Gym Buddy: Rhino
Personal AI Workout Tracker
Free · In‑App Purchases
A rhino for a coach. A log in your hand.
Gym Buddy is a strength-training log with Rhino, an AI trainer who plans your workouts around your gym's equipment, counts your sets, runs the rest timer on your Lock Screen and Apple Watch, and keeps a streak that allows rest days. Everything stays on your phone unless you choose to sign in and back up.
PLAN WITH RHINO
- Tell Rhino your goal, how long you have and what equipment is around
- Get a complete workout back in seconds, with starting weights
- Keep talking until it is right: swap exercises, make it lighter, make it shorter
- Ask Rhino to revise a saved workout: easier on the knees, harder, more back work
- Strength, cardio, timed holds and stretches, supersets
TRAIN SET BY SET
- One card per exercise showing the current set's weight and reps
- Tick off each set as you finish it; the rest timer starts on its own, with what you lifted last time beside it
- Timed sets get a Start button, a 3-second lead-in and a countdown that buzzes when the hold is done
- Tap a weight or reps chip to adjust it, with quick +/- controls
- Edits are saved back into the workout for next time
ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN AND YOUR WRIST
- The whole workout runs on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island: exercise, set, heart rate and rest countdown, with buttons to complete a set, add 30 seconds or skip the rest without unlocking
- Apple Watch app with live heart rate and zone, the current set, the same controls and Now Playing on your wrist
- Heart-rate zones from warm-up to maximum, from Apple Watch (or AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 26), or any Bluetooth chest strap or armband
- Sessions save to Apple Health with average and peak heart rate
- A Home Screen widget with Rhino's mood and your streak
YOUR GYM
- Find your gym and see the equipment other members have listed
- Add it all in one tap, and Rhino only plans exercises you can actually do
- Publish your own list when you are ready, so the next person benefits
STAY CONSISTENT
- A streak that allows rest days from your weekly plan, and freezes you earn by training
- A trophy room: personal records, streak medals, a badge for every month you hit your target, milestone ladders for each lift, weekly event badges
- Eighteen collectible app icons, unlocked by what you do
- Weekly events, the same challenge for everyone every Monday
- Friend streaks: share a workout and keep a streak together
- An activity heatmap shaded by how much you did, last-time hints on every set, estimated 1RM
- Year in Lifting, made on your phone
ASK ANYTHING
- Chat with Rhino about technique, recovery or nutrition
- Ask mid-workout and Rhino knows exactly where you are in the session
YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS
- No account required, no ads, no tracking
- Workouts and history are stored on your phone
- Sign in with Apple or Google only if you want your workouts backed up and restored on a new phone; delete the account and its backups any time
- Only the text of your chat with Rhino is sent to generate a reply
RHINO PRO (OPTIONAL)
- Unlimited Rhino conversations, full Insights, unlimited saved workouts and every collectible app icon
- Yearly with a 7-day free trial, or monthly; the icon pack is also sold on its own
- Invite a friend: when they start the yearly plan, you both get an extra month
- Logging, history, the streak, the Watch and the trophy room stay free
- Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period and are managed in your App Store account settings
- Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
- Privacy Policy: https://www.gymbuddyrhino.com/privacy_policy
Rhino provides general fitness information, not medical advice. Consult a professional before starting a new programme, and train within your limits.
more On Apple Watch, the 10-second rest tap now counts down to the end of the whole rest, including the extra time a Hard, Very hard or Max set adds.
Copy link on the share sheet now shows a tick and "Link copied" right on the button.
2026.10.22 2d ago
Stretches: 156 stretches and mobility drills, with a Stretches filter. Static stretches are timed holds and drills count reps.
Apple Watch:
- Cardio sets show a big running clock with your target time underneath.
- The rest timer taps and pulses with 10 seconds to go, and the rhino jumps up in the middle of the screen when it ends.
- The Digital Crown changes weight and reps one step per half turn.
- The night before a weekly event or holiday badge, you get a heads-up at 6 pm, with the badge as a 3D coin you can spin.
Fitness app workouts: indoor walks, runs and rides now come in as Indoor Walk, Indoor Run and Indoor Cycle. Done during a Gym Buddy workout, their distance and time fill the matching exercise instead of showing up twice.
Rhino plans read what kind of workout you ask for: strength, stretching, cardio, or a mix of two. "Match with Rhino" suggests the right exercise when you import history, paste a routine or open a shared workout.
Fixes:
- A finished workout is saved exactly once, even if something goes wrong at Finish.
- Stretch plans fill the time you asked for.
- The keyboard closes after an error.
- The weekly event card no longer covers "Continue workout?" when you open the app.
