The best dumbbell workout apps in 2026, from smart programming to automatic counting
A pair of adjustable dumbbells and a corner of a room is the most popular home gym in the world, and the app market around it has gotten genuinely good. The apps below split into two jobs: apps that tell you what to lift, and apps that watch you lift it. Most of the list does the first job. We built the second one.
We build MyRepsCount. Competitor details come from their store listings and reviews as of August 2026.
Fitbod
Best programming brain.
Fitbod generates your next dumbbell workout from what you have lifted, what is recovered, and what equipment you own, with per-muscle fatigue tracking behind it. Experienced lifters rate it the smartest programmer in the category. It is subscription software, and you log sets yourself.
Alpha Progression
Best for strength progression.
If your goal is specifically getting stronger with dumbbells, Alpha Progression's plan generation and progression logic are the most focused tool for it, with plate-math conveniences and serious program customization. Also subscription based, also manual logging.
Jefit and Hevy
Best free logging.
Both are covered in our free workout apps roundup: Jefit brings the biggest exercise database, Hevy the fastest, cleanest logging with a social layer. For dumbbell training specifically they are equally capable notebooks. You count, you type, they remember.
MyRepsCount (ours)
The only one that watches the set.
Every app above depends on you counting reps and entering them. Ours counts dumbbell movements through the phone's camera: rows (two-arm and single-arm, left and right tracked separately), curls, hammer curls, chest press, chest flys, back flys, shoulder press, upright rows, three tricep extension variations, cleans, clean and press, thrusters, and Romanian deadlifts, among 60+ total exercises. Prop the phone up, lift, and the set logs itself.
One more thing nobody else on this list does: the camera can recognize which dumbbell you are lifting, so the weight gets attributed to the set without you typing it. That one is a premium feature, and we built it to abstain rather than guess when it is not sure, so it favors being right over being fast. The counting itself, the workout builder, and the leaderboards are free on iPhone and Android.
Where the others win: Fitbod and Alpha Progression plan your training with real intelligence, and we do not pretend the auto-generated workouts in our builder match a season of their periodization. If you want smart programming and automatic counting, run one of them for the plan and us for the camera.
Choosing
| You want | Pick |
|---|---|
| An algorithm to plan every session | Fitbod |
| A strength progression coach | Alpha Progression |
| A free notebook with community | Hevy (or Jefit) |
| Sets counted and weights recognized by camera | MyRepsCount |
Ours is free to try on the App Store and Google Play, and the workout library has dumbbell sessions ready to open in the counter.