It’s always a good idea to try to improve your level of health and fitness. However, working out and eating better can seem like a challenging task. Luckily, if you need some help getting started, there are apps that can give you some guidance and motivation, and help keep you on track.
There are a ton of health and workout apps available, so we’re going to tell you about the best fitness apps to use on your iOS or Android device. You may be wondering, do fitness apps work? What can they really do for me? Let’s talk about some of the benefits of using a health app.
5 benefits of using health and fitness apps
- Help you create a diet and exercise plan – based on your gender, height, current weight, and your personal goals, apps can recommend a plan for your diet and exercise.
- Motivate you to exercise – use an app to receive notifications that remind you to work out and give you the right mindset.
- Give you ideas for new workouts – discover fun, new ways to get your body moving.
- Set realistic goals – set and keep track of your short-term and long-term goals for your weight and other health goals
- Keep track of your progress – keep track of your weight, your physical activity, and what you eat.
Those are some of the top benefits of using health apps. Now we’re going to tell you all about twelve apps for iOS and Android that can help you with your diet, workouts, and overall health.
Top 12 apps to improve your health and fitness
1. Blogilates
Blogilates is a popular exercise and diet app created by popular fitness YouTuber Cassey Ho. With the success of her Blogilates YouTube channel, Cassey decided to create an app to help her followers with workout videos, healthy recipes, and a monthly workout calendar. The Blogilates app offers tips and guided exercise videos to help you work out whether you’re at the gym, or want to do an at-home workout without any fancy machines or weights.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Fun workout videos and healthy meal ideas
2. MyFitnessPal
A great app to help you keep track of your eating habits and set goals for yourself is MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal is owned by popular athletic wear brand Under Armour, and allows users to track their food and water intake, as well as exercise. Many people find this a helpful way to keep their eating habits under control.
When you start using MyFitnessPal, you will be asked to answer some questions concerning your current weight and height, how often you exercise, and what your goals are. The app will then recommend a number of calories you should consume in a day to achieve your goals, as well as the specific breakdown of macronutrients you should be consuming.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Helps you set goals and track your progress to help you achieve them
3. Sworkit
Next up is Sworkit. This app offers fitness programs to help you get “Leaner,” “Fitter,” or “Stronger.” You can create your own customized workout guides to incorporate all of your favorite physical activities. If you’re looking for ideas for new ways to work out, Sworkit is the place to go! The app has a database with tons of awesome exercises that only require your body weight – so you don’t need a gym membership or any equipment.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Personalized workouts to help you exercise
4. Fitnet
The Fitnet app allows you to turn your smart phone or tablet into your own virtual personal trainer. On the Fitnet app, you can find over 250 free workouts for cardio, weightlifting, yoga, and more. Each workout is designed to last about 5-7 minutes, so you can always fit at least one of these workouts into your day, even if you’re always busy.
Download: iOS
Why we love it: Tons of quick and easy workouts to suit everyone
5. Spotify Running
Spotify Running is a little different than the other apps we’re recommending. Rather than giving you workout or meal ideas, or helping you track your progress, it’s more of a motivational tool to help you enjoy your workouts more. Spotify Running is one of the best workout apps because it gives you playlists of music with a tempo that matches the pace of your exercise. Check out our Spotify course if you’d like to learn more about this app.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Easy way to find great music to accompany your workouts
6. Yonder
Next, we have the Yonder app. Yonder is an awesome fitness app for people who like to get outdoors. If you’re bored of working out at home or in the gym, Yonder can help you explore the world around you while getting in some exercise. Look through Yonder’s database of thousands of destinations to find somewhere near you where you can hike, kayak, ski, rock climb, and more.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Find new places to explore outside and exercise at the same time
7. Nike+ Training Club
Another great exercise app is Nike+ Training Club. This app has over 100 workouts you can do at home or in the gym. With both video and audio guidance, you can ensure you’re doing all the moves correctly and keep up your pace. You can also use the app to create a personalized workout plan to suit your own fitness level and goals.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Hundreds of workouts with video and audio guidance to help you during the process
8. Freeletics
Freeletics is an awesome app to use whether you want to work out using only your bodyweight, using barbell weights, or doing cardio only. The short, guided workouts you’ll find on Freeletics were created with the help of athletes and sport scientists to ensure their effectiveness. Whether you’re a beginner or a fitness pro, Freeletics can help you find ways to work out that will suit your fitness level and ability.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Guided workouts for all ability levels and exercise types (bodyweight, cardio, or free weights)
9. Fooducate
If you’re looking to clean up your diet or find some new healthy recipes to try out, Fooducate is a great app to use. You can track what you eat and learn about the nutritional quality of the calories you’re consuming. If you have an iOS device or Apple watch, you can even use Fooducate to track your exercise with integration of the Apple Health app (comes built in on iOS).
With Fooducate, you can easily scan the barcode on products you’re eating to find out nutrition facts about them. Communicate with other Fooducate users to ask questions and get their feedback. You can also share your own tips and stories of success to help motivate other users.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: Makes it simple to eat healthy while learning about proper nutrition
10. Rise
Rise is an app that connects people with experienced personal coaches to create personalized diet plans based on your own needs and goals. Your coach will help you come up with meal ideas to suit your body and your weight loss goals. Every day, you can share your meals and exercise with your coach, which helps keep you accountable. The app itself is free to download, but you will need to pay to have a coach partner with you (about $15/week).
Download: iOS
Why we love it: Connects people with professional coaches to help them eat healthier and stay accountable
11. Lifesum
Next is Lifesum. With this app, you can track your eating and exercise habits, and get help with changing them to healthier habits. Get help creating a diet plan and choosing the right foods, and help you stay on track. Lifesum will give you feedback and suggestions, and motivational messages to keep you going. You can sync Lifesum with other fitness apps and devices like FitBit to track your activity.
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: It’s a great way to track your progress and develop healthy habits
12. DietBet
Last up we have DietBet. This app is great for those of you who love a little friendly competition. If you’re already on a journey to losing weight, DietBet is a fun app to try out. With DietBet, you can join a group of other people who want to lose weight. Each person in the group pays a certain amount of money to add to a “pot,” betting on themselves to reach a certain goal (lose a given % of body weight in a certain amount of time).
At the end of the DietBet period, the “pot” will be split between all the people who accomplished the collective weight loss goal. Why not win some money doing something you want to do anyway?
Download: iOS | Android
Why we love it: You can win money for losing weight – what’s not to love?!
These twelve apps are the best to use if you want to improve your health and fitness. You can even use a combination of them to give yourself tons of options for recipes and workouts, as well as tracking your habits. Social media can also be a great way to track your progress and stay accountable while working on improving your health – learn about the most popular social media sites on the rest of our website. If you want to improve your life in other ways besides your health, check out the “Helpful Websites and Apps” section of our site for free courses on other great websites and apps.
