Best Strong app alternatives

Hevy is the easiest move: it imports your Strong CSV, allows more routines for free, and runs on Wear OS and the web. SmartGym if the Apple Watch is the point. Alpha Progression or Beatweek if you want the app to set your weights, Boostcamp for a free coach’s program, Liftosaur to write your own rules.

Strong is still one of the best loggers on an Apple Watch, and if you bought a lifetime licence years ago there may be no reason to move. The reasons people do move are specific: the free version allows only 3 routines; the plate and warm-up calculators are in PRO (about $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year); there is no Wear OS app and the web app is still listed as in progress; and Strong does not suggest weights. Strong also cannot import other apps’ data, so a move is one way unless your new app exports a Strong-shaped file. We make Beatweek, one of the options below.

Hevy

The shortest path out of Strong. Hevy has a built-in Strong importer (Profile, Settings, Export & Import Data, Import Strong CSV), which is the only import it offers. The free tier allows 4 routines and 7 custom exercises, the plate calculator is free, and Pro is about $2.99 a month, $23.99 a year or $74.99 lifetime. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, the web, Apple Watch and Wear OS, and both watch apps can run a workout with the phone left behind. The difference you will notice is social: Hevy’s home tab is a feed of people you follow. More in Hevy vs Strong.

SmartGym

If Strong’s Apple Watch app is what you value, SmartGym’s watch app is the most complete here: it runs entirely on the watch with no iPhone and no internet, edits weight, reps and rest on the fly, and shows heart rate zones live, with a Smart Trainer that works from the wrist. It is Apple-only. The free version allows 2 routines and 3 workouts, so plan on Premium+ at about $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year. We found no Strong import.

Alpha Progression

Alpha Progression gives a weight, rep and RIR target for each set of your own plan, computed from your history and today’s earlier sets, with optional periodization and deloads. Logging, plans and CSV export are free with no account; the recommendations are Pro at about $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year. There is no watch app yet, and no import from other apps.

Boostcamp

Boostcamp gives you a coach’s program instead of a blank routine: more than 130 coach-designed programs with their progressions and deloads built in, most of them free along with the tracker and plate calculator. Pro is about $14.99 a month or $59.99 a year. It has no watch app, and Boostcamp itself says there is no one-click Strong import.

Liftosaur

Liftosaur suits the Strong user who runs a spreadsheet program like GZCLP or 5/3/1 and wants the app to apply it. Built-in linear, double and rep-sum progressions cover most programs, and Liftoscript covers the rest. It runs on iPhone, Android, the web and Apple Watch; built-in programs are free, and Premium is about $4.99 a month, $39.99 a year or $99.99 lifetime.

Beatweek

Beatweek imports Strong CSVs for free, both the current comma layout and the older semicolon one, keeping warm-up, drop and failure sets. It has the plate calculator and warm-up ramp free on the set row, 6 routines free against Strong’s 3, and a Wear OS app that logs without the phone. Its engine sets a target on every exercise of your routine (free on one per workout, all with Pro at $3.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 lifetime). The honest gaps: the iPhone and Apple Watch apps are in beta, so on Apple devices Strong is the more proven app today; it is young; and there is no feed. See Beatweek vs Strong and the 60-second import.

How to take your Strong history with you

1. In Strong: Settings, Export Strong Data on iPhone, or Settings, Export Data on Android. You get a CSV.
2. Keep the file. Strong cannot import it back, so it is your archive whatever you choose next.
3. Open it with an app that reads it: Hevy and Beatweek both do. Other apps start you fresh.

Who should pick what

• You own Strong for life and only log on iPhone and Apple Watch: stay.
• You want the easy move with more free routines, Wear OS or the web: Hevy.
• You want the best Apple Watch app and will pay: SmartGym.
• You want a number for every set of your own plan: Alpha Progression, or Beatweek if you want your Strong history imported and a Wear OS app, and can accept a beta.
• You want a proven program for free: Boostcamp.
• You want to script the progression: Liftosaur.

More lists: Apple Watch workout loggers, progressive overload apps and Hevy alternatives.