Comparison

PHAT vs Herculog

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

Head to head
About

PHAT

This app guides you through a science-based weightlifting program designed to build muscle size and strength. It offers personalized workout customization, progress tracking with graphs, and tools like a plate calculator and rest timer.

Highlights
  • Guided PHAT program
  • Customizable workouts
  • Progress visualization
  • Plate calculator
  • Rest timer
  • US and metric unit support
Features
Read full description

The PHAT weight lifting workout increases your muscle size and strength by combining the best of powerlifting and bodybuilding. PHAT - Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training - is a full body workout program designed to increase muscle size and strength in both upper and lower body through power workouts and hypertrophy workouts. Hypertrophy days increase muscle size, while power days make you stronger to lift more on hypertrophy days. This app walks you through each exercise, set, and rep to help you gain muscle according to science. This app now lets users customize their workouts for maximum personalized strength and muscle building. This app will: - Walk you through the PHAT program, and help you keep track of which exercises you did on which days - Visualize your gains in our graphs and analytics - Help you calculate weights with the built-in plate calculator - Time your rests between sets so you maximize your gains with science - Support both US and metric units

About

Herculog

This minimalist app provides a straightforward way to log weightlifting sessions. It offers daily and monthly summaries, auto-fill for quick entry, and performance tracking to monitor progress. Data is stored locally and can be exported to CSV.

Highlights
  • Ad-free workout logging
  • Daily & monthly summaries
  • Quick exercise entry
  • Auto-fill from previous workouts
  • Performance monitoring
  • CSV data export
Features
Read full description

Every legend keeps a log. Herculog (formerly MyLiftLog) is a weight lifting journal built on one principle: your training data belongs to you. No account. No subscription. No ads. No cloud. Open the app and lift — everything stays on your iPhone or iPad. LOG SETS IN SECONDS Name, sets, reps, weight — done. Auto-fill loads your last session's numbers for every exercise, so logging today's work takes a tap, not a form. Add RPE, warm-up flags, and notes when you want them; skip them when you don't. RUN GUIDED WORKOUT PLANS Build training plans or add ready-made programs from the Discover library — full-body, upper/lower, push pull legs, and more, with sets and reps already filled in. Then run each session set by set, checking off every set as you go. Leave the gym mid-workout and pick up right where you stopped. WATCH STRENGTH CLIMB Herculog computes estimated 1RM, total volume, and efficiency automatically from every set you log. Strength charts show your sets, daily max weight, and 1RM trend for every exercise, and personal records are tracked across 3-month, 6-month, 1-year, and lifetime windows — with a proper PR celebration when you earn one. SEE THE WHOLE MONTH Daily and monthly summaries put your consistency on the record: training days, total volume, sets, reps, streaks, and the awards you have earned. Spot patterns, keep the streak alive, stay honest. YOUR DATA IS YOURS — ACTUALLY • No account or sign-in, ever • No ads, no tracking, no analytics — the App Store privacy label reads "Data Not Collected" • Everything is stored on your device, nothing on our servers (there are no servers) • Export your complete history or your plans as CSV anytime — an open format any spreadsheet can read • Import plans the same way: build one at herculog.com/plan-builder, or have a coach send you one FORMERLY MYLIFTLOG Herculog is the new name for MyLiftLog — the same app from the same studio, updated in place. Your entire training history carries over with the update, because it never left your device in the first place. Free training guides — progressive overload, RPE, program templates, and a 1RM calculator — at herculog.com/guides. The iron is waiting. Start your log.

Screenshots

PHAT4 screens
Herculog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Herculog at every 2 weeks against PHAT's every 14 months. PHAT's advantage is ratings volume (43 vs 8) and iOS requirement (11.3 vs 17.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for PHAT against 5.0 for Herculog. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PHAT has 43 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PHAT ships an update every 14 months, Herculog every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PHAT versus Herculog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPHATHerculog
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (43 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings43 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 14 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.3 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApp Factory, LLCRichard Vetter

Customer experience

PHAT

All ratings38 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Herculog

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

PHAT

No in-app purchases

None

Herculog

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PHAT free?
PHAT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Herculog free?
Herculog is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PHAT or Herculog?
Herculog is rated higher. PHAT averages 4.9 out of 5 from 43 ratings, while Herculog averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do PHAT or Herculog have ads?
Neither PHAT nor Herculog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PHAT or Herculog?
PHAT ships an update every 14 months, and Herculog every 2 weeks. Most recently, PHAT was updated on November 3, 2026 and Herculog on October 30, 2026.

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