Reviews

Freeletics Review – New & Improved Features Raise the Bar on Home Fitness Apps

For the past few years, I’ve been a total fitness app junkie. I have always loved the convenience of being able to work out from home with just my trusty exercise mat and phone.

But these days, the home workout trend is more popular than ever.  In fact, according to a recent survey organized by Freeletics (via Onepoll) 74% of Americans have used at least one fitness app since quarantine began – and for 41% of them, it was their first time using one. 

Freeletics Reivew - Working out at home

It makes sense. On one hand, working out at home is obviously safer during this global crisis.

But people are starting to find that home workouts are actually better than the gym; over half of the same survey’s respondence reported that were so confident in their ability to stay fit from home that they planned on ditching the gym, even after the quarantine is lifted. 

Speaking of Freeletics, they have given their own home fitness app some serious upgrades within the past year. Recently, they reached out to me to check out the new features, and I’m so glad I did!

There are so many changes that I felt it warranted an updated Freeletics review so that you can have a current picture of what the app can offer.

Hopefully, it will help you determine if it’s the right app for reaching your fitness goals. (If not, there are many others I recommend as well!) 

My original review was published in April 2019, but I have fully updated it as of July 2020. 

Don’t have time for the full review? Scroll down to the bottom for the Quick FAQ!

** My blog posts contain affiliate links, which means that I may earn a commission on purchases you make after clicking on those links. (At no extra cost to you!) Full disclosure here. **

Disclaimer: Freeletics did not pay me to write this review, nor am I an affiliate for them. However, they did give me free access to their app so that I could use it and update this review. These are my own honest thoughts and opinions after using the app.

What is Freeletics?

Freeletics is a fitness app you can download on your phone. It features highly customizable fitness programs that can be done with nothing more than your body weight, making it ideal for those who want to work out at home but have limited equipment. 

If you do have some gym equipment at home, you can indicate this in the settings and the app will incorporate them into your workout program. 

The exercises consist of HIIT sessions (High-Intensity Interval Training) that vary in length but typically around 20-30 minutes long.

What makes Freeletics unique from other fitness apps is that the programs are not only customizable, but your virtual “Coach” adjusts the difficulty based on your feedback after each workout.

This feature is designed to be the next best thing to a real personal trainer. 

As I alluded to earlier, Freeletics has added a number of nifty new features including audio running sessions, mindset coaching, Spotify integration, adaptive sessions, and more – all of which I will cover individually in this review. 

Is Freeletics free?

Freeletics does offer a free version of the app that gives you access to many of the workouts and other app features. But if you want the AI Coach, you will need to purchase a subscription.

The fee depends on whether you want just the training, or a nutrition plan as well.

I’m not one for nutrition plans (I prefer to eat what I want and just keep track of my calories and macros with Cronometer) so I am reviewing the training portion only. 

The training subscription plans come in 3 tiers:

  • A 3-month subscription that works out to $3.08 Canadian per week
  • A 6-month subscription that works out to $2.46 Canadian per week
  • A year-long subscription that works out to $1.54 Canadian per week

Although I prefer apps that offer a month-to-month plan, even the 3-month plan works out to under a $40 commitment, which is a pretty competitive price. (Would be even less in USD.) 

They also offer a 14-Day money-back guarantee so you can make try it out risk-free. 

Is Freeletics good for building muscle or losing weight?

The nice thing about this app is that it is designed to help you achieve specific fitness goals. If your focus is on building muscle, you can indicate this to your “coach” during the assessment, and it will suggest programs for you that center more on strength training. If weight loss is a bigger priority, it will suggest programs with more cardio.

I also thought it was cool that you could prioritize other goals as well, like if you’re exercising primarily for stress relief or for increased endurance.

Training Journeys Overview

Once you sign up, the app asks for your stats (age, gender, weight, height, etc.) and asks you questions about how often you work out and your overall perceived fitness level.

Once you finish the assessment, the app offers a selection of recommended programs or “Training Journeys”. You can tap on each of the recommended programs and read about what to expect, what kind of equipment you will need, and how long the sessions are.

The Training Journeys are split into categories based on your goals. The “Get Started” section features programs for those who are new to fitness, while the “Get Running” category has a selection of 12-week running programs, some focusing on building speed while the others zone in on endurance.

You’ll also find “Limited Edition” programs that are only available for a limited time, as well as Training Journeys “Get Toned”, “Lose Weight”, and “Get Fit”.

As for myself, I most recently tried the “Fit for Life” Training Journey, which is a 6-week program for building both strength and endurance.