Start an empty workout is gone: New workout does the same job.
2026.10.14 Oct 14
Gym Buddy on Apple Watch, start to finish
• Your workouts on your wrist, Up next first. Start one, log every set, and finish without your iPhone. It saves to your phone as soon as they're back together.
• Turn the Digital Crown or tap minus and plus to change weight and reps. Change the weight and the watch asks whether to use it for the rest of the sets.
• Drop sets on the wrist: log each drop, then Another drop or Done.
• Finish on the watch to page through your PBs, streak, badges, how it felt and Next time, one full screen at a time.
• Celebrations wait until you raise your wrist and stay until you tap.
• Open your iPhone mid-workout and it's waiting, minimised on Home.
Also new
• Minimise a workout on your iPhone to check another tab, and come straight back.
• Drop sets on iPhone: a Drop 1 card appears after a drop set, a quarter lighter, and your rest starts after the last drop.
• A hard set earns a longer rest: Hard adds 30 seconds, Very hard 60, Max 90.
• Smarter weight suggestions: a hard last set where you made every rep no longer counts as a miss, and a step up keeps more of your reps.
• Find my gym shows real gyms first, and you can flag anything that is not a gym.
• One name for every exercise, everywhere, with your PBs and history together.
• Delete all data asks you to hold, and can be undone for 30 days. Sign out everywhere is in Settings, Account.
• Numbers always fit, even 999.5 kg on the smallest iPhone.
2026.10.9 Oct 9
Medals you can turn over, programs that start from your real weights, and your rep range.
Badges and medals
- Every badge is a solid medal. Tap one to see it full screen and turn it with your finger: the back shows the day you earned it.
- Streak medals in bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond, along a track that shows how close the next one is.
Training
- Six ready-made programs that write your workouts and move them on each week.
- A short strength test sets your starting weights from one set of each key lift, never a max.
- Choose your rep range for weighted exercises. Reps climb to the top, then the weight goes up.
- Drop sets, marked from the set editor at any time.
Rhino
- Rhino writes in your language, including proper Traditional Chinese, and tells you when he is away for a moment.
Apple Watch
- After every set your Watch asks how hard it was, with big buttons and one tap.
- The Watch, its complications and the Lock Screen card speak all nine languages.
Friends
- Friend streaks count the days you both keep your own streak, so different schedules climb together.
- A friend league and weekly challenges you can do together.
Fixes and polish
- A calmer welcome, cleaner pop-ups and many small fixes across the app.
2026.10.5 Oct 5
A big one, and a careful one.
A map
- A floating bar along the bottom: Home, Progress, Rhino, Settings. Pages run under it and dissolve around it.
- Every page's title scrolls up into the bar as you go.
Never lose a workout
- Your session is saved as you train. Kill the app mid-set, mid-rest or mid-hold and the next open asks "Continue Leg Day?" and picks up exactly there, timers included.
- Discard in edit mode keeps your ticks. Swapping, removing or clearing an exercise takes only its own sets with it.
Home
- Pull down to refresh. Tap today or yesterday on the week strip to declare a rest day.
- Nine or more workouts shelve by weekday.
- Started a workout on your Watch? Home offers to open it.
- Friend streak invitations explain themselves, and the invite row asks which workout to share.
In the workout
- "Up 2.5 kg from last time" and "Rest 1:30 after this set" on the card you are on.
- Last session lines read this workout first, and say when they borrow from another.
- Set overview has Clear ticked sets, with undo.
- The summary asks for a weigh-in after every workout and says how many sets came from your Watch or the Lock Screen.
Lock Screen and Apple Watch
- The rest card shows the whole workout name and the next set in full: exercise, weight and reps.
- The Watch shows the next station and its target during a rest, and finally its finished-workout card.
- Reorder mid-rest and both update.
- The rest-over alert breaks through a Focus.
Rhino
- Rhino now knows everything about you: every lift with your estimated 1RM and standards level, your records, plans, notes, recent sessions, readiness, streak and preferences. Loads are programmed from your own numbers.
- The conversation survives an app kill. New chat in the bar. Save as workout under any plan table. Long-press a reply to copy or share it.
- The first chip is today's readiness. Retry only where retrying can work.
Progress and Trophies
- Tap the freeze pills for your bank. UP NEXT strip shows the three things closest to done.
- Year in Lifting for any year. Undo after deleting a session. A CARDIO shelf once you have a run on record.
- Trends opens for everyone with a 28-day range.
Settings
- Data shows what is on this phone, a Usage counts switch, and Also delete my backup when signed in.
- My Gym remembers an equipment list per gym. About has Rate Gym Buddy.
