Incredible vs Athlytic: Which Recovery App Is Right for You?
Incredible and Athlytic both give you a daily readiness score on Apple Watch. The difference is what goes into the score — and what it costs.
Incredible is a free readiness and fitness tracking app with integrated strength training. Athlytic is a popular recovery app focused on HRV and sleep metrics. Both run on Apple Watch. Both answer "should I train today?" Here's how they differ.
At a Glance
| Feature | Incredible | Athlytic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $29.99/yr |
| Readiness score | Yes | Yes |
| HRV tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Strength training | Yes | No |
| Muscle group recovery | Yes | No |
| Fitness score (CTL/ATL) | Yes | No |
| Body temperature | Yes | Yes |
| SpO2 tracking | Yes | No |
| Respiratory rate | Yes | No |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| On-device processing | Yes | Yes |
The Core Difference
Athlytic calculates your readiness from HRV, sleep, and resting heart rate — the standard recovery signals most apps use. It does this well and presents the data clearly.
Incredible uses those same signals plus your actual training load from strength workouts — sets, reps, weight, and which muscle groups you worked. This means Incredible knows that yesterday's heavy squat session affects your leg readiness today, while Athlytic treats all workouts as roughly equivalent heart rate events.
Readiness Scoring
Both apps give you a 0–100 readiness score each morning. The inputs differ:
Athlytic derives readiness from overnight HRV, sleep duration, sleep quality, and resting heart rate. If your HRV is down and you slept poorly, you're told to rest. Simple and effective for general recovery.
Incredible includes all of the above, plus your recent training load broken down by muscle group. If you did heavy deadlifts on Monday, Incredible will specifically flag that your posterior chain is still recovering on Tuesday — even if your HRV looks fine. This matters because HRV recovers faster than muscle tissue.
Strength Training
This is where the two apps diverge significantly.
Incredible includes a full strength training tracker — exercise library, set-by-set logging from your Apple Watch, and reusable templates. The volume, weight, and muscle group data from your lifts feeds directly into your readiness and fitness calculations.
Athlytic does not track strength training. If you log a lifting session, it captures the heart rate data but has no visibility into what exercises you did, how much weight you moved, or which muscles are fatigued.
Fitness Level Tracking
Incredible uses CTL/ATL modeling (chronic and acute training load) — the same formulas TrainingPeaks uses for endurance athletes — but applied to both cardio and strength data. Your fitness score reflects your complete training picture, not just your running volume.
Athlytic focuses on recovery metrics rather than long-term fitness modeling. There is no equivalent fitness score tracking trends over time.
Vitals
Incredible tracks six vitals with trend charts: HRV, Sleep Score, Resting Heart Rate, Body Temperature, SpO2, and Respiratory Rate.
Athlytic covers HRV, sleep, resting heart rate, and body temperature but does not surface SpO2 or respiratory rate data.
Pricing
Incredible is completely free. No subscription, no account, no ads. There is a voluntary tip jar if you want to support development, but nothing is locked behind it.
Athlytic offers a limited free tier and a premium subscription at approximately $5.99/month or $29.99/year for full access to recovery scores and detailed analytics.
Privacy
Both apps process health data on-device via Apple HealthKit. Incredible requires no account creation and collects no personal data. Athlytic requires an account for premium features.
Who Should Choose What
Choose Incredible if you do strength training and want your recovery data to actually reflect your lifting volume and muscle fatigue — not just your heart rate during the session. Also if you prefer a completely free, private experience.
Choose Athlytic if you are primarily a cardio athlete and want a focused recovery dashboard from an established app. Athlytic has a larger user base and longer track record.
Most recovery apps — Athlytic included — are blind to what happens in the weight room. They see heart rate and duration, but not the difference between a heavy deadlift day and a yoga session. If your training includes weights, that blind spot means your readiness score is missing a major input. Incredible closes that gap — and it's free.