The honest answer to Pushup RPG vs Puuush (App Store name: Push Up Counter & Tracker) comes down to one thing first: Puuush has an Apple Watch app and Pushup RPG does not, so if you want to count reps from your wrist, Puuush is the pick and you can stop reading here. Pushup RPG is the better fit if you want a free camera counter that also counts squats and turns training into an RPG campaign with quests, streaks and guilds.
Disclosure, up front: pushup.quest is published by the makers of Pushup RPG. We are not a neutral review site and you should read us accordingly. What we offer instead of neutrality is checkable sourcing: every claim about Puuush below comes from its own public App Store listing, read on 27 July 2026, and nothing else. Where our July 2026 check did not capture something, we say so rather than guessing. Prices and features drift, so verify anything decision-critical on the live listing before you buy.
The decisive difference: Puuush runs on Apple Watch, Pushup RPG doesn't
Puuush is listed for iPhone (iOS 17.0+), iPad (iPadOS 17.0+) and Apple Watch (watchOS 10+). On the watch it counts from the gyroscope and accelerometer, and the listing states that no calibration is required and that it works on either wrist in any orientation.
Pushup RPG has no watchOS app. None exists. It runs on iPhone (iOS 17.0 or later) and Android — free on Google Play. If your requirement is "count my reps without setting up a phone," we cannot help you, and a version of this page that pretended otherwise would be worth nothing to you.
That matters more than it sounds. A camera counter needs a surface, an angle, and a body that stays in frame. A watch counter needs a wrist. If you train in a gym, outdoors, or in a hotel corridor — anywhere you would rather not prop a phone against a water bottle — wrist counting removes the entire setup step.
Side by side
| Pushup RPG | Push Up Counter & Tracker (Puuush) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS 17.0+) and Android (Google Play). No iPad, Mac or Apple Watch app | iPhone (iOS 17.0+), iPad (iPadOS 17.0+), Apple Watch (watchOS 10+). |
| Apple Watch app | No. None exists. | Yes — counts from gyroscope and accelerometer; listing says no calibration needed, either wrist, any orientation. |
| How it counts | Front camera with on-device pose detection; measures depth and counts only full-range reps. | Camera-based counting using Apple's ARKit, per the listing. |
| Movements counted | Pushups and squats (squats added in v2.0), with separate leaderboards — records are never pooled. | Push-ups. We did not record any other movement from their listing. |
| Price | Free to download. Optional Vigil membership as an in-app purchase (App Store, checked July 2026). | Free with in-app purchases. Listing showed Puuush Pro Monthly $3.99 and Annual $29.99, plus tip purchases $1.99–$100.00 (US App Store, checked July 2026). |
| Structure | RPG campaign: 48 foes across 8 biomes, character classes, a skill tree, loot, daily quests, streaks with a streak freeze and a guided rest day. | Programs, challenges, leaderboards and workout history, per the listing. |
| Social | Fellowships (guilds) with a weekly co-op boss and camera-counted leaderboards. | Leaderboards, per the listing. We recorded no further detail. |
| Apple Health | Opt-in and write-only: zero read permissions requested, no health queries at all. Writes one functional strength training workout per session plus a conservative active-energy estimate. | Not something our July 2026 check recorded. |
Do both apps count reps with the camera?
Yes — on iPhone, both count with the camera automatically, with no tapping between reps. Puuush's listing says it uses Apple's ARKit. Pushup RPG uses on-device pose detection through the front camera, measures how far you actually descend and how fast you move, and credits only full-range reps, so a shallow half-rep does not go on the board.
The practical difference is what happens away from the phone. Puuush's watch app is a genuinely different counting method — wrist motion rather than vision — and it is the reason to choose it. Wrist counting and camera counting have different failure modes, and we have no accuracy figures for either: their listing does not publish any that we recorded, and we have not run a head-to-head test ourselves. If precision on partial reps is what you care about, the honest advice is to try both on a set you count yourself and see which number matches. Our wider write-up of apps that count pushups breaks down all four counting methods, including the two neither of these apps uses.
Is Pushup RPG free compared to Puuush?
Both are free to download; the difference is what sits behind the paywall. Pushup RPG's camera rep-counting, squat counting and the whole RPG campaign are free. The optional Vigil membership is an in-app purchase, and upgrades bought inside the game boost rewards — XP, gold, drop rates — and your damage per rep, so better gear fells a foe in fewer reps. What no purchase does is log a rep you did not do.
Puuush is free with in-app purchases, and its listing showed a Pro tier at $3.99 monthly or $29.99 annually, plus optional tip purchases from $1.99 to $100.00 on the US App Store, checked July 2026. We did not record which features sit inside Pro, so we will not characterise it — check the listing or the in-app paywall before subscribing. Subscription pricing changes often enough that any figure on a page like this is a starting point, not a quote.
What the camera actually sees
If you are going to point a front camera at yourself on the floor, it is fair to ask where the footage goes. In Pushup RPG, no video, image or pose data is recorded, stored or transmitted, and there is no server anywhere in the rep-counting loop — the counting happens entirely on your device. We recorded no statement about camera data handling from Puuush's listing, so treat that as unknown rather than as good or bad news, and read their privacy label directly if it matters to you. If you want to know who builds this and why, that is on our about page.
The verdict, by reader type
- You want to count from your wrist: pick Puuush. Pushup RPG has no watch app and no watch version we can point you to. This is not a close call.
- You want a plain, quiet tracker — programs, challenges, workout history, no story: pick Puuush. Pushup RPG is a game; if fantasy framing sounds like noise to you, you will find that it is noise.
- You are on Android: pick Pushup RPG — it is free on Google Play.
- You want a free camera counter with a reason to come back tomorrow: pick Pushup RPG. The campaign, daily quests, streak freeze and weekly Fellowship boss exist to solve the motivation problem, not the counting problem.
- You train squats too: pick Pushup RPG. It counts squats with the same camera and keeps a separate squat leaderboard; we recorded no squat counting on Puuush's listing.
- You want competition that cannot be typed in: Pushup RPG's leaderboards are fed by camera-counted reps rather than self-reported numbers. Puuush also lists leaderboards; how they are verified is not something we recorded.
For the record, and so you can weigh the source: Pushup RPG holds a 4.8 rating on the App Store, was released 25 June 2026, and is age rated 4+ — figures from our own App Store listing at the time of writing. We did not record Puuush's rating during the July 2026 check, so we are not going to compare on that axis at all.
Whichever you install, the reps are the same
No counter makes you stronger; it just removes the excuse to lie to yourself about the last three reps. If you are starting from a low number, work on range of motion before volume — our pushup form guide covers what a full rep actually looks like, and the beginner progression lays out the incline-to-floor path. Build up gradually rather than chasing a number in week one, and stop the set if you feel sharp joint pain in a wrist, elbow or shoulder — sharp pain is a signal to stop, and to see a clinician if it persists, not something to train through.
