The best pull-up apps for beginners

What to look for in a pull-up app

The apps at the top of the App Store for “pull up” are plans to 20 reps. If you’re at zero, check these first.

1. It starts at zero. If the first workout asks for pull-ups, it isn’t for you yet. Look for hangs, holds, slow lowers and rows in week one.
2. It measures you first. A timed hang, a top hold and a slow lower tell an app far more than a guess.
3. It trains the parts. Hangs for grip, top holds for the hardest part, slow lowers because lowering builds more strength than lifting the same load (Roig 2009), rows for the pulling muscles.
4. It fits your kit. A doorway bar, bands, a gym’s assisted machine, or no bar yet.
5. It adapts. When a set is too hard, the next one should ease off; with pain, it should swap the move.
6. Short sessions, a few days a week. Four 15-minute sessions matched two hour-long ones (Kilen 2020).
7. It’s honest about time. A first pull-up takes beginners anywhere from 2 to 12 months. A range beats “in 30 days”.
8. Clear prices and data. What’s free, what the subscription costs, whether you need an account, and what the App Store’s privacy label says.

The apps

Facts from each app’s US App Store listing on October 27, 2026, unless the line says otherwise.

Overbar: First Pull Up Coach

Best for: people who can’t do a pull-up yet and want one plan for exactly that.

Overbar starts with a three-minute quiz, then Day 1, a free check-in, times your hang, top hold, slow lower and rows. Six stages follow, each with a goal you can see (a 30-second hang, a 15-second top hold, a 10-second slow lower), in sessions of 10 to 30 minutes, two to four days a week, with a doorway bar, bands, a gym, or no bar yet. It shows an estimated date for your first pull-up with its range, updated after every workout. Obie, an orangutan teammate, trains beside you; Obie’s chat needs Apple Intelligence.

• Price: free download; Day 1 and daily Quick Hangs are free. Pro is $49.99 a year with a 1-week free trial, or $5.99 a week.
• Account and data: no account; your workouts are kept on your device, and usage reports go with a random ID, deleted if you ask.
• Not ideal if: you’re on Android or an iPhone that can’t run iOS 26, you want a whole-body program, or you want to read lots of reviews first. It’s new, with no ratings yet, and in English only.

Hybrid Calisthenics

Best for: a gentle, whole-body home routine, free.

The official app of Hybrid Calisthenics guides beginners through a routine with videos and tells you when to progress. Its published pull-up progression starts gentler than a bar: wall pull-ups, horizontal and advanced horizontal pull-ups, jackknife pull-ups, then full pull-ups (its site). Version 3.45 (October 2026) added a Pullup Challenge.

• Price: free with ads; Premium Supporter listed from $14.99 a month or $75 a year.
• Ratings: 4.8 from about 3,000. iPhone (iOS 16.4+) and Android.
• Not ideal if: you want slow lowers and top holds (its published progression has neither), or a date. Overbar vs Hybrid Calisthenics

Calistree

Best for: a free, ad-free bodyweight app with a first pull-up plan inside it.

Calistree builds multi-week plans from your goals, equipment and level, with 1,800+ exercise videos and skill trees. Its listing names a “Your First Push-Up & Pull-Up” plan and the r/bodyweightfitness Recommended Routine among its ready-made plans. “The free version has no time limit, no ads and unlimited workouts.”

• Price: free; PRO from $5.99 a month or $44.99 a year, $179 for life.
• Ratings: 4.9 from 219. iOS 15.6+, 15 languages.
• Not ideal if: you want the whole app built around the first rep.

Thenx

Best for: calisthenics skills and a big video library.

Thenx offers daily workouts and programs “for beginners to elite athletes”, with tutorials for muscle-ups, handstands and planche. Its site lists “more than 1000 free exercises” and “over 1000 free workouts”. Pull-ups are among its exercises; the listing doesn’t describe a program for the first one.

• Price: free download; Premium listed at $9.99 or $19.99 a month and $89.99 or $119.99 a year (its site: $19.99 a month, $119.99 a year).
• Ratings: 4.8 from about 12,400. iPhone (iOS 16+) and Android.
• Not ideal if: your only goal is your first pull-up. Overbar vs Thenx

20 Pull Ups Trainer Challenge (Zen Labs)

Best for: building up to 20 pull-ups.

From the makers of C25K: “0 to 20 Pullups in 6 weeks!”, with voice cues and badges, and a built-in program for people who can’t do one yet. Its September 2026 update added automatic rep counting and a community feed.

• Price: free download, first 2 weeks free; Zen Unlimited Pass $4.99 a month or $74.99 a year (all Zen Labs apps).
• Ratings: 4.6 from 892. iOS 16+.
• Not ideal if: you can’t do a pull-up yet and want hangs and holds; the plan is built on sets of pull-ups. Overbar vs the 20 pull-ups apps

Pull ups: 20 pull-ups trainer (Fitness22)

Best for: a cheap, simple plan to 20 once you can do a few.

An audio-coached plan “from zero to 20 pullups” in 20 weeks, three workouts a week, at three effort levels, from the makers of the Pushups and 5K Runner apps. In 32 languages.

• Price: free download; $2.99 once for Lifetime Premium, or $1.99 for three months.
• Ratings: 4.9 from about 1,400. Runs on iOS 9 or later; last updated September 2018.
• Not ideal if: you’re at zero; the first level counts pull-ups (0 to 8 in 8 weeks). Overbar vs the 20 pull-ups apps

Pull-Up Trainer: First Rep

Best for: people with resistance bands who want a classic program and to pay once.

The Armstrong Pull-Up Program to 20. “Can’t do a pull-up yet? Start with a resistance band”: both feet in the band, then one foot, one knee, a lighter band, negatives, and the first unassisted rep. Five training days a week.

• Price: free for 21 days, then $4.99 or $8.99 once. No subscription.
• Ratings: none yet (released August 2026). iOS 17+.
• Not ideal if: you don’t have bands, or five days a week is too many.

CaliQuest

Best for: people a game keeps going.

Calisthenics as a “community-powered MMORPG”: a 64-skill tree, quests, daily challenges, XP, streak freezes and a feed. Pull-ups are one branch.

• Price: free; Premium $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year.
• Ratings: 4.7 from 217. iOS 15+.
• Not ideal if: you want one goal and a plan just for it.

Also free: Pull Ups: Training Program (2 ratings) has a “Zero → First Pull Up” program among six, with diagrams and rest timers, and no purchases listed.

Just want to time your hangs? Several new dead hang timer apps do only that, or use our free dead hang test in your browser.

At a glance

Which one should you pick?

You don’t need an app at all to start: our guide to your first pull-up has the whole plan, with a sample week. An app helps with timing, adjusting and keeping at it.

Questions