Apple Watch Weightlifting Apps: Which Work Without iPhone?

It depends on how far from the phone you want to log. Pick Strong if you want to change the workout on the watch itself. Its listing says the watch app logs workouts with or without the iPhone, and its help pages, most from 2021, describe starting a routine and adding or replacing exercises on the watch. Pick Hevy if your routines are already in Hevy. Its listing says you can log sets and finish the workout without touching your phone. Pick Fitbod if you want it to build each workout and you keep the phone close. Read from each app's pages in November 2026.

GainsLog, which I build, is another option if you want the watch to show what to lift. Its watch app continues a workout you start on the iPhone and shows the weight and rep targets for each set, with the phone nearby.

Since I build GainsLog, read this with that in mind. What the other apps do on the watch comes from their App Store listings, help pages and websites, read on 9 November 2026. GainsLog's comes from its code.

Hevy's App Store listing says the watch app lets you log sets, start rest timers and finish your workout without touching your phone, and shows your heart rate during the workout. It also says workouts save automatically when the watch reconnects to the phone. You can add Hevy complications to a watch face, and Hevy can export finished workouts to Apple Health if you turn that on in its settings (App Store).

Hevy's sync guide tells you to tap Sync Routines on the watch to check the connection, and Live Sync is a setting on the iPhone under Profile > Settings > Apple Watch (Hevy). You can pause the workout timer only from the phone app (Hevy). The watch app is part of the free version as well as Hevy Pro (Hevy). Hevy's listing and help center don't say whether you can change a set's weight and reps on the watch, or start a workout there.

Strong's listing describes a fully featured Apple Watch app that logs workouts with or without your iPhone (App Store). Most of its watch help pages date from 2021. They describe picking a routine or an empty workout in the watch app, and a January 2026 page adds that if a workout is already running, you're prompted to start it on the other device. On the watch you change weight and reps with the Digital Crown, add or delete sets, and set a set's type and RPE. You can also add, replace, reorder or superset exercises. Your heart rate shows at the top of the set screen, and you can change a running rest timer with the Crown (Strong, Strong).

Strong also says that not all of its features are on the watch. You can't switch between kg and lb during a workout there (Strong), and its 2021 setup page says to copy your workouts and templates over from the iPhone first (Strong). Live Sync, which tracks the same workout on both devices, uses more watch battery (Strong). The watch app isn't on Strong's 2021 list of PRO features, and Strong says the free version will always track your workouts (Strong).

Fitbod calls its watch app a companion, not a standalone experience. You start the workout on the iPhone, and you need the iPhone to swap or add exercises and to save the workout. On the watch you log sets, adjust reps and weight, add or remove sets, up to nine per exercise, get rest timer alerts and see your live heart rate. Fitbod requires iOS 18 and watchOS 10 or later. Its watch app doesn't support the Always On display, so the rest timer pauses when the screen dims and may not alert you (Fitbod). Fitbod's sync tips say to keep the watch and iPhone within Bluetooth range throughout the workout (Fitbod).

After Fitbod's seven-day trial, logging new workouts needs a paid subscription (Fitbod). Generating workouts from your history is also a paid feature, and Fitbod vs Strong covers how Fitbod builds them.

Jefit's listing says it live-syncs your workout between Jefit and your Apple Watch and tracks your heart rate and calories burned as you train (App Store). Its watch page adds workouts started on the watch without a plan, planned routines tracked from the watch, an interval timer and an automatic rest timer, and says you can switch between watch and phone during a workout. Neither page says whether the phone has to stay nearby or whether the watch app needs Jefit Elite (Jefit).

StrengthLog described its watch app in a June 2023 launch post. The post said you could start a workout from scratch on the watch, while planned and program workouts started on the iPhone, and that saving a watch workout needed the phone, which StrengthLog said would change in a coming update (StrengthLog). Its current listing names the Apple Watch as a supported device but describes no watch features (App Store). The StrengthLog review covers the rest of the app.

• Strong, if you want to log with the phone out of reach and, going by its 2021 help pages, add or replace exercises on the watch.
• Hevy, if your routines are in Hevy and you want to log sets and see your heart rate on the watch without paying.
• Fitbod, if you want the app to build each workout and you keep the phone within Bluetooth range anyway.
• GainsLog, if the phone stays nearby and you want the watch to show the weight and reps to aim for on each set.

GainsLog is a workout app for iPhone and iPad, with an Apple Watch companion, that sets your weight and rep targets each session. You start the workout on the iPhone. The watch then shows the exercise, the set number and that set's targets: weight and reps, plus an RIR target in some cases. You tap the weight, reps or RIR field, turn the Digital Crown to set it, and tap Complete Set. While the rest timer runs, the watch shows it with buttons to pause, add or remove 30 seconds, or skip, and the Complete Set button for the next set shows again when the timer ends or you skip it. Logging from the watch doesn't require Premium.

The watch app works with the workout running on the iPhone, so keep the phone nearby. If the connection drops, the watch keeps the set you finished and sends it when the phone is back, but it can't log the next set until the phone reconnects. Drop sets, supersets and some other sets show Continue on iPhone, and the watch shows no further sets until you log those sets on the phone. You can't add or swap exercises on the watch, it shows no heart rate, and GainsLog doesn't write workouts to Apple Health. It needs watchOS 10 or later.

If you want to log away from the phone, Strong fits better. Its listing is the only one here that says the watch app works with or without the iPhone. The direct comparisons are GainsLog vs Hevy, GainsLog vs Strong and GainsLog vs Fitbod.

How to choose a workout log app covers what to check beyond the watch. The Hevy review covers what Hevy Pro adds, and Hevy vs Strong compares those two apps on the iPhone. If you'd rather log each set against a target from the watch, see how GainsLog works.

Researched and drafted with AI assistance from the apps' App Store listings, help pages and websites and from GainsLog's code, checked against those pages on 9 November 2026. Watch apps change with updates, so the pages used are listed below.

• Hevy on the US App Store: Apple Watch features, Apple Health
• Hevy help: Apple Watch sync: Sync Routines, Live Sync
• Hevy help: pausing a workout
• Hevy help: features guide: Apple Watch in free and Pro
• Strong on the US App Store: logging with or without the iPhone
• Strong help: about Strong for Apple Watch
• Strong help: performing a workout on Apple Watch
• Strong help: Live Sync
• Strong help: setting up the Apple Watch
• Strong help: what Strong PRO includes
• Fitbod help: Apple Watch
• Fitbod help: Apple Watch syncing issues
• Fitbod help: how the trial works
• Jefit on the US App Store: live sync, heart rate
• Jefit: watch app
• StrengthLog: Apple Watch launch post, June 2023
• StrengthLog on the US App Store: supported devices