Comparison

Boulder Trainer vs Boulder Challenge

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

Head to head
About

Boulder Trainer

Create personalized training routines for climbing and bouldering. Features voice instructions, training reminders, and the ability to save and share your workout plans. Supports over 70 preset fingerboards and allows custom exercise creation for efficient progress.

Highlights
  • Custom workout creation
  • Voice instructions for timing
  • Save and share training plans
  • Training reminders
  • Over 70 preset fingerboards
  • Manage multiple plans
Features
Read full description

Boulder Trainer is the training app for your hangboard: 90 boards are built in, you build your own plans in minutes, and a voice tells you when to hang and when to rest - on iPhone or straight from your Apple Watch. Get started right away: 90 common training boards are included with high-resolution artwork. Pick your board, download a ready-made plan or build your own. No account needed, everything works offline. Training + Custom training plans with sets, hang times and rest times + Download ready-made plans and shared community plans - free + Voice cues and signal tones so you never have to look at the screen + Exercise library with photos: hangboard, floor, gym (with weight), prehab + Training reminder every 2, 3, 5 or 7 days Apple Watch + Browse plans on your wrist and start the session from there + Haptic feedback on every change + Recorded as a workout in Apple Health incl. heart rate and activity rings Keep the habit + Habits (daily or with a counter), up to 3 reminders per day + Streaks with celebration moments when you keep the run alive + 31 achievements in four categories + Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Control Center toggle, check off right in the widget Your board is missing? Just photograph it: cut it out, align it, number the holes - done. Or write me: support@boulder-trainer.com Your data + iCloud sync across your devices, no sign-up + Works fully offline + iPhone and iPad These 90 boards are built in: + Metolius: Project, Wood Grips Compact, Wood Grips II Compact, Wood Grips II Deluxe, Wood Grips Training, Contact, Simulator 3D, Rock Rings, Foundry, Campus Blocks, Campus Rungs, Lite Rail, Prime Rib + Beastmaker: 1000, 2000 + So iLL: Blister, Wood Blister, Reaper, Iron Palm, Mini Palm, SlopeyMon, Boost, Remedy, Hangers, All Chalk No Action + Antworks: Power Ant Mini, Strong Ant 1, Strong Ant 2, Strong Ant 2 (old version), Strong Ant 3, Strong Ant 4 Solo + Moon Climbing: Fingerboard, Phat Boy + Tension: Flash Board, Grindstone, Grindstone Pro, Grindstone Mk2 + Crusher Holds: Matrix, Faceon, Megarail, Mission Portable + Kraxl: Classic, Portable, Rock, Xtrem + ERZI: small, medium, large, campus + MAX CLIMBING: MAX CLIMBING, Spinch Solo Easy, Spinch Solo Hard, Spinchboard Easy, Spinchboard Hard + EPUSA / Entre Prises: Kineboard, Hang Time, Training Board + Trango: Rock Prodigy, Rock Prodigy Forge + Eva López: Progression, Transgression + Problemsolver: Hanzo, Trainingsboard + DRCC: V3 Hangboard, V5-12 Hangboard + Vola: Hangboard, Pinch / Sloper + ALPIDEX: PRO 2.0, Large + Nicros: Ultimate, Warrior + Dein Klettershop: EVOLUTION, BB Sport Pro + Single boards: Bergfreunde Flash, Core Fingerboard, OCUN Fingerboard, Ascender X8, Wataaah Transformer Starr, Sic Grips Pocket Rock, Crimpmonster, Captain Fingerfood, Griptonite smartrock, PUC II Domini, Decathlon Ballsy, Kraxel To Go, Danger BuddyBoard, Revolution Grillito, Clevo, Frictitious Megalith, OK Board Crag Developer statement: When I bought my first fingerboard there was no reasonable guide for training on it. That is why I built Boulder Trainer. Please keep in mind: there is no company behind this app, just a small private project. Like Boulder Trainer on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BoulderTrainer Boulder Trainer Pro (subscription / one-time purchase): Starting workouts, habit check-ins and the achievements page require Boulder Trainer Pro - as a weekly subscription, yearly subscription or lifetime one-time purchase. Creating plans, setting up boards and sharing stay free. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage and cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. If you bought the app in the past, training stays free for you and you get exclusive loyalty pricing. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://app-bis-web.de/datenschutz/

About

Boulder Challenge

Easily create and share custom climbing boulder problems by taking a photo of the wall. Define holds, difficulty, and descriptions to document your routes or outdoor projects. Discover and rate boulders created by others, and track your climbing progress.

