio — in addition to its extensive on-demand library of more than 7,000 classes. Whatever those aspirations are, we’ve rounded is mad muscles legit up the most efficient, effective, and easy-to-use apps to help you meet them.

Home Workout Key Features

The first, and more well-known aspect of ClassPass, is that you can search for and participate in local fitness classes—HIIT, boot camp, kettlebell classes, plus salon appointments. This requires a paid subscription plan, where you get a monthly amount of credits to use towards dropping into a class. You get  28 free credits for your first month of ClassPass for anyone looking for deals. But the reason I rate this as the best workout app for most people is that there’s a lot of variety. There are high-intensity HIIT sessions, yoga and Pilates classes, and even beginner-friendly meditations (some spoken by Hemsworth too). If you want to quickly download an app and dive straight into your exercise, these are our top three best workout apps.

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The interface is clean and easy to navigate as well, leading Amanda to rate both the setup and ease of use a 5 out of 5. While there is a paid plan available, the free plan provides plenty for most users, earning a 5 out of 5 for value. The only thing you’ll be missing is some of the Pro plans, as well as advanced training stats and analytics. One callout that Amanda has is that Caliber lacks integration with common fitness trackers. “I wish the app integrated with Garmin or other fitness trackers instead of only Apple Watch.

• When picking a workout app, first make sure it matches your activity.
• Instead, all programs follow a series schedule, designed to help you gain strength in six weeks, followed by a deload week or two.
• The Aaptiv fitness app is a great pick for women (or anyone, really) because it offers a variety of quality workouts, multiple methods of accountability, and a reasonable monthly subscription fee of $14.99.
• The Apple Watch app is available for the Apple Watch Series 5 and newer.
• I’m so grateful for this program proving to me that nothing worth it comes easy.
• Some workouts will require some basic kit like a yoga mat, dumbbells and resistance bands, whereas others need nothing extra at all.

Home Workout-No Equipment App for Bodybuilding and Building Muscle

It fits anyone building a consistent habit without financial commitment or experienced athletes supplementing their existing training with extra sessions. This best home workout app works perfectly for you if you already use Apple devices and an Apple Watch. The metrics integration becomes much less valuable without Apple’s wearable. It fits anyone seeking variety without live class pressure, since all content is pre-recorded.

How to choose the best fitness app

Before I get to my Sweat app review, I have to take a moment to be a fangirl — I have been obsessed with Kayla Istines and her training plans since they launched in 2015. I was a BBG follower when you had to buy PDFs of the Adelaide-based fitness trainer’s plans, and borrowed my parent’s printer to print them off at home. I’ve been happiest with my body when following the BBG plans, and have recommended them to just about everyone who will listen.

Best Free Workout App for Guided Workouts: ClassPass

I have to manually input my walks and  runs into the app after I’ve already logged them on my watch.” The rest of the app works well enough, so Amanda rated the ease of use a 4 out of 5. Jane McGuire is Tom’s Guide’s Fitness editor, which means she looks after everything fitness related – from running gear to yoga mats. An avid runner, Jane has tested and reviewed fitness products for the past five years, so knows what to look for when finding a good running watch or a pair of shorts with pockets big enough for your smartphone. When she’s not pounding the pavements, you’ll find Jane striding round the Surrey Hills, taking far too many photos of her puppy. All of Fiit’s live group classes are free, and you can invite friends and family to join you (even if they don’t have an account), so you can recreate the gym experience at home. If you’re looking to train at the gym without breaking the bank, Fiit is the best free gym app to join live group classes and train with others.

Fitness Blender

Do you work out at home, at the gym, outside or a mix of all three? If you like to run outdoors, for example, you’d likely want an app that offers location tracking. Similarly, when looking into a specific app, figure out whether its classes require you to have certain equipment on-hand, like dumbbells or a yoga mat. “Barre3 is a great intersection of Pilates, barre, yoga, and strength,” says Allie Hester, a Barre3 app fan for five years now. The healthy meal plans – with a veggie option, ofc – make eating right much simpler.

The 43 Best Workout Apps So You Can Exercise Anywhere

Tester Kristin Currin was initially turned off  by the intake questionnaire on desktop but later found it’s not the same as the intake on the mobile app. Workouts can be viewed on your phone or desktop, or cast to a larger screen using screen mirroring. Workout routines can also be integrated with your own Spotify playlist, or the app’s instrumental upbeat music (that’s actually not bad, according to our testers!). If you’re brand new to working out or have injuries, Green’s app will meet you where you are, allowing you to work your way up safely and confidently. There’s also a community function within the app, allowing you to connect with others on your wellness journey.