What’s new

2026.9.23 23 September 2026

A big one.

A map

• A floating bar along the bottom: Home, Progress, Rhino, Settings. Pages run under it and dissolve around it.
• Every page's title scrolls up into the bar as you go, and comes back as you return.
• Trophies has its own door on Progress.

Rhino, safer and smarter

• Every Rhino conversation goes through the Gym Buddy server with fair-use limits, so the coach stays fast for everyone.
• Rhino messages are named one way everywhere, with the number left and the day they reset.
• Scrolled back through a long chat? A small button takes you to the newest line. So does tapping the Rhino tab again.

Heart-rate zones that are yours

• Zones anchored to your own lactate threshold, worked out from your last 90 days of cardio. Reserve-based zones stay as the fallback.

Apple Watch

• Readiness score in the dial with a flame and your streak beneath it. The complication refreshes on its own.
• Every screen of the watch app redrawn around readiness.

Share images

• Session, rank and Year in Lifting cards redesigned: your rhino in the spotlight, one big number, nothing cut off.

Streaks and reminders

• The flame carries the streak on the home card. Freezes are earned by training only; the XP wallet is gone.
• The streak reminder arrives at the hour you actually lift. Walks and rides imported from Health no longer move it.

App icons

• Festive icons appear in their own week and stay only if you train on the day.

First workout

• Tips that show you swipe to complete, hold to undo and hold to finish, right when they matter.
• One Finish control. Notifications asked once, on your first summary, with the reason.

Exercise names

• The list follows strengthlevel.com, with every "also known as" searchable. Rhino picks only from it.

Never lose a workout

• A session in progress is saved as you go. If iOS closes the app while you rest, the next open asks "Continue Leg Day?" and picks up your sets, your rest timer and your clocks.
• Taps on the Lock Screen card wait for the app if it was not running.

Sheets that look like the app

• Every bottom sheet sits on the page colour with its rows in a card. The rest day sheet is a resting rhino, one line and three numbers.
• The card you are on wears its purple border again. Zone 1 is blue.

Rhino knows you

• Rhino has your age, your maximum and resting heart rate and your five zones, so a zones question gets your own numbers.

Small things

• The Watch names the next exercise when a rest leads to a new one.
• The Lock Screen rest card keeps its padding with the heart pill in the row.
• No sign-in prompt after a workout when you are signed in, and a weigh-in nudge once a week.
• Festive icons appear in their own week and stay only if you train on the day.
• The streak reminder ignores imported walks and rides when working out your usual hour.

Polish from three full passes

• Dozens of fixes: keyboards that stay down, numbers that fit, plain words for readiness, one colour scale, one segmented control, one sheet ending, no dead space under lists, the brain where a brain goes on the muscle map, locked icons shown in full colour with what unlocks them, every plan table with the right units.

2026.9.18 18 September 2026

Heart-rate straps, strength standards, holiday breaks, and Pro for a fortnight from your first workout.

ANY HEART-RATE STRAP

Polar, Whoop, Amazfit Helio, or any Bluetooth chest strap or armband: pair it under Settings, Workout, Devices, and it drives the live heart rate, the zones and the rest ring, with the Apple Watch and AirPods still there when you want them. Every beat is written to Apple Health.

WHERE YOU STAND

Each lift is classed Beginner to Elite for your body weight, age and sex, with the kilos to the next level. A DOTS score on every record, and for squat, bench and deadlift your share of the world record in your class. Sex is optional and never leaves your phone.

HOLIDAY BREAKS

Going away? Take a break of up to three weeks and the streak holds, no freezes spent, reminders quiet until you are back.

MUSCLES THIS WEEK

A map of the Rhino, front and back, tinted by the sets you gave each muscle this week. Tap a region to see the exercises behind it.

SHARED WORKOUTS THAT FIT

Import a friend's workout and the weights are matched to you: your own last working weight where you have one, otherwise scaled to your body weight.

PROGRESSION THAT COUNTS THE WORK

The next weight is judged on the work you did, not the reps alone. Five at 14 kg beats a planned four at 12 kg, and the suggestion goes up. Two hard sessions in a row back off; an easy set steps up early.

PRO FROM YOUR FIRST WORKOUT

Finish one workout and Pro is yours for fourteen days: every trend, every program, your strap. Nothing to cancel. The last 28 days of trends stay free for everyone.

THE APP FEELS ALIVE

One clean haptic per tap, everywhere. Buttons press under your thumb, numbers roll, a set landing dips the row. Rhino nods when a set lands, shakes his head when your heart rate climbs, and yawns on the first open of the day. A ring around him drains as you rest.

READINESS

A dial on home reads your training load and how the last session felt, and says whether today looks fresh, ready, steady or tired.

WALKS, RIDES, ROWS AND SPORTS

With Apple Health on, every workout your Watch or another app records comes in as a session, with distance, time and heart rate, and counts toward your streak.

Plus: swipe a set to complete it, hold the finish button to save, a starter workout from an empty home screen, reminders at the hour you usually train, and a Watch that keeps the set count in one place.

2026.9.17 17 September 2026

Every tap now answers your finger, and Rhino has started to react.

THE APP FEELS ALIVE

Buttons, cards and rows press under your thumb, with one clean haptic pair per tap. Numbers roll like an odometer: your streak on home, the weight moved on the workout screen and the summary counts. A set landing dips the row and pops its pip. The heaviest set of the plan lands heavier on the wrist.

RHINO REACTS

He nods when a set lands, shakes his head when your heart rate climbs into zone 4, shivers on a morning when your streak is at risk, and yawns on the first open of the day. Pull the home screen down and he peeks out of his ring.

