Does anyone here use any Open-Source Workout Trackers? I’ve been using hevy, but their high fees, the fact that they are a company that holds my health data and has made no commitments to open source, User privacy, or fair trade practices like user data import/export has me looking around. I wanted to see if anyone had reliable open source alternatives.
Tell me your workout tracking stories here! Tell me what you liked and what you disliked.
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That makes sense, but that requires a level of dedication that we shouldn’t need to have. We have so much computing power and the resources to learn how to use them that we should already have solutions that auto tracks stats and logs whatever you want.
I’ve never been able to use a fitness tracker. Spreadsheets and paper all day for me.
Just use google docs on my phone. Its not open source but it is free and it’ll be there in years to come
Yo! I think I can help! I have some (many) apps to share (I really like gathering my data, lol, and I try to do that with open source apps).
1)Fast and fitness (workout tracker)
I’ve been using Fast and Fitness for about half a year and I really like it. You set up your profile, you create the exercises and even create programs if you want (I have made a few). It can even register body metrics (weight, fat/muscle/water percentage, height etc.).
You can import and export various stuff seperately in csv which is really helpful (like history/exercises/programs etc.). Here I have exported my exercises, my programs and uploaded the exercise pictures I use so you can import them on your app (in case it fails you could tweak the files on PC to make it work, but I just tested it on a fresh install of the app and it worked).
To do so, just open the app, create your local profile, export the records of your profile so that it creates the fastnfitness folder on your downloads folder, throw the the files I shared with you inside the export foldee and then import them with this order(!):
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exportExercises.csv
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exportPrograms.csv
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exportProgramTemplates.csv
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manually assign each photo to each exercise (a bit tedious and optional)
2)Fito track (running/cardio workout tracker)
I’m using Fito Track to track my running workouts (route on map, distance, time, speed, elevation etc.), but I think it can be used for any cardio kind of exercise (like swimming). It too can export/import many things and can be used with smartwatches.
3)openScale (body metrics tracker)
I use openScale for about 1.5years to mainly to track my weight, fat/water/muscle percentage, the measurements of my fat calipers etc.
4)Gadgetbridge (smartwatch connector to phone)
If you want an open source way to connect to your phone any smartwatch/fitness tracker watch you have, Gadgetbridge seems to be doing the job (I did it once to use a watch with FitoTrack)
5)MotionMate (step counter)
Just a simple and reliable step counter I’m using. It’s the only one so far that seems to register almost all the steps (apart from my xiaomi device’s built-in step tracker). It has no export/import function, but I have root access, so I can import/export its databases and successfully export it on my pc (or import it back to my phone) and edit it with a db browser and a sheey editor.
6)Energize (food intake and and body metrics tracker)
I’ve used Energize a few times to check how much I’m getting of each nutrient. It makes it easier as many items are in a database and you just scan it (even works for many Greek products, since I’m Greek).
7)Pain diary (Well, a pain tracker)
I’ve used Pain Diary a few times to register the pain I felt on my body after some workouts.
~Off the gym I go now.🙃
Fast and Fit seems nice, if lacking a bit in the UI department; I’ll see if I can slowly incorporate it into my workouts.
I’ve only recently started with cardio exercises - I prefer stationary bikes, and I usually have no issues with using Garmin connect for those - there’s no scope of having to change exercises midway, and it isn’t like someone else can hop on while I’m using the bike. It also tracks HR and calorie estimates so I’m comfortable with it for the moment.
Also thanks for mentioning a fat caliper. I didn’t know that was a thing - I saw body fat percentages but I always thought those were from tape measurements and such.
Hi, I’m using a Garmin fitness watch, and it seems they aren’t supported, atleast they aren’t on this list: LINK
Right now I parallely have the Garmin connect app and I follow along on a custom workout routine that I made using the app. (So timers on the watch, and then record weights and reps and exercises on hevy{I know, it’s a clunky system, but I’ve become accustomed through repeated use}) However garmin doesn’t let you change exercise order on the go, during your exercise, which makes it annoying when someone’s already using a machine you want to use, and you can’t go to another machine because your workout is in progress and the timer is running on your current exercise. I don’t want to wait for the current user to be done with their exercise either, because I have scheduled exercise times and I don’t want it to overflow the time I set out for it because it makes the rest of my morning really hard.
