# Bar Loader — Load Barbells, Track Lifts

> Load Barbells, Track Lifts (iPhone/iPad app by Elliot Awin.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bar-loader/id6814534389 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Elliot Awin](https://appshunter.io/developer/6814534391)
- Category: Health & Fitness, Sports
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 2 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-09-25
- Data updated: 2026-10-03

## What is Bar Loader?

Type the weight you want on the bar. Bar Loader shows you the plates for one side, in the order they go on, heaviest first against the shoulder of the sleeve.

It picks the fewest plates that make the number, the same on both sides, with the collar last.

Both bars
Switch between the 20 kg men's bar and the 15 kg women's bar. The drawing changes with it, down to the shorter sleeve and the colour of the ID band.

The plates your gym actually has
Tap any size to switch it off, or say how many pairs you have. Missing 2.5s? Only one pair of 25s? The app works around it. The 1.25 kg starts off because it isn't part of an Olympic set, and can be switched on if you have them.

Competition collars
Count them at 2.5 kg each, or leave them off for spring clips.

When the number won't work
If a total can't be made exactly, you get the nearest load below and above, and an offer to switch on any plate size that would make it exact.

Bar check
The loader run backwards. Tap the plates you can see on one side of a bar somebody else loaded and the total follows, drawn in the order you tapped so the picture matches the bar in front of you. For judges, and for anyone walking up to a loaded bar.

Build a session
Pick a lift, pick which rep max to work from, set your sets and reps, and put a percentage on each set. Every set shows the weight it asks for and the weight the plates can actually make, because 80% of a 103 kg best is 82.4 kg and you deserve to be told so. Tap a set to see its bar. Tick a set off as you finish it.

Minimise large plate changes
Turn it on and the whole session is planned at once so the big plates stay where they are. Coming down from 140 to 120 to 100, it loads the first bar with four plates instead of three, so both drops are plain removals rather than a swap. Less time at the rack, less counting.

Your lifts, and honest estimates
Keep a best for one, three, five and ten reps across ten lifts, or add your own. Rep ranges you haven't tested are worked out for you and marked ESTIMATE in blood orange, italic, inside a dashed border. A number somebody lifted never looks like a number nobody lifted. Beat a best while you train and the app offers to store it.

Turn the phone sideways
In the loader and in a workout, turning the phone on its side gives you the bar and almost nothing else, big enough to read from where the barbell is. The screen stays awake while it is up. In a workout, swipe to move between sets.

Apple Watch remote
Prop the phone by the bar and drive it from your wrist: change the weight, step through your sets, tick one off. The phone stays the display; the watch is the remote.

No account. No advertising. No internet connection. Nothing is collected, and nothing leaves your phone and the watch paired to it.


## Version history (last 2 releases)

### 1.1 — 2026-10-02

Bar check
Walk up to a bar somebody else loaded, tap the plates you can see on one side, and the total follows. Built for judges and for anyone who has ever counted a bar twice.

Apple Watch remote
Leave the phone propped up by the bar and drive it from your wrist: change the weight, move between sets, tick a set off.

Count your plates
Only one pair of 25s? Say so. Each size can now be limited to the number of pairs your gym has, and the app loads around it.

Also
- Swipe between sets when the phone is on its side.
- A Reset button on the Workout tab.
- A new best is offered as a 1, 3, 5 or 10 rep max, the ones My lifts keeps.
- Picking a different lift puts the percentages back on that lift's own bests.
- Fixed: a lift chosen in Workout could be forgotten the next time the app opened.
- Fixed: on smaller phones the set rows were cramped and hid the reps.

### 1.0 — 2026-09-25

No release notes.

## Apps similar to Bar Loader

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Calm + Chaos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/calm-plus-chaos/id6751854000) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |
| [Building Body Confidence](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/building-body-confidence/id6478094369) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |
| [ONETRIBE DIABETES](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/onetribe-diabetes/id6447007659) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |
| [Vaxa Fitness](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vaxa-fitness/id6504251146) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |
| [Witness The Fitness](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/witness-the-fitness/id6450742070) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |
| [RunnerBeam](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/runnerbeam/id6738699823) | — | Free | Health & Fitness |

---

*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-03.*