The Best Rowing Machine Apps

The honest answer up front: you do not need a machine with a built-in touchscreen to get guided workouts, tracked data, or game-like rowing. Many rowers pair over Bluetooth with third-party apps on a phone or tablet you already own — often a free or cheap alternative to a bolted-on screen and the monthly membership that comes with it. The catch is that this only works if your machine’s monitor actually broadcasts its data.

ErgData (Concept2, free)

The gold standard for a free rowing app is Concept2’s own ErgData. Paired with the PM5 monitor over Bluetooth, it records everything — splits, distance, stroke rate, watts, heart rate if you connect a strap — and syncs it to the free online Concept2 Logbook, where your history lives and you can join challenges. There is no subscription and never has been. It is a big part of why the Concept2 RowErg keeps winning our pages: the data experience most brands charge monthly for is bundled in for free.

Kinomap and scenic route apps

If your motivation is scenery rather than spreadsheets, Kinomap and apps like it play video routes — real rivers and coastlines — that speed up and slow down with your effort, turning a session into a virtual outing. These apps connect to your rower to read your pace, which means you need a monitor that broadcasts over Bluetooth. On a machine that transmits data, they are a compelling way to make longer sessions pass; on one that does not, they cannot see you row.

Zwift and game-style training

Zwift and similar game-style platforms turn training into a shared virtual world — you appear as an avatar and your effort drives your progress, alongside other people doing the same. Rowing support depends on the platform and on your machine being able to transmit its numbers, so the same connectivity rule applies. Done right, it is the closest a solo home rower gets to the pull of a group session, and it leans on your existing screen rather than a proprietary one.

Apple Fitness+ and general fitness apps

Apple Fitness+ and other general fitness apps take a different angle: instead of reading your machine, they stream instructor-led rowing classes you follow along with. They do not need to connect to your rower at all, though most will read a heart-rate monitor so your effort shows on screen. If you want to train by heart rate this way, our guide to heart rate training on a rower covers how to pair a chest strap or armband and what the zones mean. These class-based apps are the easiest on-ramp if you want a voice telling you what to do next.

The connectivity catch

Here is the fine print that decides whether any of this works for you. An app can only use your rower if the monitor broadcasts data — typically over Bluetooth, sometimes ANT+. A quality monitor like the PM5 does; a plain, non-transmitting monitor on many budget machines does not. A cheap rower with a “dumb” console will still count strokes on its own little screen, but it cannot feed Kinomap, Zwift, or the Concept2 Logbook, because there is no signal for the app to read. If app compatibility matters to you, confirm the monitor broadcasts Bluetooth or ANT+ before you buy — it is one of the most-omitted specs in the category.

App vs a built-in screen

This is the money question. A connected rower with a big built-in screen typically asks $29 to $50 a month for its content, which is $1,740 to $3,000 over five years — frequently more than the machine. For many people, a well-built machine plus their own tablet plus a free or cheap app does the same job for a fraction of that. A built-in screen buys polish and convenience, and for some households that is worth it; just decide with the five-year number in front of you. If you do want the screen route, our roundup of the best connected rowing machines weighs which memberships actually earn their keep.