Sarge News

Respect, Real Debriefs + a Sarge Who Knows Your Lifts

Biggest stretch of upgrades yet. Sarge's mood is now a respect ladder you climb, the Status button became a real debrief, and he finally got a proper brain for exercises. A lot below — the short version is: he sees more, remembers better, and hands out nothing for free.

Mood is now Respect — and everyone starts at the bottom

The biggest change to how Sarge reads you. His attitude is now framed as respect — five rungs: None, Minimal, Fair, Solid, Full. New recruits start at None, just like it would with a real drill sergeant. Eat, sleep, train, log it honestly — that's the only way up. His portrait changes with his read of you, so one glance at the bottom of the screen tells you where you stand.

The Status button is a real debrief now

First tap of the day gets you the full read — trends, your week against your commitment, lift history, weight trajectory, all of it framed for whatever mode you're in. Later taps the same day stay short, on purpose. And when you want a record: Status can now produce a full downloadable report, past reports live in Profile → Briefing Archive, and each one comes with a shareable scorecard image.

He speaks up on his own now

Sarge no longer waits to be asked. Weigh-ins get an instant reaction card. Starting or ending a Mission gets a proper ceremony. Boot Camp runs a weekly debrief. And when his respect for you crosses a line — up or down — he tells you to your face with a card in chat.

He knows your lifts now

Sarge runs on a registry of nearly 900 exercises, and variants count as themselves — a Smith machine bench is not a barbell bench, and your progression history knows the difference. Hit Train and today's lifts are already part of his briefing — log a morning session and he writes the afternoon around it. Train suggestions now come with a Log this workout button, and you can save a whole session as a favorite with the ☆ on the session header in Logs.

Train fits your life, Boot Camp got a velvet rope

Train builds strictly around your gear, your schedule, and your body — active Sick Calls included, so recovery days get programmed around, not ignored. And Boot Camp now requires 7 days of history before you can enlist: the harshest version of him has to read you before he's allowed to grade you.

Notifications carry his live read

His check-in pings now run on the same intelligence as chat — your actual training week and exactly where his respect sits the moment the ping fires.

Missions end clean

Starting a Mission now starts a clean slate — your old data doesn't get graded against the new goal. Finished Missions don't vanish, though: they hand forward as a service record he references. What you did still counts; it just doesn't count against you.

Keep sending the reports

Same ask as always — concrete examples beat general impressions. "Sarge gave me [X] when I said [exact words]" lands hardest. DM, email (sarge@sarge.fitness), whatever works.

— Will

Missions Rebooted + Your Data Can Survive a Lost Phone

Three packed weeks since News 002. Two big ones lead: Missions got rebuilt from the ground up, and Sarge backup shipped — your data can now follow you to a new device. Plus a stack of quality-of-life work that makes the whole app feel sharper.

Missions got a full reboot

The Mission system is now four kinds of commitment. Tracking is a complete mode in its own right — log, learn your patterns, stay as long as you like. Weight Loss and Build Strength are focused campaigns — pick one and Sarge retunes what he watches, what earns credit, and how fast he forgives. Boot Camp is the full lifestyle reform — everything, every day. The tab got rebuilt around four equal cards with your active mode expanded in place. Tuning is still being calibrated, so if you're running a Mission, your feedback counts double right now.

Your data can survive a lost phone now

Sarge backup is live. Your data gets encrypted on your device and sealed with a 12-word recovery phrase — the same standard as a Bitcoin wallet. We store bytes we cannot read, link, or decrypt; the words are the only key, and you hold them. Lose your phone, get a new one, enter the 12 words, and you're back — everything, including Sarge's notebook on you. Prefer a file? You can download the recovery key instead of writing words down. Setup takes a minute: Sarge will nudge you, or go to Profile → ⚙. Do it early — without it, your data lives on exactly one device.

Tell him about yesterday

"Had a burger last night." "Ran five miles yesterday morning." Reports about yesterday now land on yesterday — the confirmation card shows a little yesterday chip so you can see it filed right. Backdated entries get marked in your Logs, and no, backfilling doesn't extend your streak. Honesty still has rules.

