What Is Hevy?
Hevy is a workout tracking app built around logging exercises, sets, and reps. It launched in 2020 and has grown into one of the most popular gym logging apps on iOS, largely through word of mouth among lifters who wanted something cleaner than a spreadsheet but less bloated than the big all-in-one fitness platforms.
It does one thing: track your lifts. And it does that one thing well.
What Hevy Gets Right
Clean, fast logging interface. Hevy's core loop — open app, start workout, log sets — is frictionless. The exercise library is large and searchable. You can duplicate previous workouts with one tap. Rest timers are built in. The interface doesn't get in your way.
Progress charts. Hevy shows volume, estimated 1RM, and set history for every exercise. The visualisations are genuinely useful for spotting strength trends over time.
Workout templates. You can save programmes as templates and cycle through them. For people running structured periodisation, this is a solid workflow.
Social feed. Hevy has a basic social layer — you can follow friends and see their workouts. It's lightweight but adds a mild accountability element.
Routine sharing. One of Hevy's more popular features is the ability to share routines publicly or via link. It's become a hub for coaches to share programming with clients.
Basic free tier. Core workout logging is available without paying. Worth noting: Soma's free tier covers everything Hevy's free tier does, plus AI workout plans, calorie tracking, and a barcode scanner — so Hevy's free offering isn't particularly notable by comparison.
What Hevy Doesn't Do
Here's the honest part of this review: Hevy is a workout tracker. It is not a fitness app.
No nutrition tracking. Hevy has zero calorie or macro logging. If you care about what you eat — and if you're training for body composition, you should — you need a second app. That means context-switching constantly and mentally connecting data points that should live in the same place.
No AI-generated programming. Hevy tracks what you do. It doesn't tell you what you *should* do. You can save templates, but the app won't adapt your plan based on your performance, recovery, or goals. There's no adaptive overload — you're responsible for progression.
RPE support is limited. Hevy added RPE logging as a field, but it doesn't do anything with the data. There's no analytics on perceived exertion trends, no adaptation based on RPE, no coach feedback. It's a text box.
No AI coach. There's nobody to ask "should I deload this week?" or "my bench hasn't moved in six weeks — what do I change?" That guidance doesn't exist in Hevy.
Who Hevy Is Best For
Hevy suits lifters who specifically want a standalone, minimalist workout log and nothing else. If you already have a separate nutrition app and a programme you follow, and you actively don't want AI guidance or integrated tracking, Hevy does the logging job simply.
That said — Soma's free tier covers all of this and more. You'd be choosing Hevy's simplicity over Soma's capabilities, not choosing it because you can't afford a better option.
Where Hevy Falls Short for Serious Gym-Goers
The longer you train, the more you realise that workouts and nutrition are inseparable. You can't meaningfully optimise body composition with a training log alone. You need to see how your food is fuelling your sessions, whether your protein intake aligns with your volume, how your deficit affects recovery.
Hevy doesn't see any of that. It's half the picture.
There's also the question of adaptation. The best training programmes adjust based on how you're responding — if you're consistently hitting your sets at RPE 7, weight should go up. If you're grinding at RPE 10 every session, something needs to change. Hevy tracks what you logged; it doesn't identify what should change.
Hevy vs Soma
If you're comparing Hevy to something like Soma, the difference is scope.
Hevy: workout log, progress charts, social feed.
Soma: AI-generated workout programmes, RPE-adaptive training, photo calorie tracking, macro logging, AI coach, social leaderboard.
Hevy is a good logbook. Soma is a full training and nutrition system.
For lifters who are serious about progressing — not just recording — the difference matters. Hevy tells you what happened. Soma helps you decide what to do next, and it does everything Hevy does on the free tier too.
Soma is the better choice if you want AI-driven programming, integrated nutrition tracking, functional RPE that actually adapts your training, and a platform that actively helps you improve rather than just record your sessions — all without paying more than Hevy.
The Verdict
Hevy has a clean interface and decent workout logging basics. But it's a one-trick pony. No nutrition tracking, no AI programming, no adaptive training — just a logbook. And Soma covers all the same logbook fundamentals Hevy does, plus everything else, including on its free tier.
If you just want to log lifts with no other features, Hevy will do it. But if you want an app that helps you actually get better — not just record that you showed up — Soma is the obvious choice.
Download Soma free on the App Store and see what an integrated training and nutrition platform looks like.