REST THAT BREATHES

A ring around Rhino drains as you rest and cools from red through amber to green as your heart rate comes down. Three clicks count you in, "Go!" on zero, and if you run over it counts up until the next set.

FASTER ON THE FLOOR

Swipe a set to the right to complete it. Hold the finish button to save, so a brush of the thumb can never end a workout. Lifting an exercise to reorder it raises the card.

WHAT YOUR RATINGS ARE FOR

Rating a set's effort now changes next time's suggestion in front of you: an easy set steps the weight up early, a max effort holds, two hard sessions in a row back off. Holds are shown, not hidden.

READINESS

A dial on home reads your training load, the days since you last trained and how the last session felt, and says whether today looks fresh, ready, steady or tired. Tap it to see exactly what it was built from. Never shown with fewer than two things to go on.

WALKS, RIDES, ROWS AND SPORTS

With Apple Health on, every workout your Watch or another app records comes in as a session: outdoor walks and runs, rides, rows, swims, tennis, basketball and more, with distance, time and heart rate. They count toward your streak, your weekly events and Rhino's read on your week.

Plus: the summary tells Rhino how your last few sessions felt, and swiping a workout card no longer deletes it. Long-press for that.

2026.9.14 14 September 2026

Rhino's rank now comes from showing up, not from how much you can lift.

EIGHT BANDS TO CLIMB

Rhino earns XP for every day you train and wears what he has earned: chrome wraps, a gold choker, a champion's belt, and eventually a cape. Eight bands, five levels each, and Legend never ends. Nothing is ever taken away.

A MUCH BIGGER GYM DIRECTORY

Four times the gyms, including the independent ones that were never there before. Search now finds your gym by its suburb, its town, or both.

TRENDS FROM YOUR SECOND SESSION

Trends used to wait two months for a calendar boundary. Now four sessions draw four points, and the chart says whether you are looking at sessions, weeks or months.

A TROPHY CASE WORTH OPENING

It shows what you can still win instead of a wall of months you missed. The weekly events reach five weeks ahead, so you and a friend can plan one. Eight volume rungs and four friend-streak rungs, each with its own piece.

ASSISTED MACHINES COUNTED PROPERLY

An assisted pull-up machine takes weight off you, so more help is now less work, not more. Pull-ups, chin-ups, dips and muscle-ups count your body weight when the app knows it.

BODY WEIGHT AND APPLE HEALTH

Weigh-ins now read from Health as well as write to it.

EASIER TO FIND YOUR WAY

A short guide the first time you open each page. A finish button that comes to you when the last set is done. Change a weight and carry it down the rest of the sets in one tap. Take a set back without knowing a secret gesture.

COMING BACK AFTER A BREAK

Away for a week? Rhino offers a shorter version of your own next workout, so the way back is one session rather than a mountain.

Plus: festive app icons earned by training on the day, a workout clock that starts when you do, your weekly training target shown on Progress, and a lot of small fixes to how Rhino writes.

2026.9.11 11 September 2026

Rhino ranks up now. Train and he earns XP: every day of a streak pays, and so does every badge. Eight bands to climb, Bronze to Legend, five levels each.

You can see the rank on him. Each band gives him something to wear and he keeps everything he has already earned: a chrome sweatband and wrist wraps, a gold chain, a champion's belt, a diamond horn, obsidian shoulder plates, titanium gauntlets, and at Legend a halo, a cape and fire. Twenty-one moods drawn for all eight bands, on your home screen, in the chat and on the Home Screen widget.

Nothing is taken away. Your rank is worked out from your whole history and never goes backwards, and the tonnage you have lifted is still counted, now as its own shelf of badges in the trophy room.

Rest days are honest about themselves. A rest day keeps a friend streak alive without counting as a day you both trained, and the Rest Day button has moved to Progress where the rest of your week lives.

Also: a clearer plan line when a subscription is ending rather than renewing, and invite codes are now tied to your account so they survive a new phone.

2026.9.8 8 September 2026

The streak is kind now. Rest days from your weekly plan count, and you earn a freeze every seven trained days (two in the bank) that covers a slip automatically. Rhino says "Rest day. Streak safe." instead of sulking.

Trophies. A new room under Progress for everything you collect: personal records, streak medals, a badge for every month you hit your target, dated badges, milestone ladders for each lift (10, 25, 50, 100 sessions), weekly event badges and all eighteen app icons. Empty slots are visible on purpose.

World Rhino Day is 22 September. Train that day for a badge with the year on it and a World Rhino Day app icon to keep. Rhino wears it for the week.

Weekly events. A new bodyweight or endurance challenge every Monday, the same one for everyone. Plank Week, 5K Week, Push-up Week. Do it, get the badge, or send it to a friend with one tap.

Friend streaks. Share a workout with a friend and you can keep a streak together: the run of days you both trained. Dates only, nothing else leaves your phone.

Year in Lifting. Seven shareable pages about your year, made on your phone.

Rhino everywhere: in the chat, in the rest timer with what you lifted last time, on your Lock Screen card and your Watch. He ranks up as you train: streak days and badges earn XP, and every band earns him a ring and a piece of kit to wear.

Rhino Pro. Unlimited Rhino, full Insights, unlimited saved workouts and every collectible icon, as a yearly plan with a 7-day free trial, or monthly. Logging, the streak, the Watch and the trophy room stay free, as they always were. Invite a friend and you both get an extra month when they go yearly.

Also: a cleaner look with no coloured bars, Settings split into short pages, workout cards that say what a plan usually takes you, separate rest times between sets and between exercises, Now Playing on the Watch, dumbbell steps of 1 kg below 10 kg, and the Buddy icon now unlocks when someone actually adds a workout you shared.