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Apps · data after the session

Where Your Workouts Go After the Finish

The watch records the session, but the app is where you learn from it. Here's how each companion app turns your sweat into something useful, and how to keep your history if you ever switch brands.

Garmin Forerunner 265

Garmin Connect

The deepest free platform on test. Training Status, Training Readiness, HRV status, race predictor and adaptive training plans with Garmin Coach. It looks busy at first, so pin your three favourite widgets to the top and hide the rest. Auto-sync to Strava, TrainingPeaks and Komoot is reliable.

See how it guides runs →
Apple Watch Ultra 2

Fitness & Health

Clean rings and trends, with Apple Health as a hub for hundreds of third-party apps. Ideal if you already use an iPhone; the watch requires one.

Polar Vantage V3

Polar Flow

Training Load Pro and Nightly Recharge explain strain and recovery clearly.

Coros Pace 3

Coros app

Simple, fast, with EvoLab fitness estimates and a free workout builder.

Google Pixel Watch 3

Fitbit app

The gentlest coaching: Daily Readiness, Cardio Load and Target Load. Some deeper insights sit behind a Fitbit Premium subscription. Android phones only.

Runner sitting on stadium steps reviewing a workout map on her phone after trainingReview

Five minutes after every session

Check one number, add one note about how it felt. That habit beats any dashboard.

The journey of one workout

When you press stop, your watch saves the session as a file, usually in the FIT format created by Garmin and now used widely across the industry. Next time it connects to your phone over Bluetooth, the file uploads to the brand's app and cloud account. From there, connected services such as Strava, TrainingPeaks or Runna can pull a copy automatically. Your run might appear in four places within a minute, but there's only one original.

Which numbers are worth your attention

Companion apps love new metrics. Most of them are useful only as trends over weeks, not as daily verdicts. These are the ones our coaching desk actually uses:

  • Weekly training load: a single figure for how much you've done. Rising slowly is good; doubling in a week is a warning.
  • Resting heart rate and HRV: if both are noticeably off your normal for several mornings, take an easy day.
  • VO2 max estimate: a rough fitness gauge. Watch the direction, not the decimal.
  • Sleep duration: far more reliable than sleep stages, and more important.

Phone compatibility, honestly

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 only works with an iPhone. The Pixel Watch 3 needs an Android phone. Garmin, Polar and Coros work with both, which makes them the safe choice for households that mix phones or anyone who might switch.

Keeping your history if you switch brands

Your years of training are yours. Before you change watch, export your data. Garmin Connect, Polar Flow and Coros let you download activities as FIT, GPX or TCX files, and under UK GDPR and EU GDPR you can request a full data export from any of these companies. Apple Health exports an archive from the Health app on iPhone. The easiest safety net is a free Strava account linked from day one: it quietly collects a copy of every workout regardless of brand.

Privacy settings to check on day one

  1. Set your activity visibility to "followers" or "only me" by default.
  2. Add privacy zones around your home and workplace in Strava and your watch app.
  3. Review which third-party apps can read your health data and remove ones you no longer use.

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