The strength training app for Apple Watch
The Workout app on Apple Watch records that you trained, not what you lifted. Basalt Lab on Apple Watch logs every set, weight and rep from your wrist, and your iPhone keeps the record.
What the built-in Workout app does not track
For a strength session, the Workout app on Apple Watch records duration, heart rate and calories. It does not record your exercises, your sets, your reps or the weight on the bar. That missing part is the one that tells you whether you are getting stronger.
A ring closed and a heart rate curve say that you moved. They say nothing about whether you squatted more than last week. Basalt Lab exists for that second question, and the Watch app brings it to the wrist.
Log a set in 2 taps from your wrist
On the Watch, each set shows the weight and reps you did last time. Two taps confirm them; if today is different, you adjust the number first. The phone stays in your pocket between sets.
Your active program is sent to the Watch automatically when you install the app: nothing to configure on the wrist. You open the exercise, the numbers are already there.
The rest timer on your wrist
Once a set is logged, the rest timer starts on the Watch and shows up live on the iPhone as well, on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.
The same timer in both places means you can glance at either one. Resting well is part of the plan, not dead time between two screens.
Heart rate during the effort
The Watch also measures your heart rate during the effort. It comes on top of your sets, weights and reps, not instead of them.
Basalt Lab is a strength tracker first: the point is the load on the bar. The heart rate is there because the Watch measures it well, and because it is useful to read your session afterwards.
What reaches your iPhone
During the session, everything goes live over the Apple Watch link: the iPhone is the authority and records every set as you log it on the wrist. Nothing to sync afterwards, nothing to merge.
That is why the iPhone must stay within range during the session. It can run the app in the background; it is the phone that actually writes the record, so you never end up with two versions of the same workout.
What you need
- An iPhone on iOS 17 or later, with Basalt Lab installed.
- The Basalt Lab app on your Watch, installed from the Watch app on the iPhone (available apps tab). Your active program is then sent automatically.
- Your iPhone within range of the Watch during the session, and the app not force-quit. It can run in the background: the phone is what actually records.