Comparison

GymDiary vs Forward

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

Head to head
About

GymDiary

Features
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The workout tracker built for serious lifters. Log every set, rep, and weight. Track progressive overload session by session. Monitor volume across every muscle group. GymDiary gives you the data to train smarter โ€” completely free, forever. โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH GYMDIARY โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” - EXERCISE LOGGING Log sets, reps, and weight for any exercise. Build a complete record of your entire training history. - PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD TRACKING See your last session's data every time you train. Make deliberate increases to keep building strength over time. - MUSCLE GROUP VOLUME Automatically track weekly training volume for Chest, Back, Legs, Shoulders, and Arms. Know exactly what you've trained. - STRENGTH ANALYTICS Charts for volume, frequency, and personal records. Understand exactly how your training is progressing over weeks and months. - CUSTOM EXERCISE LIBRARY Add your own exercises with custom muscle group mappings. Your library works the way you train. - FULL WORKOUT HISTORY Every session you've ever logged, always available. Search and filter by date, muscle group, or exercise name. - WORKS ON ALL YOUR DEVICES your data syncs across all platforms. Train anywhere. โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” BUILT FOR EVERY TRAINING STYLE โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” Whether you run Push Pull Legs, Upper Lower, a full-body program, or your own custom split โ€” GymDiary adapts to your routine, not the other way around. No templates forced on you. No premium features locked behind a paywall. No ads. Just a clean, fast workout tracker that gets out of your way and lets you lift. Download GymDiary today โ€” it's free. Forever.

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

GymDiary4 screens
Forward4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: GymDiary at 3 against Forward's 1. GymDiary also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GymDiary ships an update every 2 weeks, Forward every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
GymDiary versus Forward: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGymDiaryForward
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 9 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size44 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperANALYTICA SOLUTIONS AND CONSULTING LIMITEDLinga Reddy Gudisha

In-app purchases

None

GymDiary

No in-app purchases

None

Forward

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is GymDiary free?
GymDiary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Forward free?
Forward is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do GymDiary or Forward have ads?
Neither GymDiary nor Forward shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GymDiary or Forward?
GymDiary ships an update every 2 weeks, and Forward every 9 days. Most recently, GymDiary was updated on October 7, 2026 and Forward on September 25, 2026.

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