Fitness, Personal Training, & Exercise Science

11 Personal Trainer Apps That’ll Take Your Business to the Next Level

July 6, 2023

In a time when there is an app for almost everything, it’s crucial to start using technology to take your personal training business to the next level. We know that after you earn your personal training certificate, that is just the beginning. And we’re here to support you as you grow.

From helping streamline your daily operations to scaling your business, hundreds of personal training apps and software programs can make personal trainers’ lives easier.

On the flip side, you’ll have to spend considerable effort and energy sifting through and qualifying all available options.

After all, not all personal trainer apps are made equal. Some will be better than others.

Plus, to further complicate matters, you may not have the same business needs as other personal trainers. So, what’s “better” for another personal trainer’s fitness business may not necessarily suit your unique personal training business needs or goals.

But, not to worry, because we’ve done the research for you. After reviewing and comparing over a dozen personal training apps—based on the following criteria: pricing, features, and overall reputation in the fitness industry—here’s a list of the best personal trainer apps, categorized according to common personal training business needs.

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Best Personal Training Apps That’ll Take Time-Consuming Admin Work Off Your Plate

Chances are, when people think of personal trainers’ day-to-day business operations, the last thing that’ll pop up in their minds is administrative work. But, of course, you’d know differently from experience.

Administrative work eats up a massive chunk of your time. Every new client you on board means more work in terms of:

  • Scheduling appointments
  • Completing and tracking forms and waivers
  • Following up on out-of-the-gym tasks (e.g., daily stretches to improve mobility)
  • Keeping session notes to refer to in the future
  • Creating invoices and processing payments, and more

While you may see these administrative tasks as an inherent part of all personal trainers’ responsibilities (and they are!), the hours you spend on them can cap the number of clients you’re able to take on—which, in turn, limits your business’s profitability and impact.

And that’s likely the last thing you want. Thankfully, there are time- and life-saving personal training apps that’ll help take hours of administrative work off your plate so you can focus on what’s most important for your business. Here are three of the best.

Practice Better

For iOS, Android, and web.

If you’re searching for a complete client management app, Practice Better is one of the best personal trainer apps well-suited to your needs. This secure, cloud-based software is jam-packed with features designed to save time and money for personal trainers:

  • Fillable forms and waivers: Create or upload forms and waivers on Practice Better’s built-in Form Builder. When you add a client, check the boxes of the forms you need to be completed. Clients can fill in, sign, and submit forms right from the Client Portal. Easily set up in-app reminders, so you don’t have to spend precious time or headspace chasing clients to complete all necessary forms.
  • 24/7 access to client databases: What workout plan is your client on? How are they coping with their workout sessions? Practice Better allows you to create, upload, and organize session notes on the app—so client progress tracking is a breeze. Better still, since it’s cloud-based software, you’ll gain access to your clients’ records from any internet-connected device, no matter where you are.
  • Appointment bookings and scheduling: No more calling or emailing your clients to schedule, book, or confirm the dates and timings of their workout sessions. In the Practice Better app, you can customize your availability and allow your clients to book appointments from your website or the Client Portal (yes, it supports website integration). Sick of no-shows? You could require clients to pay or provide their credit card information at the time of booking.
  • Painless invoicing and payments: Create invoices, process payments (via Stripe or Square), and set up flexible installment plans for your packages and services on the Practice Better app.  

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$25 for up to ten clients. Free 14-day trial available.

PTminder Software

For iOS, Android, and web.

PTminder is a cloud-based website and mobile personal training app that helps you easily manage your business’s day-to-day activities. You can access it through your phone or any device with an internet connection.

Like Practice Better, PTminder is a personal trainer management software with the following features:

  • Client management: Easily keep track of client databases—from assessments to crucial health information to workout plans.
  • Online bookings: PTminder gives your clients an accurate view of your real-time availabilities, allowing them to schedule workout sessions in a fuss-free manner with you. Its automated email and text reminder delivery feature for upcoming bookings also helps reduce client no-shows.
  • Invoicing and payment processing: Accept online card or bank payments (via integrations like Stripe and PayPal) from your clients for bookings and packages. 

That said, while Practice Better and PTminder are both easily two of the best personal trainer apps around, the latter has a key advantage over the former: It provides you with the option of custom branding.