Highlights
  • Create custom boulder problems from photos
  • Define hand and foot holds
  • Specify difficulty and descriptive text
  • Search and rate existing boulders
  • Track climbed and favorite boulders
  • Export data to Excel
  • Follow other climbers and view news feed
Features
Read full description

App to create and share your own boulder problems on every climbing wall / spray wall / training wall / system wall / chaos wall / boulder block by simply taking a picture and easily specifying the definition as detailed as you like. - No additional costs like many other apps. Create as many walls and boulders as you like - Search for locations / boulder walls that have already been added or add them yourself - Suitable for all artificial boulder walls and also for saving the beta of your outdoor projects - Take a picture of the wall area you want, select an image that is already stored in the app or from the gallery of your smartphone - Define the start and end of your boulder - Define hand and foot holds (optionally separately and explicitly for left / right if desired) - Optionally define fixed hold sequences by specifying numbering - Various ways of displaying the markers - Smoothly fade out markings to be able to see details "behind" the markings - General descriptive text for a boulder and also possible per hold - Optional specification of the wall angle - Specification of difficulty in Fontainebleau / Hueco V scale or without - Mark boulders that have been resetted to see directly that they are no longer on the wall - Edit, delete and clone boulders - Rate and comment boulders - Submission of individual difficulty ratings with graphical display of the difficulty distribution per boulder - Search for boulders by name, creator, difficulty from / to, rating, climbed, favorite, wall angle, resetted - Sorting of boulders by created on, climbed on, name, difficulty, number of ascents, popularity - Random boulder selection in a certain difficulty range for e.g. warm-up - Lists for your favorite and already climbed boulders - Share boulders outside of the app as an image, direct link and QR code - Display of news per location / boulder wall - Display of the difficulty distribution per location / boulder wall - Display of the locals per location / boulder wall - "Bulletin board" per location / boulder wall - Share locations / boulder walls outside of the app as direct link and QR code - Follow other users and see what they've been up to in your personal news feed - Get score points for your created boulders, climbed boulders or e. g. if one of your boulders has been rated well by others - Optional private profile if your activities should not be visible to others - Send and receive private messages - Automatically kept logbook to easily display your activities for a period of your choice - Export of all your created and climbed boulders in Microsoft Excel format for further individual evaluation Have fun!

Screenshots

Boulder Trainer4 screens
Boulder Challenge4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Boulder Trainer at Free against Boulder Challenge's $2.99. Boulder Trainer also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 6 weeks) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). Boulder Challenge's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and iOS requirement (10.3 vs 26.0). On review sentiment, ads 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

Boulder Trainer is free to download; Boulder Challenge costs $2.99 up front. Boulder Trainer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Boulder Challenge asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boulder Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boulder Trainer has 860 ratings behind it against 23, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 70% and 71% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Boulder Trainer ships an update every 3 days, Boulder Challenge every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Boulder Trainer versus Boulder Challenge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoulder TrainerBoulder Challenge
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.6 (860 ratings) — better4.3 (23 ratings)
Positive reviews70.2% of reviews70.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings860 — better23
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.010.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size189 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJan LutherChristian Fenzl

Customer experience

Boulder Trainer

All ratings860 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.0%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews215 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral7.4%
Negative22.3%

Boulder Challenge

All ratings23 ratings
Positive82.6%
Neutral8.7%
Negative8.7%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive70.6%
Neutral11.8%
Negative17.6%

Bugs and requests

Boulder Trainer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Cannot change hangboard selection
  • Preset workouts don't match selected hangboard
  • Registration/account creation issues
  • Frequent crashes and connectivity problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to log/track workout history
  • Integration with fitness apps (Apple Health, Strava)
  • Ability to upload custom hangboard profiles
  • More advanced training plans and recommendations
  • Option to play music in background during workouts

Boulder Challenge

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Boulder Trainer

Subscriptions4
  • Boulder Pro — Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Boulder Pro Loyalty — Week$1.997 Days
  • Boulder Pro Loyalty — Year$11.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Boulder Trainer Pro — Yearly3 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time2
  • Boulder Pro Loyalty Lifetime$24.99
  • Boulder Pro — Lifetime$39.99
None

Boulder Challenge

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Boulder Trainer free?
Boulder Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Boulder Challenge free?
Boulder Challenge costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Boulder Trainer or Boulder Challenge?
Boulder Trainer is rated higher. Boulder Trainer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 860 ratings, while Boulder Challenge averages 4.3 from 23 ratings.
Do Boulder Trainer or Boulder Challenge have ads?
Neither Boulder Trainer nor Boulder Challenge shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Boulder Trainer or Boulder Challenge?
Boulder Trainer ships an update every 3 days, and Boulder Challenge every 6 weeks. Most recently, Boulder Trainer was updated on October 13, 2026 and Boulder Challenge on October 9, 2026.

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