Updated June 2026 · MyoAmigo

The best Apple Watch app for strength training

If you want one answer: the best Apple Watch app for lifting weights is the one that lets you run a full set-by-set workout from your wrist with the phone in your locker—logging reps, weight, rest, and per-set heart rate without reaching for the phone. The built-in Workout app doesn't do that (it records that you trained, not what you trained). Strong and Hevy both have capable watch apps, but they lean on the phone for your plan. MyoAmigo is built so the watch is the whole cockpit, not a remote control.

That's the short version. The honest version is that "best" depends on what you actually need from the wrist, so this page walks through the criteria that matter and names where each app is the right pick.

What makes a watch app good for strength training

A running app and a lifting app want different things from a watch. For lifting, five things decide whether the app earns a place on your wrist:

• Standalone, no-phone use. Can you start, log, and finish a real workout with the phone in your bag? Or is the watch a screen that mirrors the phone and falls over the moment the phone is out of range?
• Per-set heart rate. Lifting is intervals. A single session-average heart rate hides everything—an all-out top set and a chatty rest period blur into one number. The useful version stamps heart rate (average and peak) on each set.
• Rest timer. A glanceable countdown between sets, ideally with a haptic or audio cue, so you're not watching a clock or guessing.
• Logging speed. Mid-set, with chalk on your hands, you want one or two taps—not a keyboard. The crown is the right input for reps; a tap is the right input for "done."
• Sync. Whatever you log on the wrist has to land on the phone reliably, even if the watch was offline the whole time, and ideally count toward your Apple Health rings.

The built-in Apple Workout app

Start with what's already on your wrist. The Workout app ships free with watchOS, pairs cleanly with your rings, and gives reliable heart rate and calorie estimates for any activity. For running, cycling, and swimming it's genuinely excellent.

For lifting it has a hard ceiling: pick "Traditional Strength Training," train, and at the end you get duration, calories, and heart rate—no sets, no reps, no weight, no exercise breakdown. It records that you trained, not what you trained. That's fine if all you want is ring closure and a heart-rate trace. It's a dead end if you want to know whether your bench actually went up.

If you only chase Move-ring closures and don't care about PRs or programming, the built-in app is all you need, and it's free. Honestly recommend it for that.

Strong's watch app

Strong is a long-standing iOS lifting app with a watch companion that's been shipping for years and is stable. You can log sets, reps, and weight from the wrist, tap through exercise names from your plan, and the workout syncs back to your phone for analytics.

It works best as an extension of a phone-first workflow: your program lives on the phone, and the watch becomes a quick input device once a session is running. Heart rate is read from the watch but recorded as a session figure rather than stamped per set. If you already pay for Strong and like it, adding watch logging is a natural step.

Hevy's watch app

Hevy is the younger, polished competitor with a clean watch companion. Like Strong, it logs sets from the wrist and syncs to your Hevy account, and the interface feels modern and uncluttered. Set logging is fast.

Also like Strong, the watch is a companion to the phone rather than a standalone trainer—you plan on the phone, execute on the watch, sync back. If you like a fresh ecosystem and value the social/community side on the phone, Hevy is a solid pick.

MyoAmigo—watch as the whole cockpit

MyoAmigo takes the opposite stance: the Apple Watch app is the actual workout, and the phone is the analytics dashboard and plan editor—not a prerequisite. You can start a session on the watch with the phone nowhere nearby:

• Dial reps with the crown (haptic detents), tap once to log the set. Weight is one tap away and pre-fills from your last session.
• A rest ring wraps the screen and counts down between sets, with audio cues when it ends.
• Heart rate is stamped on every set—average and peak—on strength sets, not just cardio.
• The plate breakdown sits under the weight, so you're not re-deriving 45 · 35 · 5 in your head.
• The whole session runs on the watch and syncs losslessly to your iPhone over WatchConnectivity when it's back in range—no cloud and no account needed for that handoff, even if the app restarted mid-workout.

Finished sessions still record through Apple Health, so the workout closes your rings and shows up in Fitness like any native workout. MyoAmigo also reads cardio and bodyweight back from Apple Health, so everything lands in one timeline.

MyoAmigo is available on the App Store, alongside Strong and Hevy.

Side-by-side

So which should you pick?

Pick the built-in Apple Workout app if you mostly do cardio and only want ring closure—it's free and already there. Pick Strong if you already run your program in Strong on the phone and just want wrist logging. Pick Hevy if you like a modern interface and the community side on the phone. Pick MyoAmigo if you want a watch app that genuinely gets lifting—standalone sessions, per-set heart rate, rest ring, and lossless sync—so the phone can stay in your locker.

For a fuller editorial roundup of the watch options, read best Apple Watch app for lifting weights, or see exactly how the watch runs standalone on the Apple Watch page.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Apple Watch app work without my phone?

With MyoAmigo, yes—the full session (start, log, rest, finish) runs on the watch and syncs to your iPhone over WatchConnectivity when it's back in range, with no cloud or account needed. The built-in Apple Workout app also works standalone but logs only duration, calories, and heart rate. Strong and Hevy lean on the phone for your plan and routines.

Does it track per-set heart rate?

MyoAmigo stamps both the average and peak heart rate on every set, including strength sets. Strong and Hevy read the watch's heart-rate sensor but record a session-level figure rather than a per-set one. The Apple Workout app logs heart rate but doesn't tie it to individual sets.

Do watch workouts count toward my Apple Health rings?

Yes. MyoAmigo records finished sessions through Apple Health, so they close your rings and appear in Fitness like any native workout—and it reads cardio and bodyweight back from Apple Health so your training lives in one timeline.

Which is the best Apple Watch app for strength training right now?

Among apps shipping today, Strong and Hevy are the strongest watch companions for set-by-set lifting. If you want the watch to be the whole workout rather than a phone remote, MyoAmigo is built for that and is available on the App Store.