Apple’s iOS 26 Fitness app received a notable update, bringing features that narrow the gap between a phone-only experience and what you’d get with an Apple Watch o AirPods Pro 3. For many casual users this is great news: you can now record runs, walks, and rides with GPS tracking directly from your iPhone.
Still, for people who train regularly or want richer motivation, analytics and sharing tools, the new Fitness app falls short. Below we compare Apple Fitness with Fito across 6 practical dimensions to show where Fito gives serious exercisers more value.
1. Live mapping and auto-pause
Apple Fitness now records route data, but it does not show a live map during the workout on iPhone — you only see route details after you finish. Fito displays a real-time map while you train and supports automatic pause/resume when you stop moving (traffic lights, waiting, or a break). Real-time mapping plus auto-pause improves safety, pacing and makes interval training easier to manage on the fly.
2. Supported activities
Without an Apple Watch, Fitness is limited to run, walk and ride. Fito supports over 80 activity types — from cycling, hiking and swimming (where phone sensors allow), to yoga, strength training, rowing and niche sports. More activity types mean more accurate caloric estimates, tailored metrics and better long-term records of what you actually do.
3. Motivation and widgets
Apple’s Fitness focuses on simple metrics and rings. Fito adds motivational features such as streaks and achievement systems that encourage daily consistency, plus customizable home-screen widgets to surface progress at a glance. These engagement features keep users returning and help build long-term habits beyond passive data display.
4. Data analytics and insights
The updated Fitness app summarizes your workouts but keeps analytics relatively basic. Fito provides deeper statistics — trends across weeks and months, pace and cadence breakdowns, elevation-adjusted metrics, training load and recovery indicators. Advanced insights help athletes plan progress, spot plateaus and make informed training decisions.
5. Offline and manual logging resilience
If your iPhone battery dies, you forget to start a workout, or GPS fails, Apple’s Fitness can lose that session — and the rings or daily goals may reflect the gap. Fito allows manual entry and backfill of activities, ensuring continuity of your training history and streaks. Being able to correct or add missed sessions preserves long-term motivation and accuracy.
6. Sharing and storytelling
Fitness offers limited sharing — mostly static images of summary metrics. Fito expands social and storytelling options: shareable photos with stats overlays, animated 3D route videos, and configurable export formats for friends or coaches. Better sharing turns workouts into stories, fuels social motivation and enables richer feedback from training partners.
Conclusion
The iOS 26 Fitness update is an important step: phone-only route tracking is a welcome convenience that helps many users. However, if you’re serious about training, analytics, motivation and social sharing, Fito offers a more complete experience. From live maps and auto-pause to 80+ activity types, deeper analytics, manual logging, streak-based motivation and rich share features, Fito fills the gaps left by Apple’s simpler approach. For casual users, Apple Fitness is now more capable than before; for committed athletes and habit-driven users, Fito remains the better choice