Of course, you’ll have to pay more (we’ll cover how much more in a bit), but, in exchange, you’ll get to:

  • Incorporate your brand logo and color themes into the app
  • List your app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play with your chosen app name, descriptions, and screenshots

In other words, it’ll seem like your own custom-built app—increasing your brand exposure and lending you a sense of professionalism, which may help you attract and retain more clients.

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$44 for up to 50 clients. Pay an additional US$36 monthly for custom branding. Free 14-day trial available.

Personal Trainer Apps You Can Take Anywhere and Stay in Contact with Clients

When you’re a personal trainer, keeping in touch with clients is one of the best ways to show them you care, stay fresh in their memory, and continue receiving their business. But when communication can take place on so many platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook page, Telegram, Instagram, and SMS), keeping track of it all can get overwhelming.

To help you better support your clients, here are three of the best personal trainer apps that’ll streamline your process of:

  • Checking in with clients
  • Addressing clients’ questions about their workout plans
  • Communicating helpful fitness tips, and more

FitSW

For iOS, Android, and web.

FitSW is one of the best fitness apps that helps you stay organized and keep all your business messaging centralized so crucial client conversations don’t get buried under personal messages.

Worried about different operating systems? You don’t have to.

The fitness app’s Personal Trainer Client Messaging feature is available across all platforms: both Android and iOS, along with the web version. Push notifications mean you’ll never have to worry about missing a client message.

And if you need to send mass messages, you’ll be pleased to know FitSW supports that, too. You could message one, many, or all with a couple of taps.

Beyond in-app messaging, FitSW is also bursting at the seams with other personal-trainer-essential features that allow you to:

  • Manage clients’ workouts
  • Build and assign meal plans
  • View fitness progress graphs
  • Set up flexible personal training packages (e.g., monthly subscription options)
  • Build personalized workouts with custom exercise demos

It’s widely used among individual personal trainers and physical therapists, gym owners, studio owners, and wellness studios. A testament to FitSW being one of the most trusted personal training software.

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$19 for up to five clients. One-month free trial available.

Nudge Coach

For iOS, Android, and web.

Don’t need all the bells and whistles of FitSW but still want to localize all client conversations to a single app?

Nudge Coach may be right for you. Unlike other fitness apps with a whole bunch of features you may not necessarily use (but still must pay for anyway), Nudge Coach’s main features revolve around client engagement and communication. Specifically, it offers:

  • Secure in-app messaging: Get real-time notifications when clients message you and reply when it’s top of mind. Never lose track of client conversations.
  • Client segmentation: Segment your clients however you prefer (e.g., via experience level, type of workout programs, and fitness goals) to create tight-knit, motivated communities. Tailoring your messaging to these small groups ensures you’re providing the most relevant and helpful information, potentially skyrocketing client engagement and retention.

Pricing: Free for up to five clients. Custom branding available—monthly subscription starts from US$600 per month.

Fitness Apps for Personal Trainers Who Wish to Streamline Exercise Programming

Creating unique strength training fitness plans for all your clients can be a time- and emotionally draining affair. In the process of narrowing down suitable strength training exercises, you’ll have to consider your client’s:

  • Fitness goals
  • Perceived fitness level
  • Lifestyle factors (e.g., daily routine and dietary habits)
  • Unique fitness journey (i.e., what have they tried before engaging you?)
  • Exercise likes and dislikes
  • Health conditions and past injuries
  • Access to gym equipment, and more

The work doesn’t stop once you’ve created an effective, personalized fitness plan.

There’s still the matter of demonstrating every exercise to your client, so they know the purpose of each and how they could perform them safely when working out. 

Imagine if you had full access to a done-for-you, pre-built exercise library, or if you could create your own exercise demos once, then use them repeatedly for multiple clients—how much time and effort would that save you in developing training programs?

Answer: tons.

Starting to think it all sounds too good to be true? Well, let the following three personal trainer apps—which are undoubtedly some of the best personal trainer apps around—prove you wrong. You can finally create and manage training programs with ease.

Trainerize Software

For iOS, Android, and web.

Trainerize is cloud-based personal trainer software that helps you build bespoke training plans for your clients easily and quickly. More specifically, it gives you full access to the following:

  • Professionally created pre-built exercise library: Wish to spend more time coaching clients instead of filming strength training exercise demonstrations and creating visual workouts? Trainerize’s libraries of professionally created pre-built exercises, workouts, and programs have got you covered. That said, the fitness app also allows you to upload your exercise videos to the in-app Video Drive or import your YouTube videos if you wish.
  • Training templates: You don’t have to start from scratch with every new client. Trainerize provides training plan templates that you could make minor tweaks and adjustments from client to client as necessary.

