Fitiv and Athlytic are both Apple Watch HRV and recovery apps aimed at serious athletes, but Athlytic focuses narrowly on readiness and recovery while Fitiv adds a full workout tracking system — strength training, GPS cardio, a structured workout builder, and Bluetooth HR monitor support — on top of the same HRV foundation.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Fitiv | Athlytic | |---|---|---| | Apple Watch support | Yes | Yes | | Garmin support | Yes | No | | Bluetooth HR monitor support | Yes (Polar H10, Wahoo TICKR, Scosche Rhythm+) | No | | HRV readiness score | Yes | Yes | | Recovery score | Yes | Yes | | Training load (TRIMP/TSS) | Yes | No | | Strength tracking (sets/reps) | Yes | No | | GPS workout tracking | Yes | No | | VO2 max estimate | Yes | No | | Workout builder | Yes | No | | Sleep score | Yes | Yes | | Heart rate zones | Yes | Yes | | Challenges / community | Yes | No | | Platform | iOS, Apple Watch, Garmin, Bluetooth HR | iOS, Apple Watch only | | Price | Free tier + premium from $4.99/month | Premium subscription required |
What Athlytic Does Best
Athlytic built a clean, focused product around a single question: "Are you ready to train hard today?" The app surfaces HRV trends, sleep quality, and a composite readiness score without asking you to do anything else inside the app. If you already use a separate workout tracker and just want the readiness layer on top, Athlytic does that job simply and well.
The readiness score presentation is refined. Athlytic's color-coded daily scores and weekly trend graphs are easy to interpret at a glance, which matters when you are half-awake at 6am deciding whether to go hard or go easy. The UI is intentionally minimal.
For athletes who love the Apple Watch ecosystem and want a secondary app dedicated purely to biometric insights, Athlytic fills that role without forcing you to change how you log workouts.
What Fitiv Does Best
Fitiv's advantage is that it does not require you to use two apps. You get HRV readiness and recovery scores — the same core output as Athlytic — and you also get a full training system built on top of them.
The integration between recovery and training is where Fitiv's unified approach pays the biggest dividends. Fitiv knows your current training load (not just yesterday's effort, but the rolling cumulative stress from the past six weeks), your overnight HRV trend, and your sleep quality. It combines those signals into a readiness score that accounts for what you actually did in the gym and on the road, not just your heart rate while you slept.
Athlytic can read your workout history from Apple Health, but it does not generate training load metrics like TRIMP or TSS. It knows you did a workout; it does not know if it was a zone 2 recovery run or an all-out track session. Fitiv makes that distinction and weights your recovery score accordingly.
Strength training is absent from Athlytic entirely. If you lift weights — even occasionally — Athlytic has no structured way to log those sessions or factor their stress into your readiness calculation. Fitiv's workout builder handles barbell programs, machine circuits, and bodyweight sessions with sets, reps, weight, and rest tracking.
Hardware flexibility is another meaningful difference. Fitiv works with Garmin watches and Bluetooth HR monitors like the Polar H10 and Wahoo TICKR. If you do not want to wear your Apple Watch for a long run or a swim, you can use a chest strap and still get full HRV and training load data inside Fitiv. Athlytic is Apple Watch only.
Honest Assessment: Where Athlytic Wins
Athlytic's singular focus is also its strength. Athletes who want readiness data without committing to a new workout tracking system will find Athlytic easier to adopt because it does not ask them to change their training workflow.
If you are already deeply embedded in a workout tracker you love — perhaps a dedicated strength app or a running app with features Fitiv does not match — Athlytic layers onto that workflow without conflict. Fitiv works best as your primary training app, not as a secondary layer.
Athlytic's interface is arguably more polished for the specific task of reading your readiness score quickly. Fitiv is a broader app with more screens and more functionality, which means slightly more navigation to get to the same readiness number.
Who Should Choose Fitiv
- Athletes who want HRV readiness, workout tracking, and training load in one app
- Hybrid athletes who mix strength training with cardio and want both factored into recovery
- Athletes using Garmin watches or Bluetooth HR monitors who are not Apple Watch-only
- Runners and cyclists who want GPS route tracking alongside their biometric data
- Athletes who want community features and training challenges
Who Should Choose Athlytic
- Athletes who already have a workout tracker they love and only want the HRV readiness layer
- Apple Watch users who prefer a minimal, single-purpose recovery app
- Athletes who want the simplest possible daily readiness check without committing to a new training platform
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Fitiv have HRV tracking like Athlytic? Yes. Fitiv measures HRV overnight via Apple Watch and generates a daily readiness score comparable to Athlytic's. Fitiv also factors training load history into that score, which Athlytic does not do.
Can Athlytic track strength training? No. Athlytic reads workout summaries from Apple Health but does not have a built-in workout tracker with sets, reps, or exercise logging. Fitiv includes a full strength tracking system.
Does Fitiv work with Garmin watches? Yes. Fitiv supports Garmin watches alongside Apple Watch, and also works with Bluetooth HR monitors including the Polar H10, Wahoo TICKR, and Scosche Rhythm+. Athlytic is Apple Watch only.
What is training load and does Athlytic have it? Training load (measured in TRIMP and TSS) quantifies the cumulative stress your body has experienced over days and weeks of training. It distinguishes between acute load (recent fatigue) and chronic load (fitness base), giving you a sense of whether you are overreaching or undertraining. Fitiv calculates training load; Athlytic does not.
Can I use both Fitiv and Athlytic? Technically yes, since both pull data from Apple Health. But if you are paying for premium features in one app, you likely do not need both. Athletes who switch from Athlytic to Fitiv typically find that Fitiv's recovery scoring is more contextually aware because it understands the details of their workouts, not just summary data from Apple Health.
Which app has better community features? Fitiv has challenges and community features built in. Athlytic is a solo tool with no social or challenge layer.