Fitness tracker apps by use case: wearable dashboards, workout loggers, endurance apps, and planners
Step counts, gym logs, GPS runs, and written programs are tracked by different kinds of app. This guide separates them, explains how they share data through Apple Health, and places Method honestly among them.
ExplainerUpdated 3 min readMarkdown version
Four things people mean by "fitness tracker"
| Kind | Tracks | Best when | Examples of the category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wearable dashboard | Steps, sleep, resting heart rate, activity rings, all day | You want an always-on picture of movement and recovery | Apple Fitness, Garmin Connect, Whoop, Oura |
| Workout logger | Sets, reps, weight in the gym | You want to record lifting quickly from routines | Hevy, Strong |
| Endurance app | GPS routes, pace, power, heart rate for runs and rides | You run or ride and care about routes, segments, and race data | Strava, Garmin Connect |
| Training planner | A written program, scheduled sessions, logged against the plan | You train from a structured plan across lifting and cardio | Method |
Most people use two of these at once, a wearable plus a logger or planner. The glue between them on iPhone is Apple Health.
How they connect
Apple Health is the shared store. A watch writes workouts to it. A running app writes runs to it. A planner like Method reads workouts from it and writes its own cardio back. So the practical question when choosing is not "which app does everything" but "which app is the one I plan and review in, and does it read from Health properly".
Method reads workouts from Apple Health in the background, maps 17 HealthKit workout types to 20 Method activities, imports duration, distance, heart rate, calories, route, and per-second series, and writes Method-recorded cardio back. Strength workouts stay in Method. See Apple Health workout sync for the exact list.
Choosing by person
You mostly want to move more and sleep better. A wearable dashboard is the product. A planner adds nothing until you start training from a plan.
You lift from a few routines and want speed. A workout logger. Hevy and Strong are the established choices, with Android and Apple Watch lifting support that Method does not have. See how to choose a workout tracker.
You run or ride and care about routes and races. An endurance app, often with a watch. If you also lift from a plan, Method will import those sessions from Apple Health and show them beside your lifting.
You write your own program, lift and do cardio, and want the plan and the log in one place. Method. Programs are built on the web with blocks, weeks, and dated sessions and full set prescriptions; the iPhone app logs against them with suggested loads and a rest timer; cardio is logged on iPhone or Apple Watch or imported; history, analytics, and CSV and PDF export read across all of it.
What Method does not track
Steps. Sleep. Food or calories in. Body weight or measurements. Resting heart rate or recovery scores. Method is a training record, not a health dashboard. If you want those, a wearable app holds them and Method does not duplicate them.
What Method does not run on
Android, iPad, and Mac have no Method app. The web app works in a browser on any of them for planning and review. Logging is iPhone, and cardio can be recorded on Apple Watch. See where Method runs.
Common questions
- Is Method a fitness tracker?
- Method is a workout planner and tracker for strength and cardio training that you plan yourself. It does not count steps, track sleep, or track food. It imports workouts from Apple Health, so a watch's runs and rides appear in your Method history beside your lifting.
- Do I need a wearable to use Method?
- No. Method logs strength on iPhone and cardio on iPhone or Apple Watch. A watch adds heart rate and lets Apple Health workouts flow in, but it is optional.
- Which fitness apps work with Apple Health?
- Most of them read or write Apple Health. Method reads workouts from it and writes Method-recorded cardio back. Strava, Garmin Connect, and Apple Fitness workouts reach Method only through Apple Health.
Try Method
Write your program on the web, log every set on iPhone, and keep the whole history in one place. Free to start.
Related reading
Apple Health workout sync in Method: what imports, what writes back, and what does not
Method imports workouts from Apple Health in the background, including Apple Watch and Apple Fitness workouts and anything Strava or other apps write to Health. This page lists the activity types, the fields, the timing, and the edges.
How to choose a workout tracker app: the questions that actually separate them
Most workout tracker comparisons rank apps by features. This guide sorts them by the job you need done, lists the questions worth asking, and says plainly which kind Method is and who should look elsewhere.
Where Method runs: iPhone, Apple Watch, and web
A plain list of the devices Method runs on, the minimum versions, what each surface is for, and what Method does not support, so nobody installs it and finds out the hard way.
Exporting your training data from Method: CSV and PDF, exactly what is in each
Your training log is yours. This page lists the exact CSV columns Method writes, the three PDF documents it produces, where each export lives, and the limits on range and size.
Method writes and maintains this page. Every statement about Method is checked against the shipped product. If something here is out of date, email contact@methodapp.net. For general references, link to the Method homepage.