Comparison

Buddywatch vs HRV

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

Head to head
About

Buddywatch

Discover and download unique watch faces for your Apple Watch. Browse by category, compatibility, or search for matching watch bands. Save your favorites, get personalized suggestions, and share your collection with a vibrant community.

Highlights
  • Download and save watch faces
  • Search by category and compatibility
  • Discover matching watch bands
  • Personalized suggestions
  • Share watch face collections
  • Shop for accessories
Features
Read full description

Hey Buddy, meet Buddywatch, your personal Apple Watch Stylist! - Check and download watch faces - Save watch faces to your profile - Search new watch faces with categories and compatibility tags - Search watch bands and discover matching watch faces - Match the right bands with watch faces - Check the apps price before downloading watch faces - Link your Watches to get more accurate results - Get customized suggestions based on your preferences - Change App Icon as you wish - Share your personal collection with other users - Discover the shop: buy amazing Apple Watch accessories! - Follow new buddies and get inspired! - Check suggested watch faces based on a selected watch band - Become a Buddy VIP and unlock exclusive features! Join the largest Apple Watch community in the world! *To use all the features you need to have an Apple Watch with WatchOS 7.0+* ------------------- Buddywatch is not affiliated or endorsed by Apple, We just love Apple Watch and want to share faces. iPhone and Apple Watch are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Privacy policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/51126494 Terms and conditions: https://www.iubenda.com/terms-and-conditions/51126494

About

HRV

This app analyzes heart rate variability from Apple Health and Apple Watch to provide actionable insights into your daily stress, energy levels, sleep quality, and recovery. It uses scientific visualizations and dual HRV metrics to help you understand your autonomic nervous system activity.

Highlights
  • Dual HRV metrics (SDNN + RMSSD)
  • All-day stress curve
  • Energy (Body Resources) reserve tracking
  • Nightly Sleep Score
  • Personalized Recovery score
  • Interactive trend charts
  • Apple Watch complications
Features
Read full description

HRV Tracker — private, on-device insights from your iPhone and Apple Watch. Turn heart-rate variability, heart rate, sleep and activity data from Apple Health into clear views of stress, recovery and energy. Track both SDNN and RMSSD, calculated from available beat-to-beat intervals. iPHONE APP • Home dashboard for HRV, Recovery, Sleep Score, Stress, Energy, Activity, heart rate and weight • Today view comparing your day so far with your usual pattern at the same hour • Detailed HRV, Sleep, Activity, Strain and Weight views • Behaviour logging for habits such as alcohol and caffeine • Daily and weekly coaching • Interactive daily, weekly, monthly and yearly charts PERSONAL INSIGHTS Explore which parts of your routine are associated with changes in HRV, sleep, stress and other measurements. • Influences screened against chance • Stronger findings separated from preliminary and descriptive patterns • Combined effects for pairs of behaviours • “Moving Together” comparisons between health metrics • U-shaped relationships • “Compare Everything” matrix and influence explorer • Personal experiments in Labs Insights describe associations; they do not prove cause and effect. TODAY & COACH Compare today’s readings with similar hours from your history. Coaching can consider sleep, recovery, stress, energy, activity and events such as workouts, late coffee or mindfulness. A separate note summarizes the previous seven days. AI-written coaching requires an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone running iOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence enabled and available for your device language. Other devices retain their scores, insights and standard app-written coaching summaries. Coaching is generated locally; health information is not sent to an external AI service. KEY SCORES Stress — A continuous 0–100 physiological-load score. When both signals are available, it combines 40% HRV with 60% heart rate. It continues with heart rate alone when no nearby RMSSD exists. The curve shades sleep, excludes workouts and identifies missing watch periods. Stress reflects physiological activation, not emotional stress. Energy — An all-day 0–100 estimate of how much you have “in the tank.” It recharges during sleep, taking Sleep Score and sleep stages into account, and responds to calm, stress and physical effort. Compare it with your usual reserve at the same time. Sleep Score — A nightly 0–100 score blending duration (35%), continuity (25%) and restfulness (40%). Restfulness considers overnight HRV, heart rate and physiological load. Scores personalize as your history grows. Recovery — Compares RMSSD with your history at a similar time of day. iPhone uses up to 30 previous days without including a reading in its own reference. Apple Watch uses a shorter local history, so its quick score may differ. Activity — Combines movement with sustained effort. Workout load uses heart rate when enough readings are available; otherwise it is estimated from workout type and duration, so yoga is not treated like intense cardio. The Activity page shows what contributed to the score. APPLE WATCH • Native Recovery and Stress views • SDNN and RMSSD at a glance • Stress and HRV charts • Complications and widgets • RMSSD from available heartbeat series • Support for dense chest-strap readings • Cached baseline for faster opening DATA & PRIVACY HRV Tracker analyzes Apple Health data on your devices. Your health history is not uploaded to an HRV Tracker server. AFib History on a compatible Apple Watch greatly increases beat-to-beat sampling and is strongly recommended for complete RMSSD, Stress, Energy and Recovery views. With infrequent measurements, some curves and insights may remain incomplete. HRV Tracker is intended for personal information and wellness. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose or treat any condition.

Screenshots

Buddywatch4 screens
HRV4 screens

Verdict

The call

Buddywatch and HRV both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of HRV's written reviews are positive against 52% of Buddywatch's. HRV also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Buddywatch's advantage is ratings volume (8.7K vs 5) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.6). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Buddywatch sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and HRV sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Buddywatch against 4.8 for HRV. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Buddywatch has 8.7K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 52% of Buddywatch's written reviews are positive against 100% of HRV's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buddywatch ships an update monthly, HRV every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Buddywatch versus HRV: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuddywatchHRV
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (8.7K ratings)4.8 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8.7K — better5
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size254 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBUDDY SRLSPhilippe Gerin

Customer experience

Buddywatch

All ratings8,634 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.2%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews295 reviews
Positive52.2%
Neutral8.8%
Negative39.0%

HRV

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Buddywatch

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes
  • Watch faces not downloading properly
  • Compatibility issues with certain watch models
  • Unreliable connection

Requested features

4 requests
  • More customization options
  • Search and filter functionality
  • Ability to create and share own watch faces
  • Better support for older Apple Watch models

HRV

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Buddywatch

Subscriptions11
  • Buddy VIP weekly7 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Buddy VIP Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Buddy VIP$3.491 Month
Show 8 more
  • Buddy VIP Weekly7 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Buddy VIP Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Weekly premium7 Days trial$5.997 Days
  • Weekly premium$5.997 Days
  • Buddy VIP Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Buddy VIP Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Yearly premium$9.991 Year
  • Buddy VIP Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • Icon Pack Essential$1.99
  • Icon Pack Style$1.99
5 purchases

HRV

One-time5
  • Bronze Supporter$1.99
  • Bronze Supporter Tier$1.99
  • Silver Supporter2 variants$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Gold Supporter2 variants$11.99
  • Platinum Supporter2 variants$44.99

Questions

Is Buddywatch free?
Buddywatch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HRV free?
HRV is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Buddywatch or HRV?
HRV is rated higher. Buddywatch averages 4.7 out of 5 from 8.7K ratings, while HRV averages 4.8 from 5 ratings.
Do Buddywatch or HRV have ads?
Buddywatch shows ads; HRV does not.
Which is updated more often, Buddywatch or HRV?
Buddywatch ships an update monthly, and HRV every 6 weeks. Most recently, Buddywatch was updated on October 29, 2026 and HRV on October 24, 2026.

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