Best Apple Watch Challenge Apps (2026): 5 Compared for Groups

Short verdict. Apple's built-in competition stops at two people. If everyone in your group wears an Apple Watch and you want rings scored the way Apple scores them, use Competo. If some of the group are on Garmin, Fitbit or Android, use MoveTogether or GymRats. If you want medals and a chat wall and can live with sync complaints, Challenges is the long-running option. RingRivals is the wildcard with the most formats and the fewest users. If it is just you and one rival, use Apple's own competition and skip all of this.

We make Competo. Everything below comes from each app's App Store listing, its own website and Apple's Activity Sharing documentation, checked on September 19, 2026. We compare published features, pricing and recent review themes; we have not benchmarked sync reliability head to head, so run a two-person test before you invite a whole group.

Comparison table

	Apple built-in	Competo	MoveTogether	Challenges	GymRats	RingRivals
Best for	One rival	Weekly group race on rings	Mixed-device groups	Team challenges with social features	Workout accountability	Many formats
Scoring	Ring %, 600 pts/day	Ring points, 600/day; steps in challenges	Percentage of goals, ring close count, steps	Ring completion, medals	Workouts, minutes, miles, steps, custom	Rings, steps, distance, workout time
Group format	1 vs 1, 7 days	Private group, no size limit, weekly reset; 3–14 day challenges, individual or two teams	Competitions and weekly leagues	Teams, wall, nudges	Group challenges	Groups, team battles, global boards
Apple Watch required?	Yes	Yes for rings; iPhone alone for step challenges	No	Yes	No	Yes
Scores update	On your watch	In the background from Apple Health	From connected trackers	Reviews report manual refresh needed (see below)	When the app is opened, per reviews	Live rankings
Price	Free	Free; Premium $1.99/mo or $12.99/yr	Free; Pro $12.99/mo or $99.99/yr	Free	Free; Pro $3.99/mo or $32.99/yr	Free
App Store rating	—	4.5 (2)	4.3 (9)	4.6 (5.7K)	4.9 (4.7K)	5.0 (4)
Last updated	watchOS	Sep 2, 2026	Sep 9, 2026	Apr 14, 2026	Sep 18, 2026	Aug 17, 2026

Why Apple's competition isn't enough for a group

Apple's feature is a seven-day, head-to-head match. You earn up to 600 points a day from the percentage of your Move, Exercise, and Stand rings, and the higher total wins. It is well made and needs no extra app, but it has a hard ceiling: two people. Three friends means three separate matches with three separate scores, and nobody can see who is winning overall. Apple's monthly "challenges" are solo badges, not group events. That gap is the reason every app on this list exists. If you only ever compete with one person, stop reading and use the built-in competition.

Competo: one weekly leaderboard for the whole group

What it does well. Competo takes the Activity ring data from Apple Health, scores it the way Apple does (up to 200 points per ring, 600 per day), and shows everyone in a private group on one leaderboard. One person creates the group and shares a code; anyone who pastes it in is on the board. There is no group size limit, and a new race starts automatically every week, so nobody has to re-invite anyone. Scores sync in the background, so the standings are current even for members who never open the app. Because scoring is percentage-of-goal, a beginner with honest goals can beat a marathoner who coasts. Fixed-length group challenges add teams, steps and stakes when they ship.

Where it falls short. It is a young app with a handful of ratings, so you are trusting a small team. Ring groups are Apple Watch only; a friend on Android or with no watch cannot join a ring race (they can join a step challenge from an iPhone). There is no chat, no nudges, and no medals; if your group wants banter inside the app, Challenges does that better. Creating a challenge needs Premium.

Pick it if your group all wears Apple Watch and wants a fair, low-effort weekly race that just keeps running. Start with how a Competo group competition works.

MoveTogether: any device, one leaderboard

What it does well. MoveTogether (launched March 2026) connects Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, WHOOP, Oura, Strava, Polar or just an iPhone, and normalizes everyone with percentage-of-goals or ring-close-count scoring so mixed groups stay fair. It has competitions, weekly "Move Leagues" with promotion and relegation, and an AI coach. It is the only app here that solves the "half my friends are on Garmin" problem.

