Building GymZy – A Private, Minimalist Workout Tracker for iOS

I've always wanted a simple app to log my strength workouts so I built my own

Aleksandar Drakaliyski

Date Published

24 June 2025

3 min read

Building GymZy – A Private, Minimalist Workout Tracker for iOS

Meet GymZy — a clean, privacy-first strength training journal designed to help lifters stay consistent, track progress, and stay focused — with zero ads, zero accounts, and zero tracking.


✨ The Vision

From day one, I had a clear vision:

  • 📱 A minimalist interface that makes logging workouts effortless
  • 🔒 100% offline and private — no cloud, no accounts
  • 📈 Smart progress tracking and charts to stay motivated
  • 💡 Lightweight, intuitive, and free of distractions

🔧 The Tech Stack

GymZy is built entirely in Swift using modern Apple frameworks:

  • SwiftUI – for fast, declarative UI development
  • SwiftData – to manage structured local data with minimal boilerplate
  • CloudKit – for seamless syncing between devices (still private, no user accounts)
  • HealthKit – to integrate with the Apple Health app
  • Swift Charts – for rich, interactive progress visualizations

🧠 Key Features

🏋️‍♂️ Smart Workout Logging

The core experience is logging sets, reps, and weights — fast. GymZy remembers your last set for each exercise and uses smart autocomplete to suggest the next one, helping users maintain momentum.

📊 Visual Progress Tracking

I implemented detailed stats using Swift Charts, including:

  • Volume over time
  • 1RM estimations
  • Exercise frequency
  • Personal bests

These visuals help users see their progress — and stay motivated to keep going.

🔐 Privacy-First by Design

No accounts. No cloud dependency. No analytics SDKs. All data stays local on your device, synced only via CloudKit, fully controlled by the user. This was a core value of the project — and users have appreciated it.


📈 Early Traction

I released GymZy to the App Store with zero marketing — just a few Reddit and Twitter posts. Still, it gained some organic traction:

  • 1,740+ impressions
  • 203 installs
  • Positive feedback for speed, simplicity, and respect for user privacy

It's still early days, but this small validation has been incredibly rewarding.


🧪 What I Learned

  • SwiftUI and SwiftData are incredibly powerful together — especially for rapid prototyping and polished UI.
  • Swift Charts has limitations, but it’s great for MVP-level analytics.
  • Syncing with CloudKit without user accounts was tricky, but doable — and worth it for the privacy payoff.
  • Building for real users (even just 200!) sharpens your thinking more than building for yourself.

🚀 What’s Next

  • More detailed performance insights
  • Small onboarding improvements for first-time users

🎯 Final Thoughts

GymZy was a passion project that turned into a full-featured app I now use every day. If you're into lifting and want a focused, private tracker — check it out on the App Store.

If you're an indie dev or iOS enthusiast, feel free to reach out — I’d love to chat about shipping side projects, Apple frameworks, or building privacy-first products.

Thanks for reading!