Alternatives
Products that do what I spent 2 years building an iOS app no one asked for does
i built a heart rate zone training app for runners. ios + apple watch. custom zones, real-time haptics, post-run graphs. all the “smart” stuff you’d expect. but i never talked to a single runner before building it. not even myself lol. started as a thesis → kept building → added features → added a paywall (€4/month!) → launched it → and yeah… no one cared. zero feedback. zero users. just code in the void. i recently made the whole thing free. not trying to “sell” anything now — just seeing if it’s actually useful, and listening this time. curious how others handle this. ever build…
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- 2VC
I spent a month to put together a workout app without writing a single line of code by hand. It's on par with many apps like Fitbod or Fitness AI. Got approved on iOS App Store. Let me know if you want free access, only thing I ask is to give me genuine feedback and one feature you would like to see. I will be asking Codex/Claude to rank the top features and implement it.
Feb 2026 · apps.apple.com
- 3IW
2013 · yourfirstiosapp.com
- 4VA
I've just launched this little iOS app as an alternative to Apple Fitness, which is cluttered and chaotic when it comes to visualizing basic workout stats and metrics. The idea is to focus on a clean, minimalistic design and only show high-level metrics that are actually useful, e.g. how often did I work out this week/month/year, cardio vs strength vs mobility, surf session count in February, etc. It's free and offline. Also, no signup, no ads, no data sharing, no social feeds, and no notifications. Just open it and get a quick glance at the state of your workout game within 2s.…
Mar 2026 · apps.apple.com
- 5AF
I actually started it June 2011 to learn iOS, launched it in September, and have been steadily adding features and making improvements. It's something I use every day and I hope other people find it useful. Enjoy!
2012 · itunes.apple.com
- 6EA
2016 · appstore.com
- 7IR
I was going through my app subscriptions and realized I was paying $15 for a pretty good workout app, which seemed a bit high to me. As a software engineer who is also well versed in claude code, I realized that I could likely vibecode a very similar app, or even build something more to my liking. I challenged my self to build something roughly equivalent this afternoon. Workflow was: start with a detailed spec from Claude code describing many of the features common in workout apps. Then paste this into lovable to have it build out the initial mvp. Once that was built, I used claude code…
Dec 2025 · strengthquest.lovable.app
- 8DA
Hey HN'ers! If you sit around a computer all day and are looking to be more active, or are just active in general, check out our app! https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id903459923?pt=265797&ct=hn&mt=8 or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.activityclub We have been hacking on this for 2 years and it's finally nearing a state where we are stoked about! Launched last Aug (2015) to the public. Coming up on our 1 yr anniversary and starting to get some traction. Two of us have _each_ lost about 70lbs while building the app…
2016
- 9IM
Hello there, When I started training for the first marathon in my life, I download a 6 months training plan, printed it, pinned it to my fridge, and started circling each completed training day. Sadly, I would often get injured during my runs, which would lead to days or weeks without running, and a lot of changes to the plan I had printed. All running apps that I tried either forced me to follow their plan from the start (which I didn’t want to do because I was already in the middle of training) or made it extremely slow and difficult to add a custom plan. So I decided to create my own app,…
2023 · weeklyruns.web.app
- 10GF
2018 · itunes.apple.com
- 11YP
Care to share a screenshot and the 'killer feature' of any of your personal, self-built productivity tools? eg. I made my own calendar and money-tracker last year - there are no other users, it makes no money, I have no plans to make it public, but it holds my life together :) http://i.imgur.com/h2keJDg.png GREAT BECAUSE... it tells me how much I'm going to get paid this month. Absolutely no ulterior motive here (ie. I'm not canvassing opinions for a productivity app startup or anything), just interested.
2013
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Hi y'all! I am full stack web developer, and recently I started to mess around with Swift. I've been having a lot of fun and I actually build little Countdown app ( I know, how original..), but I just wanted to share it with the world!
2024
- 13RA
Running is extremely minimal and hence supports very limited options. I am trying to understand the market from the perspective that "Should such minimal apps exists?" Kindly check it out and let me know what you think about it? Would you use it? Or I am going completely in the wrong direction. Feedbacks are welcome on usability, look and feel as well. Website: http://hmpgr.com/apps/running Invite Code: HN Thanks a lot for reading.
