Moving to Badger from FitNotes

FitNotes people are usually not shopping because they hate FitNotes. They liked that it was fast, free, offline, and did not want anything from them. That is the same list Badger was built against, so the question worth answering here is a narrow one: does your history come with you, and what do you get that you did not have?

What the backup file carries across

FitNotes backs up to a .fitnotes file, which is a real database rather than a flattened CSV. That is lucky for you, because it means far more than your sets survives the move. Badger reads the file directly, on your phone, with nothing uploaded anywhere.

Your categories, with their colors. The groups you sorted your exercises into come over as Badger categories, keeping the color you gave each one. A category you already have is reused rather than duplicated.
Your exercise library, in those categories. Not dumped in an "Imported" bucket. Each exercise lands where you had it, and its FitNotes type (weight and reps, cardio, and so on) is carried across so the logging screen shows the right fields.
Every set, with its date, weight, reps, distance, time, and any comment you left on it.
Old backups too. FitNotes changed its database layout around 2018. Badger reads both, and on the older one it turns the stored kilograms back into the unit you actually typed, so a pounds log stays a pounds log rather than arriving as 102.06.
Your body weight history, appended to Badger's own body weight track.
Your custom measurements, each becoming its own measurement type and keeping its unit. Waist, arms, whatever you were tracking.
PRs, recalculated. Not read from the file, worked out again from the history once it lands, so your records and graphs start out full.

What does not come across, so nothing surprises you later:

Warmups, as warmups. FitNotes does not mark them, so there is nothing for the importer to read. Every logged set arrives as a working set. You can flag them afterwards, but nothing can guess retroactively.
Routines. The import brings history and your exercise library. Programs are a separate thing you set up in Badger, and there are templates to start from.
Anything else in the file. The importer reads the tables listed above and leaves the rest alone rather than guessing at it.

Doing it

In FitNotes, go to Settings → Backup to write a .fitnotes file.
Get the file onto the phone you train with, however you normally move a file: email it to yourself, drop it in cloud storage, use a cable.
In Badger, go to Settings → Your data → Import from FitNotes and pick the file. It is also offered during first-launch onboarding.
Check the preview: exercises, workout days, sets, and the detected weight unit.
Import.

It runs more than once safely. Sets landing on a date you already have merge into that session, and nothing already logged is overwritten, so adding a newer backup later is fine. Full detail in importing from FitNotes and switching from another app.

What you get that you did not have

Worth being concrete, because "it has more features" is not a reason to move a decade of training log.

Routines that pre-fill. Build your program once and each session arrives with your exercises and last weights already in place. Seven programs ship built in, including StrongLifts 5x5, GZCLP and PPL.
Gym and machine tracking. Record which gym and which machine a set was done on, and get PRs scoped to that machine, because the leg press at one gym is not the leg press at another. How that works.
A plate calculator and a warmup generator that both work from the plates your gym actually owns, and round to loads you can really make.
A rest timer that starts itself when you complete a set, per exercise.
Graphs worth opening. Estimated 1RM, eleven graphs per exercise, an activity heatmap, weekly volume by muscle group, and plateau detection. What it tracks.
It runs on iPhone. Badger is on Google Play, with an iOS beta open in TestFlight, so a phone switch does not mean an app switch.

And the part that is the same on purpose: no account, no sign-in, no sync you did not ask for. Your log lives on your phone. The promise is that written down where you can hold us to it.

Getting back out again

The reason to trust an import is knowing you can leave. Badger exports every set to CSV, and backs the whole database up to a documented file format that is ordinary readable text. Neither is a paid feature, and neither needs an account. If Badger turns out not to suit you, you leave with your numbers.

What it costs

Nothing. No account, no subscription, no ads, no cap on routines or on how far back your history goes. The no-subscription guide compares what free actually means across the trackers people usually weigh up, Badger included.

About the name

FitNotes is the work of its own developer, and Badger is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or connected to it in any way. This page describes compatibility and nothing else: Badger reads the backup file that their app writes. FitNotes is a good app and this is not an argument that it is not one.