Apple Fitness+ now writes a four-week weights programme around your goals, experience, schedule and equipment, then adjusts each week based on what you actually lifted.
- Apple announced Gym Strength on 3 November 2026 as part of Apple Fitness+. It is in the iOS, iPadOS and watchOS 27.3 developer betas now, with no public release date yet.
- You pick your training days and the body areas to focus on. Five exercises take about 20 to 30 minutes, and seven take about 45 to 60.
- Each session sets the exercises, sets, reps and weight. Short trainer videos show every movement from three angles.
- The library includes more than 350 exercises across 30+ equipment types, from kettlebells and cables to barbells. A pair of dumbbells is the minimum.
- You can swap equipment or exercises that target the same area, add sets, or skip a move.
- An Apple Watch is optional. With one, you log reps and weight from the wrist while it records heart rate and calories.
- Gym Strength is included in Fitness+ at $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year, or in Apple One Premier. An optional Training Note uses Apple Intelligence to preview sessions and explain progress, in English only.
What it means for gym-goers
If you already pay for Fitness+, you’ve just got a free, coached, lifting programme that raises the load when you are ready. It works anywhere from a commercial gym to a garage with dumbbells, and the swap station button helps when the equipment you need for your next exercise is in use. You log reps and weight by tapping them.
You can only run one plan at a time, so a split routine with chest on one day and back on another is not possible yet, which is an odd oversight. Logging sets and weight in Gym Strength also sits behind the subscription.
Quick answers
Do I need an Apple Watch for Gym Strength?
No. It runs on an iPhone or iPad, and the watch adds wrist logging plus heart rate and calories.
Can I log my own lifting workouts without Fitness+?
Not with Gym Strength. It is part of the paid subscription, so free logging still needs a third-party app.
When can I use it?
Now if you run the 27.3 betas. Everyone else gets it with the public 27.3 release, for which Apple has not given a date.
Related: WHOOP bought an Apple Watch strength app and watchOS 27.2 lets Siri AI recall past chats.
Source and original research by: the5krunner and 9to5Mac.
Last Updated on 3 November 2026 by tfk the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. See the gear tfk uses. ID
