KingtideCompare
Kingtide vs Strong: which to use when you’re lifting around an injury.
By Kayiita Johansson, founder. Last updated .
If nothing hurts, Strong is a fast, proven logger with a full Apple Watch app and a lower price, and it's hard to beat. If something hurts, Kingtide is built for it: tell it what's sore and it rebuilds the session around it, keeps the rest, and folds in the exercise sheet your physio gave you.
You don't have to start over to switch. Kingtide reads Strong screenshots or a Strong CSV export and keeps your days, sets, reps and weights.
Side by side
| Strong | Kingtide | |
|---|---|---|
| Logging | Fast set logging, rest timer, supersets, warm-up, drop and failure sets, PRs and one-rep max estimates. Plate and warm-up calculators with PRO. | Logs every set, what you actually lifted rather than what was planned. Progress is read back off sessions you really did. |
| Routines | Your own templates, 3 on the free version, unlimited with PRO. Example templates, no built-in programs. | Brings in your routine, or builds a week from your goals and equipment. A check-in before each session reshapes it for soreness, energy and time. |
| Injury handling | None that we found on its listing, site or help center. | Mark the area on a body map. It swaps the movements that aggravate it, keeps the rest, gives a reason for each change, then walks you back: protect, reintroduce, full load. |
| Rehab or PT exercises | None. | Photograph the exercise sheet from your physio, PT, chiro or doctor, and those exercises go into your week. |
| Import | None. Its own CSV exports can't be imported back into Strong. | Screenshots from Strong or Hevy, a CSV export, a whiteboard or a photo of paper. |
| Export | All your data as CSV. | Your history as CSV, from Progress. |
| Apple Watch | A full Watch app. Log workouts with or without your iPhone. | Tap Start on the iPhone and the workout starts on the Watch with time, heart rate and active calories. Sets are logged on the phone. |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, Apple Watch. | iPhone, Android, Apple Watch companion. No Wear OS. |
| Account and privacy | Account required. Workouts sync to Strong Cloud across devices. App Store label: data linked to you, including health and fitness. | No account. Body map, pain notes and routine stay on your phone. App Store label: no data linked to you. |
| Price (US) | Free with 3 routines. PRO $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year, or $99.99 once. | Fourteen full workouts free. Pro $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year. |
Strong figures are from its US App Store listing and help center on 1 October 2026. Kingtide's are from its own listing.
What Strong does well
Strong has been on the App Store since 2011, and it shows. It's rated 4.9 from about 109,000 ratings on the US App Store. Logging is quick, the Apple Watch app works without your phone, it runs on iPhone and Android, and your workouts sync across devices. PRO is cheaper than Kingtide Pro, and there's a one-time option. Kingtide is new, on the App Store since August 2026.
Pick Strong if
- nothing hurts and you want a quick, plain logger
- you want to log sets on your Apple Watch with the phone in the locker
- you want the lower price, or to pay once
- you want an account that syncs between phones
Pick Kingtide if
- something hurts and you want to keep training around it
- you want each change explained, and a path back to full load
- a physio gave you an exercise sheet and you want it in your week
- you'd rather your injury notes stayed on your phone, with no account
Switching from Strong
Take screenshots of your Strong routines, or export your data as CSV from Strong's settings. Kingtide reads it on your phone, keeps your days, sets, reps and weights, and shows you what it read so you can fix anything before it becomes your week. Your leg day stays a leg day.
Comparing more apps? See Kingtide vs Hevy and workout trackers for training around an injury. Training around something now? Start with knee, lower back or shoulder pain, or get the app.
Sources
- Strong on the US App Store: description, in-app purchases, privacy label and rating. apps.apple.com/us/app/id464254577
- Strong website: platforms. www.strong.app/
- Strong help center: Strong account and Strong Cloud. help.strongapp.io/article/143-strong-account
- Strong help center: exporting workout data. help.strongapp.io/article/235-export-workout-data
- Kingtide on the US App Store. apps.apple.com/us/app/id6798413652
No account, no sign-up, no email address. On iPhone and Android.
Get the app