Compared · PunchLab

A PunchLab alternative with no strap and no subscription

PunchLab has been going since 2018, holds 800 ratings at 4.73, and has filmed coaches this app does not have. It also asks for a subscription, a $50 strap, and — according to its own customers — your music for the length of the session. 344 of its reviews were read for this page.

Listing facts read 16 September 2026 · 344 reviews read 5 September 2026

The strap became mandatory, and the reviews turned

PunchLab counts punches with a phone strapped to your arm. That was the product, and then it became a requirement:

“All new subscribers are still required to buy their strap to track workouts, even if you pay their subscription fee. I bought a $10 strap on Amazon and it's been working great to track my punches and workouts on my heavy bag. Now they are requiring that you buy their $50 strap.”

3★ · PunchLab · United States · v3.9.2

“What I hate about this app and that it forces you to buy their insane expensive strap. I already have a strap and i can t even select that i have one already.”

1★ · PunchLab · United States · a Muay Thai and MMA fighter of ten years

Twenty-two of the 344 reviews read are one star, and the subscription runs through most of them: “I would rather deal with a few ads or a single up-front cost than pay $80/year, even for an app I used 3-4x per week.” Its listing, read on 16 September 2026, says $17.99 a month and $79.99 a year.

The music, and why it stays down

This is the complaint that comes back most often, and it is worth explaining because it is not laziness on their part — it is a trap in the platform:

“PunchLab will automatically turn down the music on your phone. This is extremely frustrating and no matter what I try I can't fix it. Makes getting through 12 rounds way harder when your music is muted.”

2★ · PunchLab · Canada

“Music cuts off now when starting a workout. Even when I start the music up again it stops again every time the break time starts and ends.”

2★ · PunchLab · United States · v4.8.3

On iOS, an app asks the system to duck everything else by setting a flag on its audio session, and that flag holds for as long as the session is active — which, for a workout app, is the whole workout. Set it once at the start and the music stays low until the last bell. It is Apple's contract, not a bug.

This app hit the same wall on 6 September 2026 and took the other road: the duck is requested around each call, on a window that closes itself. Your playlist drops for the second the coach is speaking and comes straight back up. Nothing is ever cut.

The counter is the feature everyone sells and nobody is happy with

It is not only PunchLab. FightCamp raised $114 million on it and gets the same review:

“It tells me I threw 200 punches but not whether they were any good.”

FightCamp customer

The history screen: fifteen weeks of session bars and the list of past sessions. — What it logs is the calls it made.
No strap, no count, no opinion about your arms.

A number that goes up is not feedback. This app does not have one and does not want one: it has no camera and no sensor, so it has never seen you throw a punch and nothing on any of its screens implies otherwise. What it logs is the calls it made — which combination, in which round, at what interval — and fifteen weeks of that is on the history screen with a CSV export underneath it.

Side by side

	PunchLab	Combo Caller: Muay Thai
Sport	Boxing, some kickboxing	Muay thai: hands, kicks, teeps, knees, elbows, clinch
Hardware	Phone strap, required for tracking	None. Phone in a pocket
Price	Free to install, then $17.99/month or $79.99/year	Free. No subscription, no in-app purchase
Account	Required	None
Your music	Ducked for the session, per its reviews	Ducked around a call only, on a self-closing window
Punch counting	Yes, with the strap	No sensor, and no claim of one
Video coaching	Yes, filmed sessions	None. Words per combination
Size	120 MB	18 MB
Needs	iOS 15.1	iOS 16.4
Ratings	800 · 4.73	none yet

PunchLab has not been installed and run for this page. Everything above is from its App Store listing, read on 16 September 2026, and from 344 reviews its own customers wrote.

Straight answers

The honest comparison

Does Combo Caller count punches?

No, and it never will from this design. There is no strap, no sensor and no camera, so there is nothing to count with. It logs the calls it made, which is a real number about the session rather than a guess about your arms. If a punch count is what you want, PunchLab's strap is the honest way to get one and this app is the wrong purchase.

Why does PunchLab turn my music down?

Because on iOS, asking the system to duck other audio holds for as long as the audio session is active, and a workout session is active for the whole workout. Ask once at the start and the music stays low until the end. The fix is to ask per call, on a window that closes itself, which is what Combo Caller does: the music drops for the second the coach speaks and comes straight back.

Is Combo Caller really free?

Yes. No subscription, no in-app purchase, no account, no trial that converts. There is nothing to restore and nothing that can be taken away in a later version, which matters more than the price: of the 237 one-star reviews across this category, 148 are about money, and the angriest are from people who had already paid.

Does it teach technique the way PunchLab does?

Not with video. Every combination has a screen saying what the sequence does in a fight, who it works against and how to stand to throw it — words, read once, standing next to a bag. PunchLab has filmed coaches, which is a real thing this does not have and is also why it is 120 MB against 18.