- Sign in as somebody else and the phone asks whose workouts these are.
Fixed
- Holiday breaks count for XP and medals. Month badges follow the plan you had that month.
- Assisted machines no longer award records for adding help.
- Restoring a backup keeps your Health access working and never resets the Pro preview.
- Heatmap and week arithmetic correct across daylight saving.
2026.9.24 Sep 24
Heart-rate straps, strength standards, holiday breaks, and Pro for a fortnight from your first workout.
ANY HEART-RATE STRAP
Polar, Whoop, Amazfit Helio, or any Bluetooth chest strap or armband: pair it under Settings, Workout, Devices, and it drives the live heart rate, the zones and the rest ring, with the Apple Watch and AirPods still there when you want them. Every beat is written to Apple Health.
WHERE YOU STAND
Each lift is classed Beginner to Elite for your body weight, age and sex, with the kilos to the next level. A DOTS score on every record, and for squat, bench and deadlift your share of the world record in your class. Sex is optional and never leaves your phone.
HOLIDAY BREAKS
Going away? Take a break of up to three weeks and the streak holds, no freezes spent, reminders quiet until you are back.
MUSCLES THIS WEEK
A map of the Rhino, front and back, tinted by the sets you gave each muscle this week. Tap a region to see the exercises behind it.
SHARED WORKOUTS THAT FIT
Import a friend's workout and the weights are matched to you: your own last working weight where you have one, otherwise scaled to your body weight.
PROGRESSION THAT COUNTS THE WORK
The next weight is judged on the work you did, not the reps alone. Five at 14 kg beats a planned four at 12 kg, and the suggestion goes up. Two hard sessions in a row back off; an easy set steps up early.
PRO FROM YOUR FIRST WORKOUT
Finish one workout and Pro is yours for fourteen days: every trend, every program, your strap. Nothing to cancel. The last 28 days of trends stay free for everyone.
THE APP FEELS ALIVE
One clean haptic per tap, everywhere. Buttons press under your thumb, numbers roll, a set landing dips the row. Rhino nods when a set lands, shakes his head when your heart rate climbs, and yawns on the first open of the day. A ring around him drains as you rest.
READINESS
A dial on home reads your training load and how the last session felt, and says whether today looks fresh, ready, steady or tired.
WALKS, RIDES, ROWS AND SPORTS
With Apple Health on, every workout your Watch or another app records comes in as a session, with distance, time and heart rate, and counts toward your streak.
Plus: swipe a set to complete it, hold the finish button to save, a starter workout from an empty home screen, reminders at the hour you usually train, and a Watch that keeps the set count in one place.
2026.9.18 Sep 18
Every tap now answers your finger, and Rhino has started to react.
THE APP FEELS ALIVE
Buttons, cards and rows press under your thumb, with one clean haptic pair per tap. Numbers roll like an odometer: your streak on home, the weight moved on the workout screen and the summary counts. A set landing dips the row and pops its pip. The heaviest set of the plan lands heavier on the wrist.
RHINO REACTS
He nods when a set lands, shakes his head when your heart rate climbs into zone 4, shivers on a morning when your streak is at risk, and yawns on the first open of the day. Pull the home screen down and he peeks out of his ring.
REST THAT BREATHES
A ring around Rhino drains as you rest and cools from red through amber to green as your heart rate comes down. Three clicks count you in, "Go!" on zero, and if you run over it counts up until the next set.
FASTER ON THE FLOOR
Swipe a set to the right to complete it. Hold the finish button to save, so a brush of the thumb can never end a workout. Lifting an exercise to reorder it raises the card.
WHAT YOUR RATINGS ARE FOR
Rating a set's effort now changes next time's suggestion in front of you: an easy set steps the weight up early, a max effort holds, two hard sessions in a row back off. Holds are shown, not hidden.
READINESS
A dial on home reads your training load, the days since you last trained and how the last session felt, and says whether today looks fresh, ready, steady or tired. Tap it to see exactly what it was built from. Never shown with fewer than two things to go on.
WALKS, RIDES, ROWS AND SPORTS
With Apple Health on, every workout your Watch or another app records comes in as a session: outdoor walks and runs, rides, rows, swims, tennis, basketball and more, with distance, time and heart rate. They count toward your streak, your weekly events and Rhino's read on your week.
Plus: the summary tells Rhino how your last few sessions felt, and swiping a workout card no longer deletes it. Long-press for that.
2026.9.17 Sep 17
The streak is kind now. Rest days from your weekly plan hold it instead of breaking it, and you earn a freeze every seven trained days (two in the bank) that covers a slip automatically. Rhino says "Rest day. Streak held." instead of sulking.
