Reysa

( 01 ) — Compared · facts checked September 2026

Best Apple Watch apps for runners who lift (2026)

Eight apps compared on what the wrist can actually do: record the run, log the sets, and hold both in one week.

We make Reysa. This is our comparison. The facts about every other app come from that app’s own App Store listing, help center or press page, linked at the bottom and checked in September 2026. If something has changed, tell us and we’ll fix it.

The short answer

If you run and lift and wear an Apple Watch, most apps were built for one half of your training. Strong and Hevy are gym logs first. Runna and Strava are running apps first. Apple’s own Workout app records a run superbly and records a strength session as a block of time.

Reysa was built for the whole of it: runs recorded on the wrist with live pace, heart-rate zones and segments; sets logged from the wrist; one week that holds both and shows what you actually did; and everything in Apple Health. That’s the case this page makes. The table below holds the facts for all eight, each linked to its own listing.

( 02 ) — How we compared

Five questions, asked of every app.

01

Runs on the wrist

Can you start a run from the watch, see pace and heart rate live, and leave the phone at home?

02

Sets on the wrist

Can you log weight and reps from the watch — and does that need the iPhone nearby?

03

One week for both

Does the app schedule runs and lifts in the same week, and show what you actually did?

04

Apple Health

Do workouts land in Health, and does the app read what other apps put there?

05

What’s free

Is there a free tier, and what does it hold back?

We compared the official App Store listings, help centers and press releases for every app (all linked below). Prices change by region and month, so we don’t print them; each name links to its App Store listing.

( 03 ) — At a glance

Eight apps, five columns.

APPRUNS ON THE WRISTSETS ON THE WRISTONE WEEK FOR BOTHAPPLE HEALTHFREE TIER
ReysaOURSYes — phone-free, live zones and segmentsYes — live-synced with your iPhoneYes — calendar, planned vs. actual, AI drafts (Premium)Reads and writesYes — no account; unlimited workouts, routines and history
StrongNo GPS runs — cardio by durationYes — with or without the iPhoneTemplates, no calendarWritesYes — 3 routines
HevyNot a run trackerYes — synced with the iPhoneRoutines, no calendar for bothWritesYes — a handful of routines and custom exercises
RunnaYes — guided, with pace targetsNo — strength sessions on the phoneRun plan with strength sessions folded inWritesSubscription, 7-day trial
StravaYes — phone-freeRecorded as an activity; sets added in the appNo plannerWrites; reads heart rateRecording is free
Apple’s Workout appYes — the benchmarkTime and heart rate onlyCustom workouts, no week calendarNativeFree
EdgeYes (per Edge)Yes — standalone after setup (per Edge)Yes — coach-writtenNot statedSubscription, 7-day trial
Training StackRuns import from Apple HealthYes — companion watch appYes — multi-week plansReadsYes — Pro subscription

( 04 ) — The eight

What each one is built for.

Reysa

Runs, lifts, and the week that holds both

Reysa is built around one training week that holds runs and lifts together. You lay the week out on a calendar, or describe it in a sentence and let the AI draft it (that part is Premium), then open the app each day to the session that’s due. When the week is over, every planned session has resolved: done, skipped, or waiting for review, with a weekly score.

On the watch, runs are the flagship: start, run and finish from the wrist with live pace, distance and heart rate, heart-rate-zone coaching as you go, and segments you mark with a double tap — live interval stats on the wrist, a per-segment breakdown afterwards. The iPhone can stay home. In the gym, the day’s planned workout and its supersets are on the wrist; you log weight and reps from the watch, live-synced with your iPhone, with the rest timer on your wrist and on the Lock Screen.

Everything writes to Apple Health, and Reysa reads Health too, so a run recorded by another app still shows in the same history. Switching from Strong or Hevy? Import the export.

Reysa is free to download and use — unlimited workouts, routines, history and plans, Apple Watch included, no account needed. Premium adds AI-built plans and Cloud Sync across devices, and the web dashboard once it launches.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSRuns on the wrist, sets on the wrist, one week for both, all of it in Apple Health. Free to start.

Strong

A gym log, phone-free on the wrist

Strong is a long-running gym logger. Its Apple Watch app logs workouts “with or without your iPhone”, and it carries a 4.9 rating from over a hundred thousand US ratings.

Cardio is logged as duration-based exercises; we found no GPS run recording. Workouts start from saved templates rather than a week calendar. Free: unlimited logging with three saved routines; PRO is a subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSSets on the wrist, yes — with or without the iPhone. Runs, no: cardio is logged by duration and there’s no week calendar, so the running half of your training lives in another app.

Hevy

A gym log with a feed

Hevy is a gym log with a social layer: follow friends, share routines, see each other’s sessions. It’s on Android and the web as well as iPhone. The Apple Watch app tracks sets, shows your routines, records heart rate and live-syncs with the iPhone; workouts save when the watch reconnects to the phone.

Hevy’s listing doesn’t describe run recording — it’s strength first. Free: unlimited logging with a handful of routines and custom exercises; Pro is a subscription or a lifetime unlock. 4.9 rating from over ninety thousand US ratings.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSSets on the wrist, synced with the iPhone. Not a run tracker, and routines rather than a week that holds both — the runs live elsewhere.

Runna

A run coach

Runna builds a running plan for a race — 5K to ultra, or a custom distance — and re-plans when you miss a session or beat one. On the watch it guides each session with audio cues and vibrations, shows current pace against target pace, and records unplanned runs as Free Runs.