Energize looks really good - I stayed away from calorie counters after I heard about the myfitnesspal data leak of 2018, but I’ll give this a try when I step back in again. It also looks to have encrypted backups via WebDAV so backups are covered.
(Q) Can it handle supplements though? Like, vitamin b12 supplements and such. I suppose food doesn’t include medicine, but it seems like a low hanging fruit for a nutrients tracker to look out for.
Garmin is pretty nice if you don’t count the closed source nature of the Garmin connect app, the fact that you can’t add custom exercises, and you can’t alter the exercises once you’ve started doing them. But they have a strong commitment to privacy compared to most in the fitness wearables space so ehh, I’ll take what I can get.
All in all thanks for the super detailed reply. I didn’t even know many of these apps existed.
Fast and Fit seems nice, if lacking a bit in the UI department; I’ll see if I can slowly incorporate it into my workouts.
Yes indeed, it was my almost only issue with the app in the begginning.
Also thanks for mentioning a fat caliper.
I initially only used the measurements of my scale, but about 6months ago I thought about giving it a go. I don’t think I do it right (cuz otherwize I’d probably have waaay too little body fat and I’m not that extremely lean), but at least I think I do it consistently (I pay more attention to the mm than the result of the formulas it uses to calculate fat). It’s an issue with the pressure applied, it’s probably better to get a doctor teach you how to do it.
About gadgetbridge, it’s ok, use whatever suits you, I ~don’t use smartwatch so I don’t know much on this.
(Q) Can it handle supplements though?
Yes, you can even add custom foods, either based on other foods or completely custom. The 2 protein powders I’ve used from ON exist on the (openfood?) database. Plus, it has many fields for macro and micro nutrients (note that many foods may not have all their nutrients or they may be a bit off.
My pleasure to help! I wanted to write these long ago haha😁
Absolutely amazing contribution, thanks for putting in the time and even uploading your files to make the transition easier!
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I use FitNotes. I think it’s Android only though.
FitNotes is fine.
I haven’t found an open source alternative that’s as good as fitnotes on Android
It feels like exercise logging is something that needs to be open source - it seems like such a basic requirement for being healthy and such a ubiquitous need.
Libreoffice Calc plus Syncthing. 🤘 Super simple.
I’m using Wger, open source and it’s easy to self host using docker
This looks very interesting; I’ll take a look.
I’ve tried like a dozen different workout trackers, including Hevy, and recently settled on Liftosaur. Before that I was on Fitnotes.
I’m busy working out right now and don’t have time to give the app justice, but it’s fantastic. It has its own scripting language that let’s you create workout programs in greater detail than any other app out there.
Does Liftosaur handle automatic progression and rest timers?
Looks like it’s a web based app as well which might pose problems for me.
Liftosaur looks extremely promising. I like the scripting app, and I love the fact that it’s open source.
Not open source, but I like Simple Workout Log. I’ve been using it for years, and I don’t think it’s ever even asked me to create an account, although it looks like that is an option, but they do have a plain import/export option too. It’s ad supported, or you can pay $5 to remove ads.
Not an open source, but free/reasonable-priced (if you need corresponding features), not a cloud based - gymrun.
Hi, just had another question - does gymrun have a website? I can’t find any other than gymrun.app and that website doesn’t really have any information - on who made the application, pricing, or privacy policy, nothing. It looks sketchy not having any of the staples of modern mobile application websites.
I think this is the only site they have. I use it with the subscription (I use wearos app) for two years or so, without any issues.
Subscription model is described in the app itsel, as far as I remember.
Once or twice I asked devs a question per email, they answered (not super fast though).
But I agree with you, gymrun.app looks ugly.
I think I found the privacy policy for gymrun.app - on a Google doc linked to from the Garmin connect listing of the app.
Here’s the doc link
Thanks for sharing. I tried to read it and found nothing alarming there. I mean, gymrun can export to gdrive and Dropbox, to do so it will need to ask and use an access tokens for these services, to check a subscription status it needs to communicate with Google. probably, to deal with wearos and Garmin watches, to sync with Samsung health app few more permissions are needed.
And obviously, crash reporting needs some info about the device.
Ps: link to the privacy policy is provided in the app “page” in the Google play store as well.
Gymrun looks good, I’ll give it a try