The program is grouped into three parts:

  • Week 1: Assessment – This is the week that the AI Coach assesses your fitness abilities based on your feedback.
  • Weeks 2-5: Custom training – This is the meat of the program, where your coach will continue to adapt your workouts and offer guidance. 
  • Week 6: Final challenge – The last week of the program will be the toughest! (This seems to have been rebranded from “Hell Week”, which I think was a good call!)

From there you can choose how many days per week you want to train if you have any physical limitations, and if you want to incorporate sprints or runs.

When you select the workout, it gives you an outline of what you’ll be doing, and also a preview of the exercises that you can review before you start.

I’ll talk about my experience with the program a little later on in the review, but I wanted to go over a couple of the other features first: 

The Explore Tab

If you’re not into a structured program, you can pick and choose from individual workouts. For some reason,  these workouts all have names from Greek Mythology. (The Morpheus workout, anyone?)

You can also focus on single exercises, but I don’t really get the use of this. (Do you really need an app to do 20 situps and nothing else?) 

There’s another feature that locates nearby spots where you can train for free or meet other Freeletics users.

But considering the whole point of my downloading an app like this is so I can live like a hermit and not leave my house, this function went wholly unused.

Next, there are now new sections for dynamic warmups and cooldowns based on the area you train. 

This is also where you’ll find a section for Sprints & Runs, where you can log runs of varying lengths. 

Mindset Coaching

Mindset coaching can be found in the Explore tab and is also integrated into your daily coach calendar. This is a very cool addition because while I have used other fitness apps that offer meditations, none of them are quite as robust as this.

For example, Freeletics’ mindfulness coaching not only includes meditations, but other forms of mindset training like visualizations, guided movements, and informational audio courses. 

The mindset training library is divided into four segments: Train smarter, Sleep better, Focus & de-stress, and Get inspired. 

I really love this addition to the app because I have always said that it doesn’t matter what program you do if you don’t have the right mindset about exercise.

And this app aims to tackle any mental roadblocks you may have about exercise.

If fitness motivation is a real struggle for you, this part of the app could be a real game-changer for you.

In particular, I like the audio courses under Train smarter, such as “Sustainable weight loss”. This 13 episode audio course contains bite-sized lessons that are less than 10 minutes each but pack some great thoughts and suggestions into that time.

More importantly, it’s realistic, practical advice.

Another thing I really like is that whenever you finish a mindset coaching session, the app asks if there was anything that could be improved upon, presumably so they can use your feedback to fine-tune future audio sessions down the road.

Other New Features

Freeletics’ recent makeover also includes a few other neat features that are worth mentioning: 

Spotify integration

If you have a premium Spotify subscription, you can toggle on the Spotify feature within the app and choose either your own playlists or Freeletics’ playlists to work out to. 

Admittedly, I do not have Spotify so I was not able to test it out, but if you do have a subscription you will likely love this feature!

Comeback coaching

This is another first for any fitness app I’ve seen: if you are coming back to the app after a long break away from working out, the AI Coach will help you ease back into your exercise plan to reduce the risk of injury. 

Apple Watch integration

Freeletics now integrates with your Apple Watch so you can see an overview of your workout without looking at your phone.

You can also tap from one exercise to the next which is nice because then you’re not constantly stopping and picking up your phone throughout your workout.

My Freeletics Training Journey Experience

It’s been over a year since the first time I tried Freeletics, and they have definitely refined their workout sessions since then.

I like that there are video loops of the exercises so it’s always easy to see what I’m supposed to be doing at any given time. I also like that it’s self-paced and you simply swipe to the next exercise once you’ve finished your reps.

My workout sessions were in the 21-26 minute range, which is just about perfect for me. 

Thoughts on the new “adapt session” button

Freeletics has an “adapt session” button that you can slap any time you need to make a last-minute modification to your workout.

Once you hit that button, your Coach will ask you what the scoop is, and you can indicate one of the following:

  • If you find yourself somewhere where you need to be quiet and can’t be jumping around making a racket, you can select “I need to train quietly”
  • If you don’t like the workout-du-jour, you can select “I want a different session”
  • If your last leg day decimated your quads, you can select “I’m too sore”
  • If the workouts on today’s docket look a little too intense (or a little too easy) you can select, “I want to change the difficulty”
  • If you don’t have time for the full workout, you can choose “I don’t have much time.”

Once you hit that button, your Coach recalibrates your workout for the day accordingly.

I’ve got to say, I have used this button a few times so far and I love it.

It really does eliminate your excuses!

My Workouts

The workouts themselves also seem a little more streamlined now. They are still broken up into separate segments, but it seems to be fewer than the previous version.

For example, today my workout had the following segments:

  1. Dynamic Warmup (5-6 minutes)
  2. Skill progression (1 minute) 
  3. Interval – Upper Body, Abs, Legs (8-11 minutes)
  4. Active Cooldown (2 minutes)

In most cases, each segment consists of a group of exercises. When you finish your reps for one exercise, you tap to move to the next one. 

When you finish a segment, you get a recap of the moves you did and how long it took you to finish them.

After the skill progression and Interval segments, you also need to check in with the Coach to let it know how hard you found the workout.

Then, you need to tap the next segment to continue. 

Honestly, this does sort of break the flow of the workout for me. 

On one hand, I like the feedback feature because it helps the Coach AI adjust your training plan based on how easy or hard you find the moves.

And you can even tell it if you are struggling with a specific move.

But once I get exercising, I like to get into the zone and stay there until it’s done. Although there’s not as much starting and stopping as there used to be, it’s still a bit too often for my taste. 

I get that the feedback is important to a customized experience, but I would prefer it if the Q&A sessions were withheld until after the cooldown.

It’s also worth noting that there’s not much of an audio-guided component to this app. You do get a countdown into the start of the workout but then it’s pretty much radio silence from there. 

Some people might actually prefer this since you can enjoy your music while working out without a voice talking over it.

But if you prefer verbal cues to guide your workouts, you won’t find that with this app.

Freeletics review: is this app an effective way to get fit?

Freeletics review summary

If you’re looking for a highly customizable training program, Freeletics has a lot to offer, especially now that it includes adaptable workouts and mindset coaching. 

Pros:

  • Unisex: the app is designed to be used by both men and women
  • Competitive subscription costs
  • Highly customizable and evolves based on your feedback
  • New Adapt Today feature helps you quickly customize workouts and eliminate excuses for missing your workouts
  • New Mindset Coaching offers meditations and other helpful audio sessions to keep you motivated and inspired

Cons:

  • No audio-guidance during workouts
  • No month-to-month payment options
  • Each workout is broken up into 4 segments which kinds of breaks up the flow of the workouts

Freeletics Alternatives

Depending on your budget, fitness goals, and preferred method of working out, there are a few alternatives to Freeletics that you can consider:

My Fitness by Jillian Michaels – I am a huge JM fangirl, so it’s no surprise that this is one of my favorite apps. There are over two dozen premium workout programs as well as access to the DVD library, which includes 30 Day Shred and Body Revolution. 

Bodyboss – If you’re not into subscription plans, Bodyboss offers a 16-week program that you buy one time and have access to forever. The online edition comes with workout videos that you can work out along with. 

Sweat – Another great app is Bikini Body Guide by Kayla Itsines via the SWEAT app. It’s a monthly subscription that’s a bit pricier than Freeletics. But you get access to a ton of fun workouts, and the app is really well designed. 

Aaptiv – Another highly-customized workout app that might be most ideal for you if you prefer audio-guided workouts over video loops. 

Figure 8. If traditional workouts aren’t really your thing, you can also try dancing your way to fitness with a program like  

What did you think about this Freeletics review? Have you tried it? Let me know in the comments!

The Quick Freeletics FAQ!

How does the Freeletics app work?

Freeletics is a fitness app you can download on your phone. What makes Freeletics unique from other fitness apps is that the programs are not only customizable, but they actually change as you go based on your feedback to your virtual “coach” after each workout.

Is Freeletics good for building muscle or weight loss?

The nice thing about this app is that it is designed to help you achieve specific fitness goals. If your focus is on building muscle, you can indicate this to your “coach” during the assessment, and it will suggest programs for you that center more on strength training. If weight loss is a bigger priority, it will suggest programs with more cardio exercises.

How much does Freeletics cost?

There is a free version that gives you limited access to the app. But if you want the AI Coach, you will need to pay. The cost also depends on if you just want the training or the nutrition plan as well. The more months you buy upfront, the better the savings. For 80 USD, you can get a whole year of Freeletics training.

Does Freeletics really work?

Yes, if you follow the app’s instructions, it will help you get in shape. It is highly customizable and really is almost like having a virtual personal trainer. However, the app is a bit complicated-feeling at times and some people may prefer a more straight-forward fitness program.

Corrie Alexander is a former ISSA-certified personal trainer, home fitness advocate, and founder of The Fit Careerist. A proponent of personal growth and a self-proclaimed fitness app-junkie, Corrie shares tips and product reviews with the goal of helping others on their own fitness journey.

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