The Handle Bar vs FORMAT Virtual
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Handle Bar
Easily book your indoor cycling class with a few taps. View the schedule, purchase credits, and reserve your preferred seat quickly and conveniently.
- View class schedule
- Purchase credits
- Select seat
- Easy booking
- Indoor cycling
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Booking your bike has never been easier. Check the schedule, buy credits, and select your seat in just a few taps.
FORMAT Virtual
Access a variety of fitness classes like Barre, HIIT, and Strength anytime, anywhere. Engage with live and on-demand sessions featuring 2-way video, leaderboards, and community chat. Track your progress and heart rate by connecting wearable devices.
- Livestream and on-demand classes
- Barre, HIIT, and Strength workouts
- 2-way video functionality
- Leaderboard sweat points
- Community chat
- Wearable device integration for heart rate and calorie tracking
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Bring your Barre, HIIT, or Strength practice on the go. With the FORMAT Livestream and On-Demand app, you now have access to stream your favorite teachers any time, any where! Join us for some of our most popular classes! FORMAT Barre FORMAT HIITBarre FORMAT Strength FORMAT HIIT FORMAT HIIT30 With 2-way video functionality, leaderboard sweat points, community chat, and more, we are excited to bring you an immersive and engaging fitness experience. You can also connect your wearable* to track your heart rate and calories burned during live and on-demand workouts. Download the app today to get started! *Connecting your Apple Watch requires sharing your Health App health information to measure heart rate and calories, as well as earn higher leaderboard points in zone 2-4 max heart rate zones. Terms of Use: https://formatlive.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://formatlive.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: The Handle Bar at every 3 weeks against FORMAT Virtual's every 4 months. The Handle Bar also leads on ratings volume (1.8K vs 2) and monetization model (ad-supported vs free with in-app purchases). FORMAT Virtual's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 80%) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for The Handle Bar against 5.0 for FORMAT Virtual. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Handle Bar has 1.8K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of The Handle Bar's written reviews are positive against 100% of FORMAT Virtual's.
The Handle Bar ships an update every 3 weeks, FORMAT Virtual every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and June 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Handle Bar | FORMAT Virtual |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1.8K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 141 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mariana Tek Corporation | Format Fitness Corp |
Customer experience
The Handle Bar
FORMAT Virtual
In-app purchases
The Handle Bar
No in-app purchases
FORMAT Virtual
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is The Handle Bar free?
Is FORMAT Virtual free?
Which has better reviews, The Handle Bar or FORMAT Virtual?
Do The Handle Bar or FORMAT Virtual have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Handle Bar or FORMAT Virtual?
Other comparisons
