Incredible vs Strong: Do You Need a Separate App for Gym Logging?

Incredible is a free training app with integrated strength logging, Fitness, and displayed vitals for Apple Watch. Strong is a dedicated gym logging app focused on workout tracking with clean exercise logging and progression tools. Both help you log lifts. Incredible also connects those workouts with sleep and overnight context without prescribing what to do.

At a Glance

Feature	Incredible	Strong
Price	Free	Free (3 custom routines), $4.99/month, $29.99/year, $99.99 lifetime
Strength training logging	Yes	Yes
Exercise library	Yes	Yes (large)
Apple Watch app	Yes	Yes (standalone gym logging)
Workout templates	Yes	Yes
Supersets	No	Yes
Daily training context	Sleep, vitals, and recorded training	No
HRV tracking	Yes	No
Sleep analysis	Yes	No
Fitness	Training built over time from recorded workouts	No
Body temperature	Yes	No
Blood Oxygen displayed	Yes, displayed separately	No
Respiratory rate	Yes	No
Platforms	iOS/watchOS	iOS, Android
Cloud sync	Apple services	Yes
Account required	No	Yes

The Core Difference

Strong is a gym logger. It does one thing -- tracking sets, reps, and weight -- and it does it well. The interface is clean, the exercise database is extensive, and the progression tracking is solid. It supports supersets, rest timers, detailed workout notes, and a standalone Apple Watch app that works independently from your phone. For years, it has been the default recommendation for anyone who wants a no-nonsense lifting tracker.

What Strong does not do is combine that log with sleep, HRV, or other overnight readings. Your training log and biometric context remain in separate apps.

Incredible connects those sources to provide daily training context from how you slept, your overnight readings, recent training, and workouts recorded today. Your optional check-in adds personal context. Logged cardio and strength sessions contribute through the same recorded-workout source.

Strength Training

Both apps handle the fundamentals: exercise selection, set/rep/weight logging, workout templates, and history tracking.

Strong has a larger exercise database and more mature pure-logging features. It supports supersets with linked rest timers, detailed workout notes, plate calculator, and robust progression tracking. The Apple Watch app is a standout -- it works standalone, meaning you can leave your phone in the locker and log your entire session from your wrist. Strong also has cloud sync across devices, so your workout history follows you to a new phone or iPad.

Incredible covers the core logging needs -- exercises, sets, reps, weight, templates, and Apple Watch control. Logged sets contribute to recorded strength workout load, which feeds the app's daily training context and longer-term Fitness metric.

If you need advanced features like plate calculators, supersets with linked rest timers, or the deepest possible exercise database, Strong has the edge in pure logging depth. If you want your gym data connected to sleep, vitals, and Fitness, Incredible has the edge. Strong is also the choice if you need Android support or cloud sync across devices.

Training Context and Recovery

Strong has no recovery features. It does not read HRV, sleep, or any other biometric from Apple Watch or HealthKit. To get recovery data, Strong users typically run a second app -- WHOOP, Athlytic, or similar -- and mentally cross-reference the two.

This two-app approach has a fundamental problem: the recovery app does not know what you did in the gym, and the gym app does not know how your body is responding. You are left to mentally bridge the gap between "my HRV is low" and "I did heavy squats yesterday." The connection between training stimulus and recovery response is exactly where the most valuable insight lives, and it falls into the gap between apps.

Incredible brings sleep and overnight readings together with recent training and workouts recorded today. The recorded-load input includes cardio and logged strength work, not just workout heart rate. This context does not claim that a particular muscle has recovered.

This eliminates the two-app juggle. Your gym log and daily training context use the same recorded workout data, while the decision about what to do remains yours.

Fitness Level Tracking

Incredible keeps faster and slower averages of recorded cardio and strength workout load. Fitness is training built over time from recorded workouts. Training Balance compares recent recorded training with that longer pattern; it does not predict injury or overtraining.

Strong tracks workout-level stats -- volume per session, personal records, historical trends for individual exercises -- but does not aggregate these into a fitness model or provide periodization-aware analysis. You can look at your bench press trend over six months, but you cannot see whether your overall training load is sustainable or whether you are accumulating fatigue faster than you are building fitness.

Vitals

Incredible tracks six vitals with trend charts: HRV, Sleep Score, Resting Heart Rate, Body Temperature, Blood Oxygen, and Respiratory Rate. Blood Oxygen is displayed separately. The vitals appear with historical context beside recorded training.

Strong does not track any vitals. It writes workout data to HealthKit but does not read biometric data back. Your Apple Watch is collecting HRV, sleep, and resting heart rate data every day -- Strong simply does not use any of it. That data sits in HealthKit unused, waiting for an app that can make it actionable.

Pricing

Incredible is completely free. Every feature -- strength training, daily training context, fitness tracking, and all six vitals -- is available without paying anything. No subscription, no account, no ads. A voluntary tip jar supports development.

Strong offers a free tier limited to 3 custom routines. Beyond that, it costs $4.99/month, $29.99/year, or $99.99 for a lifetime purchase. The lifetime option is reasonable compared to most subscription apps, but it is still $100 for a gym logger that does not track recovery.

Here is where the math gets interesting. Many Strong users also pay for a separate recovery app -- Athlytic ($29.99/year), WHOOP ($199+/year), or similar -- because they want sleep and overnight context that Strong does not provide. That means the real cost of a Strong-based setup is $100 lifetime + $30-$200/year for recovery, compared with $0 for Incredible's gym logging and daily training context.

Privacy

Incredible requires no account and processes Apple Health data on-device for insights. There is no sign-up screen or required email, and health data is not sold or used for advertising. You install it and start training.

Strong requires account creation and syncs workout data to their servers for backup and cross-device access. This is a reasonable trade-off for cloud sync, but it means your training data -- exercises, weights, body measurements -- lives on external servers. For people who are particular about where their health data goes, this matters.

Who Should Choose What

Choose Incredible if you want gym logging and daily training context in one app, or if you are tired of paying for a strength tracker while running a separate recovery app on the side. Incredible is free, and logged lifting work contributes to the recorded training picture.

Choose Strong if you need the most polished pure gym logging experience available, need Android support, or rely on cloud sync across devices. Strong's exercise database, superset support, standalone Apple Watch experience, and logging UX are more mature. If your priority is the deepest possible gym logging feature set and you already have a separate recovery solution you are happy with, Strong remains one of the best at what it does. The $99.99 lifetime option also makes it a good value if you only need a logger.