Beyond simplifying exercise programming, Trainerize also allows you to monitor your client’s progress (e.g., before-and-after progress photos, body stats, and heart rate), send in-app messages, and set nutrition plans.

With its list of comprehensive features, it isn’t surprising to learn that Trainerize is widely used in the fitness industry and has won numerous awards, with the latest being recognition from G2—a community, marketplace, business, and review platform—as the “Best Personal Training Software.”

Pricing: Free for up to one client. Free 30-day trial available for all paid plans. Custom branding available—exact pricing determined by Trainerize’s Sales team.

My PT Hub

For iOS, Android, and web.

Used by over 50,000 personal trainers globally, My PT Hub is a mobile and web app that helps personal trainers create training programs unique to each client.

Like Trainerize, My PT Hub gives you full access to an extensive database of HD exercise demonstrations (including strength training ones and beyond) you could use with your clients as-is. The fitness app also allows you to deliver an even more personalized training experience to your clients by uploading your own exercise videos, descriptions, and form cues.

What makes My PT Hub one of the best personal training apps around is its ability to integrate with third-party apps—unlocking your access to every fitness metric your client tracks.

Most notably, My PT Hub is fully integrated with Apple Health (available on Apple watch), Fitbit, and Google Fit (compatible with smartwatches from Samsung, Polar, and more).

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$55 per month for unlimited clients. Free 30-day trial available. Custom branding included with all paid plans.

The Training Notebook

For iOS, Android, and web.

For personal trainers with hundreds of clients looking for a pocket-friendly personal training app that’ll streamline the process of creating unique workouts for clients, The Training Notebook could be a perfect fit.

This fitness app allows you to manage an unlimited number of clients on the platform at just US$30 per month. But, of course, affordability aside, can the app truly help you save time?

While The Training Notebook doesn’t come with an extensive, pre-built exercise library, you can still easily create personalized workouts for each client from easily adjustable pre-made program templates. The app also allows you to embed video links in individual exercises.

This means you could create and upload individual exercise demonstrations on YouTube (or any other internet-based video hosting platform, like Vimeo and Dailymotion) once, then use them repeatedly across all clients.

Other helpful features available through this personal trainer app include progress tracking (e.g., saving clients’ progress photos), in-app messaging, and interval timers.

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$11 per month for up to ten clients. 15-day free trial available.

Top Apps for Fitness Coaches Keen on Offering Online Personal Training and On-Demand Fitness Coaching

Think virtual fitness no longer has a place in today’s post-pandemic world? Think again.

According to the Les Mills Global Report for 2021, which surveyed 12,157 fitness consumers, the majority favored a 60:40 split between in-gym and digital home workouts.

In other words, fitness consumers still have a healthy appetite for digital fitness offerings—something you could capitalize on to capture a broader base of clients and maximize your impact, along with profitability. 

Admittedly, though, offering digital fitness services, either in place of or in addition to in-person ones, as a personal trainer is easier said than done. You may find yourself grappling with difficult questions, like

  • Which platform should I use?
  • Will I need multiple personal training software? (e.g., a video conferencing tool and a client management tool)
  • Do I need special filming equipment?

Put those question marks away. Below, you’ll find two of the best apps to help you deliver virtual fitness services right on their platforms without needing additional software or equipment.   

Omnify

For iOS, Android, and web.

Omnify has everything you need to sell and manage your personal training services online:

  • Build on-demand packages: Create and sell online training programs your clients could complete remotely and on their own time.
  • Host live personal training sessions online: No need to switch between personal training platforms. Omnify supports Zoom and Google Meet integrations, so scheduling, conducting, and receiving payments for online training sessions happen all in one centralized place.

Other incredibly helpful features for personal trainers include client management (e.g., scheduling and liability waivers), invoicing, and various reporting functionalities (e.g., you could combine data and gain insights into your business stats, including bookings, cancellations, and sales figures).

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$39 per month for up to 500 clients. Seven-day free trial available. Custom branding included with all paid plans.

Exercise

For iOS, Android, and web.

