Discover why we think that the Gentler Streak Workout Tracker is the best fitness app for travellers we’ve found.
Gentler Streak Workout Tracker: A Doctor’s Take
Finally, a fitness app that makes you feel better, not worse. See the intro offer for readers at the end.
The Problem: Staying Fit With Everything Else That’s Going On
Let’s be honest. You don’t need me, a doctor turned journalist, to tell you that exercise is important.
Research study after research study backs the idea that regular exercise comes with a range of benefits, from improved blood sugar readings to better sleep, improved mental health to a lower chance of developing dementia. And a whole lot more besides.
And you probably don’t need the research studies to tell you that, either. Fundamentally, I believe we all already know this, deep in our bones (which are also made stronger by exercise, as it happens.)
So what goes wrong? NHS guidelines currently advise at least 150 minutes of cardio each week, with two to three strength training sessions and some flexibility workouts. Yet how many of us are fitting that in? Not many, again, as research backs.
Why?
In large part because it feels as though the systems that surround us are stacked against us. Most of us work in jobs that keep us sat in one position for large chunks of the day. Our working days are growing longer, our incomes less secure.
And even if we do manage to set up a workable routine, anything from illness to injury to travel plans to childcare can easily derail this.
Mr Lab and I have a shared weekly calendar, that fits in work, exercise, socialising, the food shop, the works. It looks great – but we’ve never had a week that conformed to the plan.
But I know what we do have, that’s with us almost every waking hour. Our phones.
Instead of leading us astray, feeding us endless TikTok videos or sports results, could they actually help?
The Challenge: Venice, Through Slovenia, to Croatia
Around New Year’s Eve, I set myself a big exercise goal. You don’t have to but I find that big, bold gestures help to spur me on. The year before, I’d realised that I wasn’t motivated by organised races but by travel.
So, I booked a ticket, set a deadline and used the fear of being stranded alone on the side of an Albanian mountain to get me out the door and on the bike. It was, for me, a great approach to fitness.
And so this year, I signed up again.
Yet this year, things started going wrong with my training. A shoulder issue flared up and I was no longer able to follow the standard 12 week training programme recommended by British Cycling.
Hours led to other hours searching for responsible schedules to help guide my training. I’d come so far, it seemed such a shame to just give up. But I also knew, as a former doctor, the risks of just blazing on ahead.
I’d invested in an Apple Watch by this time (mainly for the fall detection service that calls the emergency services, in case I ended up in a Slovenian ditch) and I began to research fitness trackers and workout apps in every spare moment I had.
Why Most Fitness Apps Don’t Work for Travellers (Or Anyone)
If you can find it in the app store, I’ve probably tested it. They say that necessity is the mother of all invention but I think it was probably desperation instead. And I was feeling desperate.
Rigid Goals Don’t Survive Real Life
Most fitness apps in the app store are built around fixed daily targets. Close your rings. Hit your steps. Complete your session.
That sounds motivating until life intervenes.
Travel days, delayed trains, long-haul flights and changing time zones make those targets unrealistic. And when you miss them, motivation often drops faster than fitness itself.
- Recommended reading: how to stay fit on the road
It’s Not Actually Healthy
Rest is an important part of exercise. While some movement is helpful each day, say walking 5000 steps, for example, when it comes to intense sessions, you’ll run your body into trouble if you’re pushing too hard all the time.
Again, this is backed by science.
Some of Them Are Just Bonkers
I feel shy about naming names but to the fitness app that kept waking me up in the night to tell me to “Stand Up” needs to take a long journey into a short crucible of app doom and never darken my door again.
Discovering Gentler Streak App
I can’t quite remember how I found it – but one day I did find the Gentler Streak App.
Don’t be fooled by the name. While, yes, it does send gentler messages than the ridiculous “stand up in the middle of the night” app, it doesn’t mean that it’s a wet, limp lettuce.
It takes your data from your watch and feeds it into research backed algorithms to build you an activity path instead of a daily tickbox.
It seems to notice that we are human beings instead of robots and factors in sickness, injury, rest, and sleep. ay.
Instead of rewarding obsessive input, it focuses on balance, recovery and long-term consistency. Or, health, in other words.
Sometimes, it even tells you to do less.
And that alone made me curious enough to investigate further. It was exactly what I needed while trying to train around an injury.
The Activity Path: What Most of Us Would Consider as Fitness
Where I spend most of my time is in the Activity Path. It shows your overall training load and recovery balance over time, almost like a moving band that rises and falls with your effort.
On paper, it sounds simple, but I found it genuinely motivating to see the band gradually move upwards across weeks of regular workouts, even when individual days felt messy or inconsistent or things went wrong.
Gentler Streak’s approach seems geared to creating a healthier life, not hitting one challenge and moving on.
And isn’t that, ultimately, what we’re all looking for anyway?
The Tech Behind Gentler Streak
At its core, Gentler Streak App is a fitness tracker that interprets data differently.
It uses:
Apple Health integration for health data
Apple Watch data for cardio and cardio fitness trends
Training load calculations based on perceived exertion as well as detected heart rate metrics
Activity status tracking, including activity outside of recorded workouts
Sleep data (when available) to adjust recovery guidance
It also supports cycling insights from apps like Cadence (my favourite of the cycling specific apps.) And if cycling is not your thing, it supports data from any app that sends its data to Apple Health and allows third party access.