Trophies. A new room under Progress for everything you collect: personal records, streak medals, a badge for every month you hit your target, dated badges, milestone ladders for each lift (10, 25, 50, 100 sessions), weekly event badges and all eighteen app icons. Empty slots are visible on purpose.
World Rhino Day is 22 September. Train that day for a badge with the year on it and a World Rhino Day app icon to keep. Rhino wears it for the week.
Weekly events. A new bodyweight or endurance challenge every Monday, the same one for everyone. Plank Week, 5K Week, Push-up Week. Do it, get the badge, or send it to a friend with one tap.
Friend streaks. Share a workout with a friend and you can keep a streak together: the run of days you both trained. Dates only, nothing else leaves your phone.
Year in Lifting. Seven shareable pages about your year, made on your phone.
Rhino everywhere: in the chat, in the rest timer with what you lifted last time, on your Lock Screen card and your Watch. He grows a tier ring as your lifetime tonnage climbs.
Rhino Pro. Unlimited Rhino, full Insights, unlimited saved workouts and every collectible icon, as a yearly plan with a 7-day free trial, or monthly. Logging, the streak, the Watch and the trophy room stay free, as they always were. Invite a friend and you both get an extra month when they go yearly.
Rhino now says what to do next. When a set goes well he adds a rep before he adds weight, inside the range that suits your goal: 3 to 6 for strength, 8 to 12 for muscle, 12 to 20 for endurance. Every suggestion says why it is there, and a session that went badly gets an ease off rather than a push.
Body weight and cardio numbers. Log your weight once a day from the workout summary. If you wear an Apple Watch, Progress now shows your VO2 max and how hard your sessions ran in METs.
Also: a cleaner look with no coloured bars, Settings split into short pages, your training goal editable in Profile, workout cards that say what a plan usually takes you, separate rest times between sets and between exercises, Now Playing on the Watch, dumbbell steps of 1 kg below 10 kg, and the Buddy icon now unlocks when someone actually adds a workout you shared.
2026.9.10 Sep 10
Train from your wrist and your Lock Screen.
• Apple Watch app. Live heart rate and zone, the current set and its target, and buttons to complete a set, skip or extend a rest — all on your wrist. Install it from the Watch app on your iPhone.
• Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. The whole workout lives there now, not just the rest timer: exercise, set, heart rate and countdown, with buttons to complete the set, add 30 seconds or skip the rest without unlocking your phone.
• Timed sets. Planks, holds and carries get a Start button, a 3-second lead-in and a countdown that buzzes at the end, on the phone, the Lock Screen and the Watch. Cut a hold short and the app logs what you actually held.
• Supersets alternate properly through every exercise in the group, with a choice of resting after each set or after the round.
• Your gym's equipment. Pick your gym, see what other members have listed and how many agree, add it all in one tap, and publish your own list when you are ready.
• Automatic backup. Sign in with Apple or Google (optional) and your workouts are backed up after every session — never after a delete, so a slip can't overwrite the server copy.
• A guide to connecting Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3 and the Lock Screen card, in Settings.
Also: Rhino can plan stretches and mobility holds, web links open inside the app, and sign-in problems are explained instead of failing silently. Requires iOS 17.
2026.9.6 Sep 6
A fresh new look, a faster trainer, and streaks to keep you going.
Streaks and activity heatmap
- Build a daily streak and watch it grow
- An activity heatmap shows every session at a glance, shaded by how hard you went
- Tap any day to see what you trained, including days with more than one session, and whether each was finished or cut short
A cleaner, more modern design
- Redesigned throughout, with your next workout front and centre
- Progress tracking as you complete each set
Better workouts
- Ask Rhino a question mid-workout without losing your place
- Tap a weight or reps tag to adjust a set, with quick +/- controls
- Tap an exercise to see every set at once and jump to the one you want
- Reorder, rename, add and remove exercises, or ask Rhino to rebuild the whole workout
- Rhino's replies now stream in as they are written
- Workout plans come back as a clear table of exercises, sets, reps and weights
2026.9.2 Sep 2
Updated LLM model
2025.10.14 10/14/2025
- Security improvements
1.0.3 07/14/2025
- Typing animation when waiting for response
- Added confirmation when stopping workout
- Improved AI speeds
- Other bugs and minor fixes
1.0.2 05/25/2025
- Faster workout generation
- Emoji displays correctly
- Other minor bug fixes
1.0.1 05/22/2025
On Apple Watch, the 10-second rest tap now counts down to the end of the whole rest, including the extra time a Hard, Very hard or Max set adds.
Copy link on the share sheet now shows a tick and "Link copied" right on the button.
more Version 2026.10.22 2d ago
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