Exercise is the all-in-one personal training app that’ll help you carve a space for yourself in the virtual fitness market. With this fitness app, you’ll be able to:

  • Build and sell workout plans on your online store: Use pre-built exercise videos or create your own exercise videos to craft and sell workout programs to your fitness community and distance training clients.
  • Livestream workout sessions: Exercise eliminates geographical barriers. Coach clients located anywhere in the world with the fitness app’s live streaming abilities.
  • Offer on-demand fitness content: Develop a library of fitness video content your clients can go through at their own pace.
  • Run special events (e.g., fitness challenges): Easily create unique fitness challenges that’ll increase engagement, drive revenue, and help your clients get results.

From booking and scheduling appointments to sending fitness assessments, Exercise also contains all the features you need for effective client management.

Pricing: Quote available on request.

Personal Training Apps That’ll Elevate Your Marketing Efforts

As you likely know by now, marketing is crucial in helping you stand out from other personal trainers, attract more clients, and grow your business.

But let’s be honest. Marketing can be intimidating.

There are so many types of marketing (e.g., outbound marketing, personalized marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing). How will you find the time to do them all between crafting client programs, coaching clients during their sessions, and checking in with clients?

The following personal trainer apps may help.

Here’s a disclaimer: They won’t cover all your marketing needs. Still, they’re a step in the right direction if you’ve done little to no marketing for your personal training business.

Vagaro

For iOS, Android, and web.

Having a personal training website of your own is vital for everything from acquiring and retaining clients to improving marketing and generating new leads.

If you’re not keen on going through all the trouble of picking a website platform, choosing a hosting provider, and finding an available domain name, Vagaro offers you an easy way out. Its Website Builder lets you quickly and easily create a responsive website for your business that’ll allow your clients to:

  • Book appointments
  • View your products and services
  • Look up upcoming sessions and past purchases, and more

Vagaro also allows you to reach prospective and existing clients at scale with the following features:

  • Email marketing: Vagaro’s intuitive, drag-and-drop email editor allows you to create beautiful emails for your clients in-app. You can get started quickly with their email templates or build your own custom design.
  • Text marketing: SMS messages boast significantly higher open rates than emails. Vagaro allows you to schedule SMS marketing campaigns manually or set up text marketing automation to trigger text marketing messages based on events (e.g., a client’s birthday).

Pricing: Monthly subscription starts from US$25 per month for up to 1,000 free email marketing messages. 30-day free trial available.

Mindbody

For iOS, Android, and web.

From client attraction to conversion to retention, Mindbody’s comprehensive marketing features help you cover all stages of the marketing funnel:

  • Attract more clients: Mindbody displays your services in-app (giving you exposure to millions of Mindbody users) and on Google—making it easy for prospective clients to find and book appointments with you. Note: Your availability is updated in real-time on Google Calendar, so you never have to worry about double- or overbookings.
  • Acquire clients with promotions: Easily promote selected services with premium placement on the Mindbody app and price them to attract new clients (e.g., 15% discount on the first month of personal training). Pay a small marketing fee only when clients book a workout session with you.
  • Retain clients with automated campaigns: Personalize your email and text campaigns with Mindbody’s integrated email editor and customizable templates. Automate your customer marketing so you always send the right message at the right time to your clients, effectively motivating, converting, and encouraging brand loyalty.

Of course, this personal trainer app isn’t just known for its powerful marketing integration features. Instead, it’s quite the all-in-one personal trainer management software that’ll help you manage client information, class scheduling, and invoicing. It’s also widely used in the fitness industry among wellness studios. 

Pricing: Quote available on request.

Main Takeaways

It’s important to stay ahead of the curve if you want to maintain a successful personal training business. Taking advantage of online apps and software programs, like the leading apps featured above, will help give you an edge over your competitors.

These personal training apps will not only streamline your business—freeing up more time for yourself—but you could also benefit from increased client retention, helping you make more money.

It’s worth noting that beyond the apps featured in this article, there are plenty of others available that may suit your needs (e.g., Total Coaching, True Coach, and Gain). All options, from Total Coaching to Gain and beyond, are great. But chances are, the apps listed here are enough to point you in the right direction.  

Ultimately, whether you’re just starting out with your personal training business or an experienced trainer, using just one of the personal trainer apps featured above could help you make more money, stay more organized, and get more fitness clients.

Interested in learning about fitness and nutrition certifications?

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