Social Workout App: 5 Picks and Who Each Fits

The plan

There's no single best social workout app. There's the one that matches how you train and who you train with. Here are five, with only the social features each app lists on its own site or store page, checked October 26, 2026.

App	Main training	Social features (from the app's own page)	Best for
Strava	Running, cycling, walking, many other sports	Feed, kudos, clubs, monthly challenges with badges	Runners and riders who want a crowd
Hevy	Lifting	Feed with likes and comments, copy a workout, friend leaderboards, compare stats	Lifters who want to see friends' sessions
Peloton	Classes	Class leaderboard, teams, high fives, tags, follow friends	People who like live or on-demand classes
Ladder	Strength plans	Teams led by a coach, community, a new plan each week	People who want a coach-led team
Nuvela (new)	Strength, cardio and yoga	Train Together, a friend's workout in one tap	Two people on one weekly plan

Strava

Strava's App Store listing covers runs, rides, hikes, yoga and dozens of other sport types. You get a feed of other athletes' activities, monthly challenges with digital badges and a way to cheer on other members. Strength sessions show up too, with exercises, sets, reps and weights, when they come from a connected device or strength app. Strava's cycling page adds kudos, following and clubs, and lists segment leaderboards as a subscription feature. Checked October 26, 2026.

Hevy

Hevy is a lifting log with a social layer. Its social features page lists a Home feed of workouts from people you follow, with likes and comments. You can copy someone's workout or save it as a routine, compare your stats with another user, rank lifts on leaderboards with friends, and share routines by link or image. Checked October 26, 2026.

Peloton

Peloton's community features article lists a class leaderboard, teams with a shared leaderboard and team feed, profile tags, high fives you send by tapping a member's avatar, and following friends to see their workout history. Checked October 26, 2026.

Ladder

Ladder's homepage describes teams, each led by a coach, a workout plan that's new each week, video demonstrations and a community. Members train at home, at the gym, outside or across all three. Checked October 26, 2026.

Nuvela

Nuvela is a new app, so it has less history than the others here. Its social side is built for training with people you know, not a crowd. With Train Together, two people do the same workout, each with their own weights, and keep one shared streak. You can also train a friend's workout in one tap. Strength, cardio and yoga sit in one weekly plan, and Nuvela sets every weight and adjusts it as you log.

Get this week built for your gym.

Plan your workout

Decision chart that matches training styles like running, lifting, classes and training with a partner to a social workout app — Pick the app by how you train.

Ask four questions, in this order:

What do you do most? Running and riding point to Strava. Lifting points to Hevy, Ladder or Nuvela. Classes point to Peloton.
Who do you want around you? A big crowd and public challenges suit Strava and Peloton. One partner or a few friends suit Hevy's follow feed or Nuvela's Train Together. A coach-led group suits Ladder.
Do you want a plan or a log? Hevy logs what you choose to do. Ladder gives a new plan each week. Nuvela builds your week from a few questions: goal, experience, where you train, days and minutes.
Will your partner use it? The best feature is the one both of you open. Try the app together for two weeks before you commit.

One more check: read the app's own page, not a review from last year. Features change, and every feature in this article comes from the app's own site or store page on October 26, 2026.

Four cards explaining social feature types in workout apps: feeds, leaderboards, groups and shared plans — Four kinds of social features.

Swaps: if you want this, pick that

If you want	Pick	Why
Clubs and monthly challenges for running or cycling	Strava	Clubs, challenges and kudos are core features
To see your friends' lifts and copy their workouts	Hevy	Follow feed, copy workout, friend leaderboards
A leaderboard during a class	Peloton	Class leaderboard and high fives
A coach-led team with a new plan each week	Ladder	Teams, each led by a coach
The same workout as your partner, with your own weights	Nuvela	Train Together with one shared streak
Strength, cardio and yoga in one weekly plan	Nuvela	You choose the mix; yoga sessions from 15 to 60 minutes

Mixing apps works too: you can log runs in Strava and lifts in another app. Just keep one app as the place where your week is planned.

A woman training in a modern gym, a real-life look at social workout app — Same plan, real people, real sets.

Where Nuvela fits

Nuvela is for people who'd rather train with one person than compete with a crowd. Answer a few questions and get your week for the gym, home, no equipment or on the road. Snap your gear, and the plan reads photos of your equipment. Every move has a video, and you can swap any move in one tap. To try it with your own answers, build your week. Training as a couple? Our gym workout plan for couples shows how to share one bench, and our couples yoga poses guide covers a yoga day.

Common questions

It depends on how you train. For running and cycling, Strava's clubs and challenges. For lifting with friends, Hevy's feed and leaderboards. For classes, Peloton's leaderboard and teams. For one partner on the same plan, Nuvela's Train Together.

Is there a workout app where you can train with friends?

Yes. Hevy lets you copy a friend's workout or save it as a routine. Nuvela lets you train a friend's workout in one tap, and Train Together keeps two people on the same workout with one shared streak. Peloton has teams and following.

Does Strava track weightlifting?

Strava's App Store listing says strength sessions, with exercises, sets, reps and weights, are logged when they come from a connected device or strength app. Hevy's social page also lists sharing workouts to Strava.

Is there an app like Strava for lifting?

Hevy is the closest match on social features: a feed of workouts from people you follow, likes, comments and leaderboards with friends. Ladder adds coach-led teams instead of a public feed.

Sources

Strava: Run, Bike, Walk, App Store listing. Checked October 26, 2026: activity feed, monthly challenges with digital badges, cheering on other members, strength training logged from a connected device or strength app, routes.
Strava, Cycling page. Checked October 26, 2026: kudos and following, clubs, monthly challenges; segment leaderboards are a subscription feature.
Hevy, Social features page. Checked October 26, 2026: feed with likes and comments, copy a workout or save it as a routine, compare stats with another user, leaderboards against friends, share routines by link.
Peloton, community features article on Peloton's site. Checked October 26, 2026: class leaderboard, teams with a shared leaderboard and feed, tags, high fives, following friends.
Ladder, homepage. Checked October 26, 2026: teams led by a coach, a new workout plan each week, community, video demonstrations, train at home, at the gym or outside.

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