Where it falls short. Nine ratings at the time of checking, so it is as new as Competo. The free tier caps you at two active competitions and includes ads; Pro is the most expensive option on this list at $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year in-app. If everyone is on Apple Watch, the cross-device normalization is complexity you do not need.

Pick it if your group spans devices and you would rather pay for that than leave anyone out.

Challenges: team format with medals and nudges

What it does well. Challenges (by FitNow) has been around since 2016 and has the ratings to show for it: 4.6 stars from 5.7K reviews. It scores Stand, Move, and Exercise ring completion with Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals, supports team rankings, and adds the social layer Competo lacks: nudges to teammates and a challenge wall for tips and trash talk. It is free with no in-app purchases listed.

Where it falls short. The most recent reviews in the US App Store (read September 19, 2026) repeat the same three complaints: the watch app no longer installs or updates on some devices, Activity data does not match the Fitness app, and scores only refresh when each person opens the app and manually refreshes. The last listed update is April 14, 2026. That does not mean it will fail for your group, but it does mean you should test it with two people for a full week before rolling it out to twenty.

Pick it if you want ring-based team challenges with medals and a wall, and you have checked that sync works on your group's watches.

GymRats: workouts and custom points, any device

What it does well. GymRats is the highest-rated app here (4.9 from 4.7K ratings) and the most flexible. Challenges are scored by total workouts, miles, minutes, calories, steps, or a point system you define. Participants post workouts, which turns it into a check-in feed rather than a passive leaderboard. It imports from Apple Health, so an Apple Watch helps, but it is not required.

Where it falls short. It is not an Apple Watch rings app: if what your group wants to compare is ring closure, GymRats measures something else. Recent reviews note that step counts are not imported automatically and that workouts only track when the app is opened. The posting model needs people to engage; a quiet group produces an empty feed. Pro is $3.99 a month or $32.99 a year.

Pick it if your group is mixed on devices or wants "did you show up" accountability more than ring scores.

RingRivals: every format, very new

What it does well. RingRivals lists six competition formats: standard ring closing, custom rules, step challenges, walk/run distance, cycle distance, and workout time. It has live rankings, private challenges with unlimited participants, team battles with a spectator mode, and global monthly and yearly leaderboards. It is free.

Where it falls short. It launched in July 2025 and had four ratings when we checked. Global leaderboards are a different product from a private race with people you know. As with any app this new, test it with two people for a week before inviting twenty.

Pick it if you want ring and step formats in one app and are happy to be an early adopter.

How to choose in sixty seconds

1. Everyone has an Apple Watch and wants rings compared? Competo (ongoing weekly race, or a fixed-length group challenge) or Challenges (team events with social features, after a sync test).
2. Someone lacks an Apple Watch or is on Android? MoveTogether (leaderboard) or GymRats (check-ins).
3. You want steps or distance, not rings? Competo's step challenge or RingRivals, or GymRats with a step-based scoring rule.
4. It's just you and one friend? Apple's built-in competition.
5. Coming from Fitbit? Read the Fitbit challenges alternative for Apple Watch.

Whatever you pick, run a two-person test first: connect Apple Health, check that yesterday's rings or workouts show up correctly, and only then send the code to the whole group. For how ring points work in any of these apps, see Apple Watch competition points explained.

Frequently asked

Is Competo free?

Yes. Weekly group competitions are free with no group size limit. Premium ($1.99 a month or $12.99 a year) is needed to create fixed-length challenges; joining one is free.

Do my friends need an Apple Watch?

For Competo, Challenges and RingRivals ring competitions, yes. Competo step challenges accept iPhone-only participants. MoveTogether and GymRats work across devices.

Which apps update scores without opening the app?

Competo syncs in the background from Apple Health. Recent Challenges and GymRats reviews report that scores refresh only when the app is opened; check the latest reviews before you commit a group.

Can I run a team vs team challenge on Apple Watch?

Competo (two-team challenges with an equal-size rule), Challenges (teams) and RingRivals (team battles) all support it. Apple’s own competition does not.