Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

1. 1
   Steps: Workout & Pedometer▲98

   Hey HN, I'm a solo developer and I built Steps: Workout & Pedometer, an iOS pedometer and workout tracker. Last week, two German iOS publications wrote about the app. I didn't pitch them. I didn't send a press release. I didn't even know it was happening. I woke up to a spike in downloads, checked the analytics, and traced it back to their articles. That coverage pushed the app past $1,000 in sales. I still have no idea how they found the app. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience getting featured in publications, whether organically or through outreach. What worked for you? Any tips…

   Mar 2026 · getsteps.app · its alternatives →

2. 2
   touch grass▲525

   I wanted old school social media back. Actual connections with friends. Not pity likes and performances and highlight reels. All my friends have stopped posting. Everyone's a lurker now. I'm a lurker. The only time I see what anyone's doing is when it's a humblebrag. I have no idea what's actually going on in my friends' lives besides the ones I see every week or so. So I built touch grass. You post once a week: 3 easy questions, max 3 photos. Sunday 6pm mountain time (yeah its my time zone) everyone's posts unlock at the same time. You catch up on what your people have been doing, then…

   2025 · touchgrass.now · its alternatives →

3. 3
   Smart Runner▲94

   Ran my first marathon. Didn’t want to keep paying so much for Runna. So I built a running coach app, and then kept improving it more and more, i think it’s pretty good now. Give it a try and share your thoughts.

   Jun 2026 · runnerapp.pro · its alternatives →

4. 4
   1 min workouts for people who sit all day▲153

   I am a software developer and in the last few months after recently becoming a father I was barely finding time for a proper workout. Recently I was reading about new research on Snack Exercises and how beneficial mini workouts of less than 2mins every so often, during the day are to our body. So, I decided to build an iOS App for me and others to help with this. The app generates a list of exercises that I need to tick to complete daily or loose my streak. The algorithm takes into account muscle groups and balancing the exercises to hit most main muscles. I also stayed going through all…

   2025 · shortreps.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Vibe coded iOS workout app with Apple Watch support▲8

   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 · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Cardio▲134

   I kept forgetting names and contacts… so I built Cardio. So I built Cardio: a digital card/profile you can share with just a QR code or link. It saves directly into your contact, so no more “Who was this again?” moments. - Built with Next.js, Adobe, and Stripe - Uses AI tools (Cursor, ChatGPT) to accelerate development - No app install needed: just tap, scan, or share I’m a solo builder from a non-dev background, and this is my first product. I launched it 10 days ago and made my first sales. Would love any feedback! performance, UI clarity, growth ideas or anything. Thanks HN!

   2025 · mycardio.co · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Heart Rate Zones Plus – The first iOS app I developed▲100

   I built this iOS app because I wanted to get an overview of my time in zones per week without checking zones after every workout manually - Now I'm looking for feedback. Description: Track time in heart rate zones. Track per day, week, month, 7 days and 30 days time period and how much time you spend in each zone. Set goals & visualize progress. Get details about heart rates zones of your workouts. Features: Custom time periods, Workout to zone attribution to get a feeling which sport attributed most to each zone, Multiple zone calculation methods, Set personal time goals for any zone,…

   2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Chronic Timer▲59

   The Simplest Workout Companion Out There!

   2015 · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Visualizing Apple Health workout data (stats, trends, insights)▲6

   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 · its alternatives →

10. 10
    FoundersWall▲35

    I used to be just a blogger. Now I build internet products, still without code, using AI, design, and taste. I was building in public on X for last 2 months. And honestly, I got tired of how it became performative and started to feel fake. I shipped 2 products. Both failed to get any real traction. I kept sneaking into popular builders’ profiles, hoping to learn how they do it. One thing I kept seeing everywhere, product launch directories. I thought here is the scope. So I started building one. Same UI like the rest. Nothing special. Suddenly one day when it was half built, I realized…

    2025 · founderswall.com · its alternatives →

11. 11
    I made a running app that turns your runs to a virtual garden▲36

    I started running 5 years ago and it completely changed me. Recently, I decided to train for my first marathon and needed something more than just tracking my runs to motivate me. I noticed all the apps currently available are just trackers and route finders, but nothing has solved the problem of consistency. So I thought of combining the basic idea of the Forest app with running and created a small app for myself which would reward me with plants and trees for my runs. I am not a mobile developer but then i came across Capacitor. Since I knew Next.js and have been working with it for the…

    2025 · runandgrow.com · its alternatives →

12. 12
    I replaced my premium workout app with vibecode▲9

    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 · its alternatives →

13. 13GO
    Get off your a** and do push-ups▲13

    I built an app where you LITERALLY have to do push-ups to use Reddit (or whatever app). My guy, this is the summer you get SWOLE! Build a massive chest instead of doomscrolling on Hackernews. Also, it's FREE. You can set it on a schedule. You can set it on a time limit. You can set it after X opens. Or even after you come home from work. The apps will remain blocked until you do your push-ups! The app is built natively on SwiftUI. I use Apple's native Vision API to detect body parts and joints. I use Apple's Screen Time API for app blocking. I don't know what else to say so go on now and get…

    2025 · timm.so · its alternatives →

14. 14DA
    Device agnostic fitness tracking with friends▲9

    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 · its alternatives →

15. 15
    I made an app to help plan your Weekly Runs▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Swizz▲8

    I built this because I wanted workout, calories, nutritional tracking and scheduling all in one place! My hope is that I'll be able to wrangle all these ideas together to build the perfect system that will help with your fitness levels and make workouts more fun! It's a fun app I use daily, any feedback and requests are welcomed !

    2025 · getswizz.com · its alternatives →

17. 17A2
    After 2 weeks of learning Swift, I've published my first iOS app▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

18. 18RA
    Running, an extremely simple exercise tracking app.▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

19. 19TN
    The no bullshit approach to tracking your fitness progress▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

20. 20MF
    My first pay to download Android App▲8

    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 · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Simply Fast - Get in Shape▲9

    Intermittent fasting made simple

    Nov 2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Exercise Timer▲7

    In 2013, I couldn’t find a decent interval timer for my workouts on the Android Market (Google Play wasn’t even called Google Play yet!). Could you believe that? Typing 'interval timer' returned nothing! So I decided to build a simple App while in college. Fast forward 12 years, that simple timer has grown into an ecosystem: Android, iOS, Wear OS, Apple Watch, and a coaching platform. All built solo, with no AI assistance, and redesigned 4 times to keep up with UI trends. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about long-term app maintenance, cross-platform challenges, and keeping codebases…

    2023 · exercisetimer.net · its alternatives →

23. 23
    I created my first mobile app, could use some support▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Never miss another critical iOS security update again▲5

    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 · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →