In iOS 16, you can take greater control of all elements of your iPhone’s lock screen. In addition to adding widgets to your home screen, you can also stick them on your lock screen. That makes it easy to see key information from a wide variety of apps without even needing to unlock your phone.

This is excellent news if you don’t want to get distracted by picking up your phone during your workout or run. Lock screen widgets will help you access information at a glance while on the move and keep you focused on your exercise. Here are the fitness widgets that deserve a spot on your iPhone's lock screen.

1. Apple Fitness

Apple’s built-in Fitness app is the obvious choice as one of your lock screen widgets. All widgets come as either square, circular, or rectangular tiles, and if you choose the smaller options, you can fit four different icons into the bar.

The Apple Fitness square widget shows the familiar Activity Rings, allowing you to see your progress toward the day’s targets at a glance. The rectangular tile offers the same information in more detail, with the statistics displayed instead.

Download: Apple Fitness (Free)

2. Gentler Streak

Gentler Streak is a beautiful app that complements Apple Fitness perfectly. It measures and tracks your activity while allowing time for active rest and recovery workouts to keep you at peak health.

The lock screen widget for Gentler Streak is available in two square or rectangular tiles. One presents your Activity Status and tells you whether you’re working hard enough or pushing it too far. The other, Go Gentler, shows your most optimal daily action. You’ll see if it’s a rest day right from your lock screen.

Download: Gentler Streak (Free, subscription available)

3. Fitness View

Fitness View is a tracker app that helps you analyze and track your activity data stored in Apple Health. It offers a widget (for Premium subscribers only) that allows you to show custom fitness data, such as activity goals, on your lock screen. You can configure it as either a square or rectangular widget, and it’s a good supplement to Apple’s built-in Fitness app.

Download: Fitness View (Subscription required, free trial available)

4. Personal Best

Personal Best is another app that syncs with your Apple workout data and presents insights into your workouts in an accessible format, encouraging you to beat your best. The app offers several useful widgets, including two lock screen widgets. One displays your most recent workout information and another combines data from your most recent workouts to give further insight into your exercise trends.

Download: Personal Best (Free, subscription available)

5. SmartGym

One for gym lovers, SmartGym lets you track your progress as you go around your gym, making it easy to record and manage all your workouts. Again, it syncs with Apple Health, and the six different lock screen widgets provide everything you might want quick access to during your exercise program.

Workout charts, heart rate, and active calories are among the metrics you might use, but you’re probably going to install the Up Next widget to see at a glance what routine is coming next.

Download: SmartGym (Free, subscription available)

6. CardioBot

CardioBot is a heart rate monitoring app that takes the data captured by your Apple Watch and helps you to understand and interpret its patterns, leading you towards a healthier lifestyle.

A Heart Points widget is available for your lock screen to give you a Heart Points score and access to your heart data dashboard.

Download: CardioBot (Free, subscription available)

7. Overcast

One of the most powerful podcast players out there, Overcast has quickly adapted its excellent app to the iPhone’s lock screen. You can choose from three different widgets:

• One launches the app.
• Another plays a playlist of your choice.
• A third rectangular widget features recent episodes.

The Recents widget gives you quick access to continue playing a podcast or start one that’s just been published. If you don’t need the lock screen function or want to explore other options, check out our list of free podcast players to consider.

Download: Overcast (Free, subscription available)

8. Carrot Weather

Forecasting the weather with humor and a touch of snark, Carrot Weather is one of the best weather apps you can download. If you’re doing any kind of outdoor exercise, such as biking, running, or surfing, this award-winning app is essential.

Carrot Weather offers many more lock screen widgets than most, with 18 different choices. The app even offers a custom button, which lets you combine the data points you want to see. Everything from air quality to tide times is covered, and yes, you can choose to have jokes. Some widgets require a premium subscription.

Download: Carrot Weather (Free, subscription available)

9. Waterminder

Drinking water is such an essential element of your wellness that it’s a great idea to install a hydration reminder app, such as Waterminder, to ensure you drink enough water while exercising and throughout the rest of the day.

If you’re one of those forgetful souls who go for hours without a drink, the lock screen widget for Waterminder will be especially useful. It logs your hydration progress against the targets you’ve set within the app, and there’s also a tile you can tap to log a drink quickly.

Download: Waterminder (Free, subscription available)

10. Motivation

Sometimes you need an encouraging word to keep you going if a workout is proving tough. The Motivation app is a positive self-affirmation tool that delivers short, inspirational messages whenever you need them. You might benefit from seeing some comforting words on your phone's lock screen, so install the Motivation widget on your lock screen and see if it helps.

Download: Motivation (Free, in-app purchases available)

11. Launcher

If your favorite app does not yet offer a lock screen widget, you could configure one using a custom widget app such as Launcher. Launcher allows you to configure your own widgets for both your home screen and your lock screen. The possibilities are nearly endless, as you can set up a widget for your favorite exercise app, timer, or source of entertainment.

Download: Launcher (Free, in-app purchases available)

Configure Your Perfect Fitness Lock Screen

With the help of iOS 16, you can now get easy access to a whole range of tools to help you work out, track your progress, check your heart rate, remember to hydrate, and even receive motivational messages. Your iPhone won’t do the workout for you, but lock screen widgets will make it easier to stay focused and only look at your device for essential information rather than getting distracted.