Comparison

Lap Counter vs Lap Swim

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Lap Counter

Easily track your laps during indoor workouts without relying on GPS. This app offers a simple tap-and-hold interface to record laps, set distance goals, and review your progress with detailed history and visual charts. Customize units and enjoy a dark mode option for comfortable use.

Highlights
  • Single tap lap recording
  • Flexible distance goal setting
  • Circular progress bar visualization
  • Detailed history and insights
  • Metric and imperial unit support
  • Dark mode option
  • Weight tracking and charts
Features
Read full description

Introducing Lap Tracker: Your Essential Fitness Companion Tired of unreliable GPS signals interfering with your indoor workouts? Lap Tracker is the perfect solution! Designed for runners, swimmers, cyclists, and anyone tracking laps, our app provides a simple yet powerful way to monitor your progress, even in challenging environments like indoor tracks or pools. Anyone doing laps has said "was that lap 12 or lap 13".... and then we get discouraged... just click the screen and done... you do the laps, we'll do the rest. Key Features: Effortless Lap Tracking: Accurately record your laps with a single tap and hold. Flexible Goal Setting: Calculate the number of laps needed to reach your distance goals. Stunning Visuals: Track your progress with a dynamic, visually engaging circular progress bar. Powerful History & Insights: Review past sessions with detailed history views, filterable by date range. Works with Apple Watch so you can leave your iPhone at home. Sync your laps to your iPhone when you return from your workout. Customize Your Experience: Switch between metric (meters/kilometers) and imperial (feet/miles) units. Enable dark mode for comfortable use in low-light conditions. Enhanced Accuracy: Minimize accidental lap recordings with our tap-and-hold feature. Lap Tracker is the ideal companion for your indoor workouts. Download today and start tracking your progress with confidence! Search Search history view so you can choose between pool, track, or any other track name you provided Search stats view so you can narrow down your specific stats for each track name you provided Track your weight changes and track by week, month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and all time. Review your weight chart to view your weight changes. https://www.leindesign.ca/policy/eula.php

About

Lap Swim

This app automatically counts laps and tracks swim times on your Apple Watch. It detects stroke type and count, and graphs your performance on a paired iPhone. Enjoy a large font display for easy viewing during your workout.

Highlights
  • Automatic lap counting
  • Stroke detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke)
  • Kickboard lap detection
  • Large font display
  • Stopwatch function
  • Workout graphing on iPhone
  • Health and Activity app integration
Features
Read full description

Automatic Lap Counter with Stopwatch and LARGE FONTS; Lap Swim is an Apple Watch (Series 2 and later) App that automatically detects, displays, records and graphs the lap count and elapsed time of a swim session. Detects and displays the type of stroke and stroke count during each lap. - Detects and displays the lap direction and lap count while swimming using the gyroscope in the Apple Watch - LARGE FONT display of time and lap count - Stopwatch function while swimming - Auto start/stop mode detects swimming and automatically starts (or stops) the stopwatch - Lap counter counts up from 0 or counts down from preset lap goal - Senses and displays freestyle strokes, backstrokes, and breaststrokes - Detects and counts kickboard laps - Records and graphs (on the paired iPhone) the following: ------ Date and time of a swim session ------ Time for each lap and of entire swim session ------ Number of laps ------ Average speed and speed for each lap ------ Stroke count and type of stroke (freestyle, back, breast or kick board) ------ Distance in meters or yards - Enters workout information into the Health and Activity apps Lap Swim uses the gyroscope and accelerometer in the Apple Watch to detect the type of stroke and the orientation of the swimmer. Using this information it displays the lap count of a swim session. Lap Swim also has a standard stopwatch function. The swim session information is transmitted to the paired iPhone and displayed on both a table and a graph. Lap Swim is free and fully functional for the first 250 laps. After that, Lap Swim continues to function but it requires a low cost IAP to display the lap count. Screenshots: -Apple Watch: 1) Large 2 line display - Swimming return half of 51st lap after 49:35 2) 3 line display - returning on lap 10 after 9:10; 11 breaststrokes taken this half lap 3) 3 line display - after turning and starting lap 11; showing last half lap stroke count (11) and elapsed time (34.6) 4) 3 line display - going out on lap 12; this lap you have taken 3 freestyle strokes, 2 backstrokes, 5 breaststrokes, and over 15 seconds using a kickboard 5) Starting a Workout Session in 2 second and turning on water lock. 6) Lap length set to 25 yards. 7) Settings options - 2 or 3 line display, split times half or full lap, automatic or manual start/stop, set lap length. -iPhone: 1) Home screen also showing the app on the Apple Watch 2) Graph of the average speed in over 200 swim sessions from 12/16 to 7/20. 3) Graph of the total times in over 200 swim sessions from 12/16 to 7/20. 4) Data collected in a single swim session available for editing. ----

Screenshots

Lap Counter4 screens
Lap Swim4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lap Swim at 62% against Lap Counter's 0%. Lap Swim also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). Lap Counter's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lap Counter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Lap Swim sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lap Counter ships an update every 2 months, Lap Swim every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Lap Counter versus Lap Swim: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLap CounterLap Swim
PriceFreeFree
Rating—3.2 (31 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews62.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—31 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn LeinPeter Kramer

Customer experience

Lap Counter

Written reviews8 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative75.0%

Lap Swim

All ratings31 ratings
Positive51.6%
Neutral9.7%
Negative38.7%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive62.1%
Neutral10.3%
Negative27.6%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lap Counter

One-time1
  • Premium Access$1.99
1 purchases

Lap Swim

One-time1
  • upgrade from 250 laps to unlimited laps$1.99

Questions

Is Lap Counter free?
Lap Counter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lap Swim free?
Lap Swim is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lap Counter or Lap Swim have ads?
Neither Lap Counter nor Lap Swim shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lap Counter or Lap Swim?
Lap Counter ships an update every 2 months, and Lap Swim every 3 months. Most recently, Lap Counter was updated on October 17, 2026 and Lap Swim on October 24, 2026.

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