Work benefits
Put Trainlike on your benefits plan.
Your subscription may already be a claimable expense.
If your employer gives you a wellness or health spending account, here is how to claim it, market by market.
Where it stands
Canada
Generally claimable where your plan includes a wellness spending account.
United States
HSA and FSA only where it is treatment for a diagnosed condition.
Your plan administrator makes the final call, not us.
Canada
Claim it through a wellness account.
A wellness spending account is money your employer sets aside for health and lifestyle costs that sit outside the CRA’s medical expense list. Gym memberships, fitness classes, and wellness apps are standard categories, and where your plan includes them, a Trainlike subscription generally qualifies.
Your employer decides which categories their plan covers, so check yours before you claim. There is no vendor approval involved. You pay as normal and submit the receipt.
Do you have one?
Plenty of people have one and do not know it, because it goes by a different name depending on the carrier. Search your benefits portal for only one of these and you can easily conclude you have nothing when you do.
Sun Life
Personal Spending Account
Manulife
Lifestyle Spending Account, or Taxable Spending Account
Elsewhere
Wellness Spending Account
The fastest place to look is that portal. These accounts almost always appear as a second balance sitting beside your health and dental coverage rather than inside it.
Or just ask
“Does our plan include a wellness or lifestyle spending account, and does it cover fitness apps?”
Send that to whoever handles benefits where you work. That is the entire question, and answering it takes them one line.
Worth knowing
These claims are a taxable benefit
In Canada, whatever your plan calls the account, the amount you claim is reported on your T4. It is not the same as a pre-tax deduction.
Worth knowing
A Health Spending Account is different
An HSA follows the CRA’s medical expense list, which does not cover fitness apps unless a licensed practitioner prescribes one as part of treating a diagnosed condition.
How to claim it
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01
Check what your plan covers
Look for a category like fitness, wellness, or health and fitness apps in your account’s eligible expense list. Coverage is set by your employer, not by the company administering the plan, so two people on the same carrier can get different answers.
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02
Subscribe as normal
Nothing changes on our side. There is no code to enter, no separate checkout, and no approval step. Subscribe in the app the way you already would.
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03
Get your receipt
Apple emails a receipt to the address on your Apple ID. You can also find every charge at reportaproblem.apple.com, or on your iPhone under Settings, your name, Media and Purchases, View Account, then Purchase History.
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04
Submit it
The receipt shows the date, the amount, and Trainlike as the item, which is what most administrators ask for.
United States
HSA and FSA, and when it qualifies.
The US test is narrower than the Canadian one, and it is not about the app. IRS Publication 502 says health club dues and anything bought to improve general health are not medical expenses, and that a doctor recommending something does not change that by itself. What counts is treating a specific condition that a provider has diagnosed.
So the route exists, and it is real, but it runs through your medical situation rather than through us. Where strength training is part of a treatment plan for something diagnosed, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis and chronic back pain among them, a provider can write a Letter of Medical Necessity for it. You then pay for the subscription normally and claim it back from your HSA or FSA with that letter and your receipt. There is no vendor step and nothing to set up on our end.
Said plainly: most people will not qualify, and a letter bought from a service that reviews a form you filled in about yourself does not fix that. The IRS warned about that practice in March 2024, saying notes based on self-reported information do not turn wellness and exercise costs into medical care.
How to claim it
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01
Find out whether you qualify
Ask the provider who is treating you whether strength training is part of your plan for a condition you have been diagnosed with. That is the whole test, and it is answered by your medical situation rather than by the app. If the answer is no, this route is closed and the honest thing is to stop here.
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02
Have that provider write the letter
A Letter of Medical Necessity names you, the diagnosis, the treatment plan, and why this is part of it, signed with their credentials. It has to come from a licensed provider, and plans generally want a fresh one each year.
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03
Pay as normal and keep the receipt
Subscribe with your usual card, not the benefits card. Apple is the merchant on the charge, the App Store is not a medical merchant, and an FSA card will typically decline there. Apple emails a receipt to the address on your Apple ID, and every charge is at reportaproblem.apple.com, or on your iPhone under Settings, your name, Media and Purchases, View Account, then Purchase History.
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04
Claim the reimbursement
Send the receipt and the letter to your HSA or FSA administrator as a reimbursement claim. They decide whether it is eligible, they can ask for more, and their answer is the one that counts.
Worth knowing
A letter is documentation, not a loophole
If the expense was never treatment for a diagnosed condition, the letter does not make it one. Money taken out of an HSA for something ineligible is taxable income, and can carry a penalty on top.
Worth knowing
FSA money expires, HSA money does not
An FSA is use it or lose it inside the plan year. An HSA balance stays yours, which is a reason not to spend it on a claim you are unsure about.
Eligibility is decided by your plan and your administrator, not by us, and it varies between employers. Nothing on this page is tax advice. If you are unsure whether a subscription qualifies, ask your plan administrator before you claim.