The app keeps evolving too, with new workout types and improvements that reflect a more modern approach to health, fitness and workout trackers.
The only thing I could wish for is a little more detail for tracking weight training. You can add a session manually but there’s not an easy way to keep track of reps, weight etc. But that’s fine by me, I just keep that in the Notes app on my phone.
UPDATE! It turns out I missed the fact that you can do this within the app itself. When you manually add a weight training session, if you click the three dots top right, you can add notes and photos to keep track there.
Why It Works for Travellers
One of the best thing about travel is breaking free of the routine. But routines are helpful for healthy eating and exercise habits.
If you can’t get to the gym, it’s easy to feel as though the day’s fitness is wasted. The app showed me a surprising trend: I typically exercise a lot more when I travel – by boosting my steps each day.
Walking through airports, exploring cities, carrying bags and general movement all contribute to activity outside of recorded workouts.
So instead of feeling like I was falling behind, I could see that I was still progressing.
The app keeps this visible through the home screen, where go gentler suggestions adjust based on recent load and recovery.
The motivational messages also increase my chances of tracking down and actually using a gym, too, while on the road.
I also like the heads-up in the morning and the fact that it tells you when you’re close to pushing too hard.
If you think this only applies to people training for endurance events, think again!
Sometimes unexpected walks through airports and to find accommodation add a lot more mileage and daily steps than you think.
Sick Days
If you’re injured and sick, you have the choice to let the app now. It turns off all the nudging, all the activity path and just encourages you to do what you need to get better.
What’s even spookier is that the app often picked up that I was coming down with something before I noticed…
Free and Premium Features
As you can tell, I think it’s one of the best health and fitness apps out there and I was happy to pay for such a great app.
But there is a free version for you to see if it works for you.
The free version is enough to:
Track activity
See basic activity status
Use the workout tracker as a daily guide
But the premium option unlocks deeper insights into training load, recovery trends and long-term patterns. You can easily see the impact of the last 30 days at a glance and dive into the monthly recap for more detail.
Reviews and ratings on the app store are consistently strong, and reading a review on the app store often reflects similar themes: sustainability, balance and reduced pressure.
The Twist in the Tale: A Story and Saving for You
I’m such a fan of this app that I asked them if they could come up with an offer for readers of Inside the Travel Lab – and they said yes.
So, if you sign up through this link, you can get a full free trial for two weeks, plus the option for a 50% discount if you use the code ABI50.
So, no excuse not to give it a try! Go on – and good luck!
(What was also interesting, was that this app doesn’t hail from a faceless vast corporation in Silicon Valley. It turns out that it’s made by a small, independent, women-led team of eight in Slovenia. Which I was cycling past…)
Gentler Streak App: The Final Review?
There’s a lot more I could say about my fitness journey and where this health app fits in but I’ll call it a day for now.
If you’re looking to stay consistent and have a friendly face instead of a rigid taskmaster in your phone, then I’d highly recommend checking it out.
And maybe I’ll see you on the next cycling journey.
FAQs About Gentler
Does Gentler Streak work with Android?
No, first chink in the armour. Gentler Streak is exclusive to the Apple ecosystem. It is available for iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad. There is currently no version for Android or Wear OS.
Can I use Gentler Streak if I use a Garmin, Oura Ring, or Whoop instead of an Apple Watch?
Yes! Gentler Streak pulls its data directly from Apple Health. If you prefer to track your adventures or sleep using a Garmin, Oura Ring, or other third-party devices, as long as that device is set up to sync its data into the native Apple Health app, Gentler Streak will read it and map your Activity Path. The only caveat is that Gentler Streak can’t guarantee the accuracy of other apps. If the source data is good, they’ll read and display it perfectly; but if the source data is poor or incomplete, that will, of course, be reflected in the Gentler Streak app.
Is there a free version of Gentler Streak?
Yes, there is a free version, but it is limited. The free tier gives you access to your current day’s Activity Path and basic workout logging. To unlock the standalone Apple Watch app, long-term trends (10-day and 30-day paths), detailed Wellbeing metrics, and specific “Go Gentler” daily workout suggestions, you will need a Premium subscription.
How does Gentler Streak differ from the native Apple Fitness app?
While Apple Fitness focuses heavily on “closing your rings” every single day – which can easily lead to burnout or guilt when you are traveling, sick, or resting – Gentler Streak takes a compassionate approach. It uses your historical data and heart rate variability (HRV) to establish an optimal “Activity Path.” Instead of pushing you to hit the same targets daily, it actively tells you when it’s time to rest, opt for a light walk, or push yourself harder. So it’s the best of both worlds. You still have the data from Health and other fitness apps, but it’s combined to give you the most relevant insights.
Why is Gentler Streak great for travellers?
Travel throws standard fitness routines out the window. Between jet lag, long-haul flights, irregular sleep, and heavy walking days exploring new cities, your body goes through mayhem. Gentler Streak acts as a mindful travel companion. Its “Wellbeing” tab tells you how your sleep disruption is affecting your body, and the “Go Gentler” feature might suggest a gentle yoga session or a rest day rather than a gruelling workout, ensuring you don’t burn out halfway through your trip.
Does it work offline while traveling?
Yes, the app functions offline. It will continue to track your workouts and display your active path based on your device’s local data. Once you reconnect to Wi-Fi or cellular data, any third-party data (like Oura or Garmin syncs) will update, and everything will recalculate seamlessly.
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