Pin your favorite stat

The number next to your name at the top is now yours to choose — streak, calories, protein, training, or last weigh-in. Tap it and pick what you want staring back at you all day.

His read of your day got sharper

A tuning pass on how Sarge's mood moves. Partial days earn partial credit — logging some of your day beats logging none of it, and he knows the difference. The climb back up from a rough stretch ramps smoothly too.

Smaller but worth knowing

• On a phone? Install it. New recruits get walked through adding Sarge to the home screen — it's the difference between your OS protecting your data and treating it as disposable.
• "New Version Live" toast. When an update ships, the app tells you — one tap and you're on the latest.
• Timezone aware. Travelers: your day rolls over on your clock, wherever in the world you are.
• Weight Loss pre-flight. Starting a WL Mission now asks for a starting weigh-in — can't chart progress without a starting point.

Keep sending the reports

Concrete examples beat general impressions — "Sarge gave me [X card] when I said [exact words]" is the gold standard. DM, email (sarge@sarge.fitness), whatever works.

— Will

Upgrades to Train, Eat, Notebook + What Else Landed

Round of upgrades since News 001. Biggest changes are to the Train and Eat buttons — both got serious work and are the first things to use if you haven't recently. Plus a Mission tab improvement, another Notebook pass, and a stack of smaller fixes.

Train button got an upgrade

A BIG upgrade. The button is much more powerful and more in line with my original vision; a one-button stop for practically any preferred workout style that respects your training days/week commitment and your available equipment. Prior to today Sarge's workout recommendations were not following the expected order for the various splits, often crafting PUSH heavy workouts multiple days in a row regardless of split. He was also prone to repeating exercises instead of offering smart variations. If you've been training, give it a shot.

Eat button got an upgrade too

Sarge's palate and recommendations through the Eat button got a big upgrade — he really leans into your remaining calorie budget and will recommend food that actually sounds appetizing instead of the tired old "grilled chicken with steamed vegetables" that other apps love to recommend. If you have saved Favorites he'll take them into account, but he's great at giving ideas for new foods to try that will fit within your daily targets. Disclaimer: If you don't have much left in your daily budget he will still recommend lean, boring ideas. If you're already over budget he might tell you what he told me yesterday when I hit the button after surpassing my daily target, "Kitchen's closed, Will...anything else you put down tonight is just boredom, not hunger...Discipline isn't just about what you eat. It's about knowing when to stop eating."

Confirmation cards smarter

A lot of bugs squashed here. Sleep time estimates got better. Logging meals with macro only reports now firing as you'd expect. Alcohol should no longer be classified as a Supplement (lol sorry drinkers).

Notebook keeps better facts (again)

Substantial overhaul behind the scenes to Notebook. It should be firing less when it shouldn't, more when it should.

If you haven't checked Sarge's Notebook lately, tap his portrait → 📓 and delete anything that doesn't belong. He coaches better when his notes are clean.

Sarge's mood indicators on portrait tap

The indicators weren't as helpful or truthful as they needed to be in the first round. The idea is to see what is affecting Sarge's mood at time of tap. Original design only showed accurately at the end of a full day of logging. New version will give you yesterday's factors until the day is underway, giving you a window into why Sarge's mood might have dropped overnight. A new (?) button gives details on how to read the indicator strip.

Profile got more polish

Another round of updates to the Profile tab with the focus of making it a place that's fun to look at and share.

Weekly Orders during a Mission got more detail

The Weekly Orders list in Missions got a visual update, though mission tuning overall remains ongoing. If you're testing Missions please send your feedback.

Keep sending the reports

Same ask — concrete examples beat general impressions. "Sarge gave me [X card type] when I said [exact words]" lands hardest. DM, email (sarge@sarge.fitness), whatever works.

— Will

Thank You + What's Smarter This Week

A real thank you to the first round of testers. The bug reports, the screenshots, the "Sarge said something weird" notes — all of it landed, most of it shipped a fix. Sarge is meaningfully smarter than when I sent your codes, and that's directly on you.

