Best Workout Apps for 2027

The workout app worth committing to for 2027 is Hevy. It starts free on iPhone, Android and both major watch platforms, keeps every set you log in a format you can export, and offers a paid Trainer that now lets you edit a generated program session by session. Apple Fitness+ takes a finalist spot for iPhone owners who want guided classes, and Fitbod takes the other for lifters who want the app to choose every exercise.

Looking ahead: how the picks were made

The 2027 edition considers apps available now on the US App Store or Google Play, judged as a choice you will live with for a year rather than a trial you will abandon in a week. That shifts the balance of our five weighted criteria. Access counts for more, because a year of history is only valuable if the app runs on your next phone and lets you take the data with you. Privacy and data control count with it. Evidence remains thin across the whole category: these apps describe their methods, but none links to a trial of its own programming, so clarity about how plans are built was rewarded instead. Every assessment relies on published company material and reputable reporting.

The shift to coached training

The biggest change in 2026 was software that writes the plan. Google made its AI Health Coach publicly available in May as part of Google Health Premium. Peloton spent its first full year with Peloton IQ, which builds personalized plans. Apple’s watchOS 27 expanded Workout Buddy so it runs on the watch even without an iPhone nearby, in English and Spanish. And Hevy, long known as a log, improved its Trainer. For 2027 buyers, the useful question is how much planning you want to hand over and what you give up in exchange.

Winner: Hevy

Hevy wins again because it handles both answers to that question. If you already follow a program, the free app is a thorough log: routines, sets, reps, weights, exercise videos, custom movements, and progress charts, on iOS and Android, with tracking from an Apple Watch or Wear OS watch and a browser version at hevy.com. If you want a plan, Hevy Pro’s Trainer generates one, and the July 2026 update made it far more editable. Hevy says you can swap an exercise for one day or for every future session, see the full program at a glance, mix cardio into a workout and get rest timers tuned to you, with some of those changes rolling out gradually.

Looking at a full year of use, data portability is the deciding factor. Hevy’s help center walks through exporting workouts and measurements as CSV files, its importer accepts exports straight from Strong, and since June 2026 it sends detailed strength sessions to Strava. If you move to another app in 2028, your history comes with you.

Who should switch to Hevy in 2027: anyone logging lifts in a notes app or spreadsheet, and anyone paying for a tracker mainly to record sets. Who should not: people who want a voice in their ear, and people who would never look at their own charts.

Finalist: Apple Fitness+

For iPhone owners, Fitness+ is the most polished guided option heading into 2027. Apple lists 12 workout types, including Strength, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Kickboxing, Treadmill Run and Rowing, plus Meditation, with sessions from 5 to 45 minutes that work with or without equipment. Custom Plans, which require iOS 26, can be built from Apple’s templates or from scratch, and Stacks chain several workouts and meditations together. You only need an iPhone; an Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3, Powerbeats Pro 2 or any Bluetooth heart rate monitor adds live metrics. A Family Sharing subscription covers up to five people, and Apple ran new four-week Strength, HIIT and Yoga programs to open 2026.

It finishes as a finalist rather than the winner because it is a subscription after the free trial and it lives on Apple hardware: Apple lists iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch. It is also built around following classes rather than recording your own sets.

Finalist: Fitbod

Fitbod is the right pick if planning is the reason you skip the gym. It decides each workout from your goals, level, equipment and recent training, manages recovery by rotating muscle groups and adds load over time, which Fitbod describes as a science-backed proprietary algorithm. The equipment settings let it work for a hotel room with resistance bands as well as a full gym, and every movement comes with a demonstration and form cues.

Keep two things in mind for a year-long commitment. After a seven-day trial, Fitbod requires a subscription to log new workouts, though you can still view past ones. And because its method is proprietary and uncited, you are trusting the company’s description of it.

Commended: Peloton App

Peloton’s two paid tiers, App One and App+, open a library that Peloton says spans thousands of classes and more than 55 instructors, and Peloton IQ recommends what to do next. Peloton notes that the deepest strength features of Peloton IQ depend on its Cross Training Series hardware. A 30-day trial is available to new members. App One suits people who mostly do floor work, strength and yoga, since it includes only three equipment cardio classes a month, while App+ is the tier for anyone riding, rowing or running on a machine most days. The class format is the draw and the limit: you follow an instructor’s plan for the session rather than tracking your own progression lift by lift.

Commended: Google Health Coach

Google’s coach, part of Google Health Premium in the Google Health app on Android and iOS, creates customized strength workouts and adjusts recommendations using recovery signals such as sleep and heart rate variability. The plan is also bundled with Google AI Pro and Ultra subscriptions. It is the most ambitious AI coach on this list and also the least proven, with early-preview errors reported by BGR, so it earns a commendation rather than a finalist place.

Commended: Nike Training Club

NTC remains the answer for structured training on a zero budget. Nike offers progressive programs and single workouts led by its trainers, free through a Nike account, on iPhone and Android, with casting to a TV. It is a sensible first stop for beginners who are not ready to pay for anything.

The 2027 field in a table

App	Award	What it costs to keep using	Platforms	Who writes the plan
Hevy	Winner	Free; Pro optional	iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS, web	You, or Trainer in Pro
Apple Fitness+	Finalist	Subscription after trial	iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch	Apple’s trainers and Custom Plans
Fitbod	Finalist	Subscription after seven-day trial	iOS, Android	An algorithm
Peloton App	Commended	Subscription after 30-day trial	iOS, Android, tablet, TV	Instructors and Peloton IQ
Google Health Coach	Commended	Google Health Premium subscription	Android, iOS	An AI coach
Nike Training Club	Commended	Free with a Nike account	iPhone, Android	Nike’s trainers

Who should switch apps in 2027

1. You lift from a spreadsheet: move to Hevy; its free log replaces the spreadsheet and exports back to one.
2. You already pay for Apple One or own an Apple TV: try Fitness+ before buying anything else.
3. You have stalled because you never know what to do next: give Fitbod’s trial a full week.
4. You own Peloton’s Cross Training Series equipment: stay put, since Peloton IQ gets the most from that hardware.
5. You wear a Fitbit or Pixel Watch: the Google Health Coach can read the recovery data you already collect.

If heart rate and recovery matter to your training, see our fitness tracker picks for 2027, and if consistency is the real problem, our guide to habit tracker apps may help more than any program.

Looking past the trial period

A workout app is a long relationship, and the best ones respect that. Hevy earns the 2027 prize by being useful for free, by letting you leave with your data, and by adding planning tools for people who want them. Apple and Fitbod sell more guidance; Google’s coach points to where the category is heading, once its advice proves dependable.

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