Comparison

Workout Buddy vs Forward

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

Head to head
About

Workout Buddy

This app provides a simple, fast weekly checklist for tracking exercises like gym sessions, runs, or yoga. Easily log completed workouts with a single tap and review your history at a glance. Customize your week's start day and retain or reset progress effortlessly.

Highlights
  • Weekly exercise checklist
  • Tap to log workouts
  • Workout history calendar
  • Customizable week start day
  • Notes for each workout
  • Private and ad-free
Features
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Your workout app should not become another workout. Workout Buddy is a fast weekly exercise checklist for the gym, a run, a walk or the yoga mat. Add each workout once, tap the days you did it, and get on with your day. NEW IN 3.0: YOUR WEEK, YOUR WAY Start your week on Monday or Sunday. Keep your checkmarks from one week to the next, or have every new week begin with empty boxes. Both settings are one tap away in the ⋯ menu, and every day you already checked off stays on its date. SEE EVERY DAY YOU SHOWED UP Tap a workout’s name to open its Workout History, a month calendar with a blue dot under every day you checked it off. Swipe sideways or use the arrows to look back month by month. It fills in by itself, week by week, from the week you start. YOUR WHOLE WEEK IN ONE LOOK Every workout gets its own row with seven boxes, one for each day, starting on Sunday or Monday. Today’s box is tinted blue, so one glance tells you where your week stands. ONE TAP BETWEEN YOU AND DONE Did your squats today? Tap the box and feel a haptic tap back. Boxes stay checked until you tap them again, so a slip of the thumb is one tap to fix. Keep last week’s checks as your plan for this week, or let each new week start fresh. JUST ENOUGH DETAIL Each workout has room for a short note right under its name. Keep your current weight, your sets or a form cue where you will see it at the gym. Tap the name to edit the note or rename the workout. YOUR ROUTINE, YOUR ORDER Put your workouts in the order you actually do them, and remove the ones you have moved on from. Workout Buddy always asks before it deletes anything. PRIVATE BY DESIGN There is no account to create and nothing to sign in to. No ads, no subscriptions and no in app purchases. Your workouts, notes and history stay on your iPhone, which is why the App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected. SIMPLE ON PURPOSE Workout Buddy leaves out everything that turns a quick check into homework: • No set by set or rep logging • No timers to babysit • No charts to interpret • No streaks to guilt you • No social feed to keep up with • No prescribed plans or coaching What is left is fast, calm and yours. COMFORTABLE FOR EVERYONE Text grows with Dynamic Type, every control is labeled for VoiceOver, and it looks right in dark mode and in landscape. BUILT FOR PEOPLE WHO ALREADY KNOW HOW THEY WANT TO MOVE Lifters with a simple split. Walkers, runners and yoga regulars. Anyone keeping up a stretching or rehab routine at home. Anyone who wants to know, at a glance, whether this week is on track. If you want a coach, a plan or a wall of stats, there are apps for that. If you want to tap a box and get on with your day, welcome.

About

Forward

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Log a set in one tap. Forward is a gym workout tracker for lifters who run rotating splits, so your training never drifts across the week. FASTER LOGGING - Sets arrive pre-filled from last time, so one tap logs each one - A custom keypad built for numbers, not a fiddly system keyboard - Warm-up, drop and failure set types, one tap away - A rest timer that starts itself and lives in the Dynamic Island ROTATING SPLITS, DONE RIGHT - Training 3 on, 1 off? Your split advances when you FINISH a session, so it never drifts across weekdays like calendar-based apps - Build any rotating or weekly split, PPL, upper lower, full body, with rest days - Reorder days and exercises whenever your plan changes SEE REAL PROGRESS - Automatic personal records and estimated 1RM - Trend charts for every exercise - Per-muscle volume so you can balance your training - Body weight tracking - Streaks, weekly goals and achievements BUILT FOR THE GYM FLOOR - First-class supersets - Plate calculator - Warm-up ramp generator - Per-exercise notes for your own cues BRING YOUR HISTORY - Import your workout log from another tracking app with a CSV file - Export your whole history to CSV any time. Your data is yours PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your workouts are stored on your iPhone. There is no account to create, no servers, no analytics, no ads, and nothing is ever sold or shared. Keep iPhone Backup on and your history moves with you to a new phone. Free, with every feature unlocked.

Screenshots

Workout Buddy4 screens
Forward4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Forward at Free against Workout Buddy's $0.99. Forward also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). Workout Buddy's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 9 days). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Forward is free to download; Workout Buddy costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Workout Buddy ships an update every 2 days, Forward every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Workout Buddy versus Forward: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWorkout BuddyForward
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBenjamin StaabLinga Reddy Gudisha

In-app purchases

None

Workout Buddy

No in-app purchases

None

Forward

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Workout Buddy free?
Workout Buddy costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Forward free?
Forward is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Workout Buddy or Forward have ads?
Neither Workout Buddy nor Forward shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Workout Buddy or Forward?
Workout Buddy ships an update every 2 days, and Forward every 9 days. Most recently, Workout Buddy was updated on November 3, 2026 and Forward on November 10, 2026.

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