How to choose the best workout log app

There are dozens of apps for logging your workouts, and most of them will tell you they're the best. I've been building one since 2013, so take my advice with the appropriate pinch of salt. But that also means I've seen what actually makes people stick with a tracker versus abandon it after two weeks, and it's rarely the thing the app store screenshots are selling.

Here are the questions worth asking before you commit your training history to an app.

Is logging fast enough to do between sets?

This is the one that decides everything, and almost nobody checks it before downloading. You're going to open this app dozens of times per session, standing at a rack with 60 seconds of rest. If logging a set takes more than a couple of taps, you'll stop doing it. Not on day one, but by week three.

Download a few and actually log a fake set in each. Count the taps. The app that feels fastest in your hand is the one you'll still be using next year, regardless of what else it does.

Does it show you last session's numbers?

The whole point of tracking is to do a little more than last time. That only works if the app puts last session's weight and reps in front of you before you start the set, not buried three screens deep in a history view.

This is the feature I built RepCount around: open an exercise and you see exactly what you lifted last time, so the decision to add a rep or 2.5 kg is always right there. If an app makes you go hunting for that number, it's making the most important part of training harder than it needs to be.

Is it actively maintained?

Check the update history in the app store. An app that ships regular updates has someone behind it who's still invested. One that hasn't been touched in a year or two will slowly break as phones and operating systems move on, and your data goes with it.

RepCount has been updated steadily since 2013. That longevity matters more than any single feature, because a workout log is only useful if it's still around in five years holding your history.

Does it work on both iOS and Android?

Few workout trackers are fully native on both platforms, and the ones built on cross-platform frameworks often feel slightly off on one of them. It matters if you might switch phones down the line, or if you want to share a routine with a training partner who's on the other platform.

RepCount is built natively on each, Swift on iOS and Kotlin on Android, and syncs your history between them, so your data isn't locked to the phone you happened to start on.

Is the free tier actually usable, or just a trial?

A lot of apps advertise a free version that turns out to be a demo, with a hard limit on routines or exercises you hit within a week. There's nothing wrong with paying for a good app, but check what the free tier actually gives you before you invest months of history in it.

For comparison: Strong's free tier caps you at 3 routines, and Hevy's at 4 routines and 7 custom exercises. RepCount's free tier has unlimited workouts, routines, and custom exercises with no ads, because I'd rather the free version stand on its own than nag you into upgrading.

Does it track the right things without the clutter?

You need exercise, weight, sets, reps, and ideally your personal records and volume over time. That's most of what matters. Some apps pile on body-measurement trackers, macro counters, social feeds, and AI coaches until the core job of logging a set gets slow and fiddly.

Decide whether you want a focused logger or an everything-app, and pick accordingly. I built RepCount to do the logging job well and stay out of your way, but if you want the all-in-one, that's a legitimate choice too.

Can you get to your data?

Your training history is yours, and it's valuable. A good app keeps it accessible: synced to the cloud so it isn't trapped on a single phone, and shown back to you in charts and trends so it's actually useful, not just stored. Before you commit years to any app, it's worth checking how easily your history moves with you.

RepCount keeps your full history synced across your devices and turns it into progress charts, so the data works for you while you're using it.

The short version

Most of these come down to two things: will you actually keep using it, and will it still be here in a few years. Fast logging and last-session numbers decide the first. Active maintenance and data export decide the second. Everything else is preference.

I'm biased, obviously. But if you download a few and test them against these questions, you'll end up with the right one for you, and if that's RepCount, great. It's free on iOS and Android.