Gymaholic and TabSet both run on Apple Watch and both log your training. They are aimed at different people, and the difference is not really about features. It is about how much of the thinking you want to hand over.
How this comparison is sourced. Everything stated here about Gymaholic comes from its own App Store listing, checked on 25 August 2026. Apps change, so check it yourself before deciding: Gymaholic on the App Store. No prices are quoted for either app, because prices vary by region and change without notice. The App Store shows you the current one.
What Gymaholic is
Gymaholic is a broad fitness product with a long history: version 16 at the time of writing, first released years before TabSet existed. Its listing describes an Apple Watch app, workout tracking, and a wide feature set that reaches into Vision Pro. It is the kind of app that grows outward: more tracking, more metrics, more of your training life in one place.
That breadth is a genuine strength. If you want one app that follows you across activities and devices, a mature product with years of development behind it is a sensible choice, and a new app is not going to match its surface area.
What TabSet is
TabSet is narrow on purpose. It does not plan your workouts and will not coach you. It counts your sets, times your rest, remembers what you lifted, and tells you what to load on the bar. The Apple Watch app is the product rather than a companion: your routine lives on the watch, so the phone stays in your bag for the whole session.
It has no account and no server, which is why it is a single purchase after a 14 day trial rather than a subscription. There is nothing running monthly to pay for.
The honest split
| If you want | Pick |
|---|---|
| An app that decides today's session for you | Not TabSet. It refuses, by design. |
| Breadth: many activity types, a long feature list, years of development | The mature platform |
| To log a programme you already run, with minimum taps | TabSet |
| The workout to run entirely on the watch, phone in the bag | TabSet |
| Your data on the device, no account, nothing on a server | TabSet |
| To pay once instead of monthly | TabSet |
| A social side, or coaching to keep you going | Not TabSet. It has neither. |
Three things TabSet does that are worth knowing about
The rings never change meaning. On the watch the outer ring is always the clock and the inner ring is always the count. You read the state from the label in the middle, never from a colour changing, which means you can read it mid-set without thinking.
Rest is per exercise, not per workout. Heavy squats can rest three minutes while curls rest sixty seconds, inside the same routine. Most apps give you one rest value for the session.
Your programme is a file. TabSet imports and exports whole multi-week programmes as plain JSON, documented field by field with a validator that runs in your browser. You can write one in a text editor, share it, or keep it as a backup. That is unusual, and it means your training plan is not locked inside an app.
Where TabSet loses
Being narrow costs things. TabSet has no programme generator, no coaching, no nutrition, no social feed, no web app and no Android version. It will not tell you what to train when you are bored of your split. If any of that is what you actually want from a gym app, a broader product is the right answer and this one will annoy you.
The short version
If you do not yet know what you are doing in the gym, pick the app that will tell you. If you already know, and you want the logging to be as efficient as the training, that is the gap TabSet was built for.
Questions
Is TabSet a replacement for Gymaholic?
Only if you use Gymaholic purely as a logger. TabSet does not plan workouts, coach, track nutrition or offer a social feed, so if you rely on any of those it is not a replacement.
Does TabSet have a subscription?
No. It is free for 14 days, then a single purchase that unlocks the whole app on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. There is no higher tier and every future update is included.
Can I move my training history into TabSet?
Not automatically. TabSet imports programmes as JSON, so you can rebuild your routines quickly, but there is no importer for another app's history. Your working weights carry forward from the first session you log.
Does TabSet work without my phone?
The workout runs on the Apple Watch, so the phone can stay in your bag. The iPhone and iPad app is for building routines and reading history, not for running the session.
Try it
Free for 14 days.
Then 9.99 once, in your local currency. No subscription, no tier, and every future update included.
- Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad
- Tap the ring to log a set, rest starts itself
- Your training stays on your device