2013
- 14TN
Hello HN, I wanted a simple app to track my fitness progress. Every fitness tracker in the AppStore had too many features for my liking so I made fit-stitch (Free, iOS). It allows you to take snapshots and attach a weight and date to each one. When you've made some progress you can create a before and after picture with a few taps. Hope you find it useful. www.fit-stitch.com
2014
- 15MF
Hello, I have just finished my second app, which is also my first ever pay to download app. It's called StreamClock, It's like a radio alarm clock, but uses a Last.fm radio station, or Spotify Track chosen by the user. It took me 1 month of evenings and weekends, and I fell like I have learned a lot. I am particularly proud of the logo... To find it just search "StreamClock" in Google Play. I would really appreciate any feedback, comments, questions or suggestions. Thanks.
2013
- 16IC
Hi Everyone, I created a mobile app called Accumoo, and I would appreciate it if y'all can have a look, download and give me a favorable review. Lots of blood, sweat, tears and love went into this app, and I hope you LOVE it as much as I do - it's the app I always needed and wanted. Anyhow, I've been a Rails developer and Software Engineer for a long time, and this is my first stab at a mobile app. It's a "habit tracker" app on steroids that's just fun to use - syncs across devices, local-first architecture - and an easter egg game for good measure. Help a disabled vet out and give it a go.…
Jan 2026 · apps.apple.com
- 17IM
I got tired of posting on r/fitness and getting unclear feedback, so I built an app that analyzes physique photos with AI. It started as a weekend project after I couldn't get good advice on my lifting progress. Upload a few pics and the AI tells you: Where you rank compared to others (using a gaming-style tier system) Scores for each muscle group with actual numbers Body proportions and balance issues Body fat estimates and body type I also added some fun stuff like matching you to a "warrior type" based on your build (turns out I'm built like a Viking, not the Spartan I was hoping…
2025 · aestheticrank.com
- 18NM
Raising my hand as someone who's checked Settings > General > Software Update way too many times. I got tired of finding out about iOS updates from Twitter 6 hours after they dropped, so I built EarlyNotify. It's dead simple: the system watches Apple's firmware servers, and when a new iOS/iPadOS/macOS/watchOS/tvOS update hits, you get an email within 15 minutes. That's it. No app to install. No account dashboard. Just an email saying "hey, iOS 26.1 just dropped." It's free, open-source, no upsells, just notifications. Would love any feedback! Happy to answer questions…
Nov 2025 · earlynotify.com
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2021 · apps.apple.com
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Built this at a Startup Weekend last November. We've been sitting on this code for months. Would love to have some people signup and throw us a little feedback. Clearly this isn't finished, but with a little crowd support, we could just wrap it up in a weekend. A few things: - Works with Youtube and Vimeo, probably a few others. - Web UI is still pretty sloppy - zero onboarding. sorry. - We have native iPhone and iPad clients that are a handful of bugs from being shipped. Anyone interested in beta testing them, shoot me an email at ddinch :at: gmail. We will beam you up via TestFlight (great…
2011 · clpstr.com
- 22IP
Hey hackers, Like many of you, I'm always trying to optimize my productivity, and I have tried a lot of apps out there to do so. I didn't find the exact one that I could use, so I built one for myself. Check it out and let me know if you have any thoughts!
2024 · focusmax.io
- 23MW
Hey HN A little over four years ago, I built a weightlifting app for 5/3/1 with the goal of making $1000 total. Five months later I had reached that goal and made it to the top of HN [0]. It’s been earning between $1000 - $1300 every months since. After that a lot happened. I got a job, then had kids, so I put the project on ice. When I grew too disappointed with my job, I decided to try to raise some money and build on the success of my 5/3/1 app by addressing the main feedback I kept getting: the ability to create your own programs. Thus, Vis was born. The initial idea…
Nov 2025 · vis.fitness
- 24OO
Yeah I know I hate the name too but I wasn't about to pay up for odyssey.app. It's an open source project so feel free to poke around with it / fork it. I talk about it more on the marketing website, but a few of us have been using it for the past month and kind of fun. Obviously there will be a slew of issues / feedback / nits that come from this, but c'est la vie. GH is here: https://github.com/johnlarkin1/odozi
Apr 2026 · odozi.app
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