Strength training on Apple Watch: log every set from your wrist

What makes a good Apple Watch app for lifting?

Three things: logging a set takes one tap, the weight is already right, and nothing gets lost when the phone and the Watch lose touch. The last one matters more than it sounds. In our October 2026 read of 6,500 App Store reviews, 23.6% of the 1–3 star reviews of training apps were about Apple Watch or Health sync.

Here's how Coachh handles each part:

• One tap per set. The weight and reps are filled in, from last time or from your plan. Turn the Digital Crown only when you need to change them.
• Both ways, live. What you change on the phone shows on the Watch straight away, and Done, Skip set, skip rest and added rest on the Watch change the phone's session.
• Nothing logged twice. Done tapped on both the phone and the Watch logs the set once. A workout the Watch finished while the phone's app was closed doesn't open again, and Apple Health gets one workout, not two.
• Nothing dropped. Taps on the Watch before the phone's workout is open are kept. If the Watch didn't save a workout, the phone does.

Does the Watch app work without your iPhone?

It's built to work with your iPhone, not instead of it. The workout runs on the phone, and the Watch mirrors it and drives it. If the two lose each other mid-workout, for example when the phone is in a locker, the Watch keeps going: sets you log are kept and sync when they meet again. If both logged the same set differently while apart, the phone's numbers are kept.

So keep your phone in the gym with you, in a pocket or a bag. If you want a Watch app that logs a whole workout with the phone left at home, a dedicated log app may suit you better; Hevy alternatives compares the main ones, including Strong.

How does it compare with Hevy, Strong and Ladder on the Watch?

As of October 2026, from each company's own pages: Hevy's Apple Watch app syncs live with the phone, tracks heart rate and saves on reconnect; Strong has a full Apple Watch app that logs on its own; and Ladder has an Apple Watch app alongside in-ear coaching, demos and a timer. Our comparisons have the details and dated prices: Hevy alternatives and Ladder alternatives.

What's different in Coachh is what the Watch runs. It isn't only a log: the session on your wrist is the one Coachh wrote for you, already adjusted for how you slept, and a heavier lift than ever before is called out as a personal record when you log it. Your heart rate from the Watch shows on the phone's player during the workout.

What else does the Watch do?

• Walks and runs. A walk you finish on the Watch is posted to the chat with its summary and counted once; a run recorded on the Watch counts toward today's planned run.
• Your day at a glance. The Watch gets today's plan and your latest weight, and its widgets show today's steps, step goal, streak and week.
• Phone extras while you train. On the iPhone's lock screen, the workout's Live Activity has buttons to log the set, add rest and skip.

New to Coachh's plans? See how Coachh writes and adjusts workout plans.