Offline workout tracking with no account: where your log lives

I don’t run a server for PRGRES, the iPhone workout tracker I make. Your workouts are saved on your iPhone, and logging works the same in a basement gym with no signal as it does at home on Wi-Fi.

Strong and Hevy work differently. Strong prompts every new user to sign up for an account and syncs workouts to it in the background or when you finish a session. Hevy’s help center says your information is stored to your profile on Hevy’s servers rather than on your device. (Both checked September 2026.) That buys real features, like the same log on several devices. The trade-off is an account, and a copy of your full training history on the company’s servers.

What works without signal

Every part of the tracker runs on the phone: logging sets, the rest timer, the Live Activity on your Lock Screen, history, charts, PR detection and the Suggested target next to each set. The features page has the full list. Workouts are saved to a database on the phone, so there’s no upload to wait for or to fail.

There’s no sign-up screen. The first launch asks for your weight unit, whether you’re coming from another app (so you can import your history), a weekly workout goal and whether you want reminders, and then you can log. The app contains no analytics or advertising code, and its App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected.”

The one caveat is voice input in Quick Log. Lines you type, like “squat 5x5 @ 140kg RPE 8,” are turned into sets by a parser on the phone. If you dictate them instead, your voice goes through Apple’s speech recognition, which may process the audio on Apple’s servers.

Where copies of your log can end up

The main copy is on your iPhone. Other copies come from Apple features you control, or from files you make yourself:

• Your iPhone backup. iCloud Backup includes app data, so your PRGRES workouts are in it, and a backup to a Mac or PC includes them too. With standard iCloud settings, Apple holds the keys to your iCloud Backup. With Advanced Data Protection turned on, the backup is end-to-end encrypted and the keys stay on your devices.
• Apple Health. On iOS 26 or later, if you allow it, each workout you track live in PRGRES is saved to Health as a Traditional Strength Training workout, with its total volume, set count and exercise names. Workouts you log after the fact or import aren’t written to Health, and on iOS 17 to 25 nothing is written. Reading from Health is an option too: PRGRES reads your sleep, heart rate variability and resting heart rate only after you tap Connect Apple Health in Stats > Readiness and allow it, and uses them on your iPhone to adjust your readiness.
• Files and links you share. A CSV export or a workout link is a copy that goes wherever you send it.

None of these copies passes through a server of mine. Delete All Data in the PRGRES settings erases your workouts, XP and achievements. Deleting the app removes everything, including plans and your bodyweight log. Copies in older backups stay until those backups are replaced or deleted, and workouts already saved to Health stay there until you remove them in the Health app. The privacy policy covers the app itself.

How to back up your workouts

With no PRGRES account, your iPhone backup is your PRGRES backup. Check two settings:

1. iCloud Backup is on. Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud > iCloud Backup, and turn on Back Up This iPhone. It runs while the phone is connected to power, locked and on Wi-Fi (Apple’s steps).
2. PRGRES is included. In Settings, tap your name, then iCloud > Storage (or Manage Account Storage) > Backups, and pick this iPhone. Find PRGRES in the list of apps. If it’s switched off, your workouts aren’t in the backup (Apple’s steps).

If you don’t use iCloud, a backup to a Mac or PC includes the app’s data as well.

A CSV export gives you a second copy that doesn’t depend on any backup. In PRGRES, go to Profile, tap the gear icon for Settings, and tap Export Workouts under Data. The History screen has the same option in its menu. You get one file named workouts-YYYY-MM-DD.csv, with a row for every completed set: the date, workout name, exercise, weight in kg, reps, RPE and set type. Save it to Files or email it to yourself. It opens in Numbers, Excel or Google Sheets.

The CSV covers your sets, including the time and distance of timed or cardio sets. Plans, notes and your bodyweight log aren’t in it.

Moving to a new iPhone

The easiest way is to set up the new phone from the old one with Quick Start, or to restore it from an iCloud or computer backup (Apple’s guide). PRGRES arrives with all its data: workouts, plans, settings, XP and achievements.

If you set up the new phone from scratch, move your history with the CSV:

1. On the old phone, export your workouts and AirDrop the file to the new phone, or save it to iCloud Drive.
2. On the new phone, install PRGRES, go to Profile, tap the gear icon and tap Import Workouts under Data.
3. Tap Select CSV File and pick the export. PRGRES recognizes its own export, which always writes kilograms, so there’s no unit to set. Then import.

Workouts already on the phone are skipped, so importing the same file twice won’t double your history. Imported workouts count toward your XP, level and achievements: each workout an import adds earns its base XP, and workouts already in your History earn nothing.

Plans aren’t in the CSV. To move one, swipe right on it in My Plans, tap Share and send the link to yourself. Opening the link on the new phone gives you an Add to My Plans button. The link carries the plan’s name, its exercises and their target sets.

The same importer reads Hevy’s CSV export. How to move your Hevy workouts to PRGRES walks through it, and the import guide covers every app PRGRES imports from.

Sharing a workout with a friend

Open a workout in History and tap Share. The message gets two things: a text summary of every set that anyone can read, and a prgres:// link. The workout is compressed into the link itself, so there’s no PRGRES server in between. If your friend has PRGRES, the link opens an Import screen where they can save your workout’s exercises as a plan of their own.

What you give up

• Sync between devices. PRGRES runs on iPhone and iPad, but a workout logged on your iPhone won’t show up on your iPad.
• Other platforms. Strong has Apple Watch and Android apps. Hevy has both, plus a web app. PRGRES has no Apple Watch, Android or web version.
• Recovery. If your phone is lost or wiped and you have no backup or CSV, your log is gone. There’s no account to restore it from.
• A feed. Sharing in PRGRES is one link at a time. Hevy lets you follow friends and copy their routines, so if your training partners use it, that’s a good reason to pick Hevy.