The best personal trainer apps

The best personal trainer apps, ranked

Ranked for someone who wants an app to do a trainer's job in the gym: write the plan, adjust it, and tell you what to lift. A human coach comes first because one can check your form and keep you showing up. The best free app comes next, for everyone who won't pay $150 a month for that; Future does trainwell's job for more per month, so it follows.

1. 1. trainwell

   Best for: A real 1:1 trainer at the lowest price here

   Price

   $149/month, billed every 3 months; 14-day free trial

   Platforms

   iPhone, Android; Apple Watch or Wear OS optional

   Where it wins

   • Unlimited messaging and video calls with your trainer
   • Form-check videos and live form feedback in guided workouts
   • Plan written and updated by your trainer

   Where it falls short

   • Billed 3 months at a time
   • No meal plans

2. 2. RIRLift

   Best for: Free coaching from your own logged sets, if you won't pay for a person

   Price

   Free; Pro $9.99/month or $79.99/year

   Platforms

   iPhone and Apple Watch

   Where it wins

   • Coach builds a plan from your history, previewed before it applies
   • Every set's weight is set from the one before
   • Free Apple Watch app with the next weight on your wrist
   • No account, no ads, no trial that runs out

   Where it falls short

   • No human coach or form checks
   • iPhone and Apple Watch only
   • No nutrition tracking or follow-along video classes

3. 3. Future

   Best for: A 1:1 coach you can pay month to month

   Price

   $199/month, or $149/month on a 12-month plan; $50 first month

   Platforms

   iPhone, Android; US only

   Where it wins

   • Dedicated coach who adjusts your plan week to week
   • Record My Form videos sent to your coach
   • First month refunded if you cancel within 30 days

   Where it falls short

   • $199 a month, month to month
   • US only
   • No meal plans or macro targets

4. 4. Caliber

   Best for: A free app now, with a coach to upgrade to

   Price

   Free; Plus $12/month or $72/year; 1:1 coaching from about $200/month

   Platforms

   iPhone, Android

   Where it wins

   • Free app with unlimited workouts and 800+ exercise tutorials
   • 1:1 coaching with a training and nutrition plan and video form reviews
   • 30-day money-back guarantee on coaching

   Where it falls short

   • Coaching price set after a consultation
   • The app doesn't pick your next weight
   • No Apple Watch app

5. 5. Fitbod

   Best for: An app that writes a new session every time

   Price

   $15.99/month or $95.99/year; 7-day trial

   Platforms

   iPhone, Apple Watch, Android

   Where it wins

   • Builds each workout from your equipment, goals and recovery
   • Suggests weights from your logged data
   • Over 1,000 HD exercise video demos

   Where it falls short

   • No free tier
   • No human coach

What to look for in a personal trainer app

• A person, or an app

  Only a person checks your form and notices you've missed a week. If that's what you need, pay for trainwell, Future or Caliber coaching. If you show up on your own, an app can do the rest.

• What it costs to try

  trainwell gives 14 days free. Future's first month is $50 and refundable within 30 days. Caliber's coaching has a 30-day money-back guarantee. RIRLift and Caliber's app are free with no trial.

• Who decides what you lift today

  A coach writes the plan. Fitbod builds a fresh session. In RIRLift, Coach builds the plan and the weights follow your sets.

  

• Whether the weights keep moving

  A plan that doesn't adjust goes stale by week four. RIRLift sets the next set after each one and the next session from your weakest set. How it decides.

• Where it works

  Future is US only. trainwell, Future, Caliber and Fitbod run on Android; RIRLift needs an iPhone.

Which trainer app, in two real cases

First gym membership, never lifted, $0 or $200 a month

Thirty-five, joined a gym in January, has an iPhone and an Apple Watch. Doesn't know how to squat and isn't sure what to pay.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
trainwell	A trainer writes a beginner plan, reviews form videos and answers messages, for $149 a month after 14 free days.	The best start if the budget is there.
Future	A coach writes the plan and reviews form clips, for $199 a month.	Fits, for more.
Caliber	Free app with tutorials for every lift; 1:1 coaching from about $200 a month.	Good tutorials, free; coaching costs the most.
Fitbod	Builds each session with video demos and suggested weights, for $15.99 a month.	A cheap trainer-like app, with a subscription.
RIRLift	Coach builds a plan for the gym and days; each lift starts light and is measured from one set. Free.	The pick at $0, alongside a session or two on technique.

Pay for a person to learn the lifts. Keep the free app for everything after.

Week one in RIRLift, every lift new

The same beginner, machine shoulder press planned for 10 reps with 2 left, and a lat pulldown in its second session.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Machine Shoulder Press	50 lb (Estimate), 20 reps, nothing left	60 lb × 10	One max-reps set measures you. 20 to failure at 50 lb against 12 planned: 50 × 49 ÷ 41 ≈ 60 lb.
Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown	100 lb, 11 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left (target 10)	100 lb × 11	The weakest set hit its target of 10. Same weight, aim for 11.

No max test, no guessing: the first set measured the press, and the pulldown moved one rep.

Plans to start with, coach or no coach

• The best workout for beginners

  Gym, three days a week

  Three gym days for a first membership, like the beginner in the example.

  3× a week · 39 sets a week · ~40 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for beginners

  Busy: one gym workout, twice a week

  One workout twice a week, if that's all the week allows.

  2× a week · 26 sets a week · ~30 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Tell Coach your gym and days

  Ask in plain words, such as three days, full gym, new to lifting. The plan arrives as a preview to apply or adjust.

• Leaving a coach? Keep their program

  Enter the routines you were given, and type in your current weights. They're marked Yours and progression carries on.

• Use Ask first while you learn

  Next session's weights wait on the recap until you confirm them, so nothing jumps before you're ready.

• Log from your Watch

  Log sets, run the rest timer and see the next weight on your wrist, free.

When a different app fits better

• You need your form checked or someone to keep you showing up. trainwell, Future or Caliber coaching. RIRLift has no human coach.
• You want follow-along video classes. A class app. RIRLift shows how each lift is done, but has no instructor-led classes.
• You're on Android. trainwell, Caliber or Fitbod. RIRLift is iPhone only.

Questions

Read next

• trainwell vs Future

  The two human-coach apps, head to head.

• Future app review

  Is $199 a month worth it.

• Caliber app review

  The free app and the coaching tier.

• The AI workout planner that keeps planning after day one

  How Coach builds a plan and keeps it moving.

• Fitbod review: who it's worth paying for

  The app-only pick, in detail.

• The workout app for beginners that tells you what to lift

  If you're starting from zero.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The AI workout planner that keeps planning after day one

  A plan built for your goal, gym and week, with every weight set from what you actually lifted.

• The workout app for beginners that tells you what to lift

  Never lifted before? A plan with starting weights, demos for every move, and weights that rise on their own.

• A workout app you can train on for years without a subscription

  Unlimited workouts, weights set for you and Apple Watch, free with no trial countdown, account or ads.

Every lifter and goal