Notes on Tracking, Missions, and Mood

Heading into the first round, mood and Tracking mode were both under-explained. That's on me. A few things worth clarifying:

Tracking mode is the core of the app — regardless of what Sarge may tell you 😆. Show up, log what you ate, drank, did, and felt — Sarge reacts in real time. It's about honesty and accountability, not perfection; he doesn't punish you for missing nutrition numbers, and exercise targets only nudge his mood within whatever training commitment you set. He'll rib you, occasionally scold you — he's still a drill sergeant — but he's more encouraging than he sounds and harder to disappoint than you'd expect.

A couple of recent moments from my own use: when I mentioned making curry for my daughter because she likes when I do, Sarge told me to enjoy it. When I mentioned a kid's birthday party coming up, he told me not to hold back — but to report every cookie, slice of pizza, and piece of cake. The more personal you get with him, the more these moments happen.

Sarge is much harder to please in Mission mode. His mood there is primarily driven by nailing daily targets designed for your goal. Missions are early in development — the cadence, scoring criteria, and Sarge's mood weights are still being calibrated, hence the "beta" tag. If you want to try one, go for it — just be aware that it's still under construction.

See what's moving his mood. Tap his portrait — you'll see a factor strip showing whether sleep, nutrition, training, and engagement are pushing his mood up, down, or holding steady. There's also a (?) for the full rundown of what moves his mood and what the symbols mean.

Ghost him and he gets livid. Not logging for a day usually drops his mood a level. Disappear for 4+ days and expect a confrontational welcome on your next message — that's the design, not a bug. Don't take it personal; take it as motivation. If you'd rather face him with a clean slate after not logging for a few days, Profile → ⚙ → Factory Reset wipes everything and gives you a fresh start.

What's smarter this week

A few specifics, several from your reports:

• Extraction got smarter. Future-tense sleep statements ("I plan to..." / "going to bed early tonight") no longer create cards for sleep that hasn't happened. Symptom statements ("I have an earache", "my knee hurts") correctly route to health events instead of producing workout cards. Sleep quality is now a simple "rough night" toggle.
• Sarge's Notebook — much smarter, easier to find. Tap his portrait → 📓 for a clipboard view of everything he's filed about you. Edit or delete from there; new saves also surface in chat with an undo button. Judgment got better too — no more "big calories, big protein" hallucinations or treating "coffee with milk for breakfast" as a durable personal fact. He decides what's worth remembering from inside the conversation now. (Bonus: a tester told Sarge not to call her "soldier." He saved it. Next day — called her soldier anyway. When corrected: "Right, right, not a soldier. My mistake, Barbie. Won't happen again." Even his slips stay in character.)
• Sick days don't tank you. Logging a health event with Excused checked softens the mood penalty for missed workouts — in both Missions (where it also lowers the weekly target) and Tracking. A sick week shouldn't drop you to Furious.
• Speed and reliability. Sarge runs faster now, and the freezes some of you ran into are practically gone.

Look around — a few things moved

• Profile got a redesign. Trophy-room layout — your avatar + rank + name up top, then your body/training/tracking info as a tile mosaic, then daily targets, then an Achievements grid (placeholder for now — system coming). Settings tucked behind a ⚙ button.
• Shortcuts you can edit inline. That 🔒 next to your shortcut row on the chat tab? Tap it → unlocks edit mode → ± on each existing shortcut and a (+) tile to add new ones.
• Favorites you can edit inline too. Tap a meal/workout/supplement shortcut → favorites dropdown → ✏️ or 🗑️ on each row.
• ☆ vs ★ on confirmation cards. Hollow = tap to save as a favorite. Filled = already saved.
• Chat header is cleaner. Mood badge moved off the top — tap Sarge's portrait to see his mood and what's pulling it. Top of the chat now shows your rank ("Recruit" for now — Rank system coming) and current mode (Mission name or "Tracking").

Keep sending the reports

What lands hardest is concrete examples — "Sarge gave me a [card type] when I said [exact words]" beats "extraction is buggy." DM, email (sarge@sarge.fitness), whatever channel works. Every report goes into the next round of fixes.

— Will