Strength and conditioning routines are part of the plan and, in Runna’s words, “meld with your running program”; they’re followed on the phone, as Runna’s Apple Watch page describes runs only. Workouts sync to Apple Health and, optionally, Strava. No free tier: subscription with a 7-day trial. App Store Editors’ Choice, 4.8 rating from over thirty thousand ratings.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSRuns on the wrist, guided. Sets on the wrist, no: the strength sessions are followed on the phone, and its watch page describes runs only.

Strava

The record and the crowd

Strava is where training gets shared and compared. The Apple Watch app records runs without the iPhone and shows heart rate. Since May 2026 Strava also has a purpose-built strength log — sets, reps, weight and an automatic muscle map — with fourteen launch partners whose strength workouts flow in automatically; Strava says more than 500 million strength activities were uploaded in 2025.

On the wrist, a strength session is recorded as an activity; the exercises and sets are added in the app. Recording and the training log are free; personalized workouts and insights are subscription. Strava exports to Apple Health and reads heart rate from it.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSRuns on the wrist, phone-free. Strength is recorded as an activity and the sets are typed in afterwards in the app; there is no planner, so the week is yours to arrange.

Apple’s Workout app

The run recorder every watch already has

For running, the built-in Workout app is the benchmark: Pacer, Race Route, Track Detection, heart-rate-zone views, and custom workouts with work and recovery intervals. watchOS 26 redesigned it and added Workout Buddy — spoken feedback during runs, walks, rides, HIIT and strength sessions (it needs Bluetooth headphones and an Apple Intelligence iPhone nearby).

For lifting it records duration, heart rate and calories, and that’s all: there is nowhere to enter an exercise, a set, a rep or a weight. The iOS 26 custom workout builder programs steps by time, distance, pace, heart rate or power, not by sets. Free and native to Apple Health.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSThe run recorder every watch already has. For lifting it records time and heart rate, not sets — it needs a lifting log beside it, and Reysa reads every run it writes to Apple Health.

Edge

Coached hybrid programs, by subscription

Edge sells a coached program: strength, running, HIIT and recovery sessions coordinated by its coaching team, with plans for HYROX, marathon and 10K goals and coaches you can message in the app. Edge describes its Apple Watch app as standalone after setup, with prescribed weights, automatic progression and haptic rest timers.

It’s UK-based, subscription only with a 7-day trial, and its US App Store base is still small.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSHolds both halves as a coached subscription program: the plan is written and adjusted for you, and there is no free tier.

Training Stack

A log-first hybrid, runs imported

Training Stack logs lifting — sets, reps, weight, RPE and failure — and plans multi-week blocks for both halves, with plan import from Markdown, CSV, ChatGPT or Claude. Runs aren’t recorded in the app; they sync in from Apple Health after being recorded elsewhere. There’s an Apple Watch app for workouts and rest timers. Free with a Pro subscription; released in early 2025, with a handful of ratings so far.

FOR A RUNNER WHO LIFTSLogs the lifts and plans both halves, but the run itself is recorded elsewhere and imported from Apple Health; the watch app covers workouts and rest timers.

( 05 ) — The whole week

Runs, lifts, and the week that holds both.

The five questions, answered for Reysa.

01Runs on the wrist

Start, run and finish from the watch. Live pace, distance and heart rate, zone coaching as you go, segments by double tap. The iPhone can stay home.

02Sets on the wrist

Weight and reps from the watch, the day’s planned workout and supersets on the wrist, rest timer on the wrist and the Lock Screen. Live-synced with your iPhone.

03One week for both

A calendar that holds runs and lifts together; every planned session resolves to done, skipped or to review, with a weekly score. Describe the week in a sentence and the AI drafts it (Premium).

04Apple Health

Every workout written to Health, and workouts from other apps and devices read back in — one history holds all of it.

05What’s free

Reysa is free to download and use — unlimited workouts, routines, history and plans, Apple Watch included, no account needed. Premium adds AI-built plans and Cloud Sync across devices, and the web dashboard once it launches.

The common answer is still two apps — one for runs, one for lifting — and the cost is two logs and no shared plan. Reysa is one. Reysa vs. running two apps is the longer version.

( 06 ) — Questions people ask

Does Reysa log sets on Apple Watch?
Yes. Weight and reps from the wrist, with the day’s planned workout and supersets on the watch and the rest timer on your wrist, live-synced with your iPhone in range. Runs are fully phone-free.
Does Apple’s Workout app track sets and reps?
No. A strength workout records duration, heart rate and calories. Exercises, sets, reps and weight need a lifting log — Reysa keeps the sets and writes the session to Apple Health.
Do I need two apps?
Not with Reysa. The usual answer is a running app plus a lifting app, which means two histories and no shared plan. Reysa records the run, logs the sets and holds both in one week.
Will runs recorded by another app show up in Reysa?
Yes. Reysa reads Apple Health, so a run recorded by Apple’s Workout app or any other tracker appears in the same history as your lifts.
Which of these apps is free?
Apple’s Workout app is free. Reysa, Strong, Hevy, Training Stack and Strava have free tiers; Runna and Edge are subscription apps. Reysa’s free tier needs no account: unlimited workouts, routines and history. Prices vary by region and change often, so each name links to its App Store listing.

Sources · checked September 2026

We make Reysa. Corrections: contact@tikkilabs.com.

Get Reysa

Runs and lifts. One week, one wrist.

Free to start — no account, your data on your phone, unlimited workouts, routines and history. Premium adds AI-built plans and Cloud Sync.

Download on theApp Store

The full tour of Reysa