There is an extensive bank of routes, including off-road and gravel, for you to explore. A good app is capable of transforming your ride experience in one way or another, so let’s get into the best cycling apps — free and paid — we at Cycling Weekly would recommend and use ourselves. For advanced lifters, Strong is the ultimate training partner for progressive overload. Perfect for anyone training for 5Ks, marathons, or just running for health. Just do it and join the Nike Fit Club, and by that, we mean download the app and get moving.

Best smartwatch for fitness features

If you’re already using a Samsung phone, the Galaxy Watch 8 is the clear choice. It blends polished hardware, an approachable health platform, and deep software integration into one of the most capable wearables available today. Interestingly, you can attach the charger to the top of your wrist and continue using the tracker while you charge it. And the good news is that the WHOOP 4.0 tracker delivers accurate how to choose personalized workout plans and insightful stats.

From that, we’ve picked out the best selection and, although most are designed for your smartphone, many also integrate with the best bike computers and smartwatches, or can be used on your desktop computer. Sweat offers progressive, expertly designed training plans from the world’s leading female trainers. With everything from HIIT to strength, yoga, and post-pregnancy workouts. To help you decide, we’ve tested and reviewed the top 10 fitness apps of 2026, covering everything from strength and yoga to running and mindfulness. The app is free; however, you’ll need a smartwatch, preferably one by DaFit or an activity tracker.

Best Fitness Trackers (without phone): Comparison

Not only does the fitness tracker help you avoid distractions, but it also tracks your health with great precision. The USP of the WHOOP 4.0 fitness band is that along with monitoring your data, the app also processes it and suggests notable changes. On my wrists are an ever-rotating lineup of the latest smartwatches, and I sometimes wear two at once for testing and extra style.

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The watch also offers daily workout suggestions each morning and an on-watch countdown to your next race. The built-in altimeter, barometer, and full GPS make it a great pick for trail runners and other mountain athletes. Jessica is passionate about testing fitness gear and tech, using her reviews to help readers make informed buying decisions.

The word “best” is often used to describe something that is of the highest quality or most favorable in a given situation. Additionally, “best” can indicate someone’s finest effort or highest achievement.

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The Oura Ring 4 isn’t functionally that much different from the previous Gen 3. It’s slimmer, features an all-titanium design, has improved battery life, and has an updated sensor algorithm that Oura says is more accurate. None of these software features is gatekept to the Ring 4, so Gen 3 owners shouldn’t feel the need to upgrade unless their ring no longer lasts more than two days on a single charge. That said, the fourth-gen model has an expanded size range spanning from 4 to 15. If you felt your Gen 3 was a bit snug or couldn’t find a size that fit right, you may have a better option now.

Step Counter Watch without Phone: Final Words

Battery life is officially rated for 24 hours, but in my testing, I regularly stretched it closer to 30 hours depending on use. And with ultra-fast charging, just 15 minutes on the puck gives you enough power for a full night of sleep tracking. That consistency makes a real difference, since health features like sleep apnea alerts, ovulation predictions, and overnight vitals tracking all depend on wearing the watch to bed. The smartwatch boasts a long battery life of up to 15 days on typical usage and 45 days on battery saver mode, plus a choice of over 50 watch faces. One of the most motivating features is Healthspan with Whoop Age, which calculates your body’s physiological age compared to your chronological age and provides actionable insights for improvement. Our tester found this metric highly motivating for setting health goals and tracking habits that directly impact biological aging.

• Social fitness is all about motivating and helping your workout buddies to achieve more together.
• A community created for women by women, Bodylura (formerly Fit Body) features 12 programs led by four expert trainers to help you reach your fitness goals.
• Certain trackers are limited to specific phone ecosystems — others work regardless of your phone.
• The watch’s smarts are held back by its lack of LTE, which means some of its features (including the ability to make and receive calls) depend on it being connected to your phone via Bluetooth.
• There’s a Vascular Load feature, which measures how stressed your vascular system is while you sleep, but it doesn’t explain why this metric is important.
• New to the Pixel Watch 4 is satellite SOS emergency assistance (on the LTE version), multi-band GPS (which should lead to more accurate GPS data), improved battery life and too much else to list here.

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I put each fitness tracker through its paces by using it while swimming, running between 20km and 30km and strength training. I rated each one on its accuracy (comparing to my other trusty fitness trackers), how easy the data was to read and how easy it was to use. Smartwatches will set you back a pretty sum, usually more than £300, and also represent something just shy of a smartphone on your wrist. The best fitness trackers, on the other hand, focus on tracking helpful health metrics and can be picked up for less than £250 – often much, much less. Naturally, we put them through different fitness and wellness activities, from different workouts to things like breathing exercises and sleep.

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Whoop Advanced Labs is an upcoming service that will let you send in a blood test to be reviewed by clinicians to give you even more health insights. If you like the distraction-free design of a smart ring, but want your wearable on your wrist instead of your finger, consider the Whoop MG. Wear OS 6 comes preloaded on the Pixel Watch 4, which means Gemini is ready to go on your wrist. The smart assistant can be activated with a new Raise-to-Talk gesture, though it was hit-or-miss in our tests. A new AI-enabled feature called Smart Replies offers up personal replies to your incoming text messages, though it only works if you have a Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 9 series, or Pixel 10 series phone.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8

Just keep in mind it lacks the Ultra’s emergency siren and shortcut button. The Galaxy Watch 8’s squircle design may seem controversial at first, but it allowed Samsung to make the smartwatch slimmer than its predecessor. It also sits flatter against your skin, which makes it more comfortable to wear. I preferred the Galaxy Watch 7 over the Ultra for casual fitness tracking and wearability, and that’s still true with the Watch 8, but the improvements over the previous generation aren’t significant. Its battery is barely bigger, and its brighter screen (up to 3,000 nits vs. 2,000) didn’t make much of a difference even in direct sunlight.

Options Available

The lack of GPS might be a dealbreaker for some but if you’re happy carrying your phone around on runs, then you can pair it for accurate location tracking. As you might expect, they tend to be slimmer and more subtle in profile than the likes of the Apple Watch SE, with smaller screens and reduced functionality a hallmark of their cheaper price points. However, we have included one cheap fitness watch, the Amazfit Active 2, in our list due to its excellent value while still being fitness-orientated.