Fitness apps are becoming increasingly popular with more and more people downloading them each day. It is predicted that around 165,000 fitness apps are currently in circulation.
What is a Fitness app?
A fitness app is a tool that allows you to track, monitor and explore methods of health and fitness. Most can be downloaded to your phone, watch or iPad for convenience. They work by tracking your movements, calorie intake and exercise, in order to provide the best ways to enhance your fitness.
These apps can come in the form of a paid subscription with enhanced features, such as meal prep plans and other forms of fitness guides, or they can be free and slightly less enhanced, but still very effective. Most apps will contain fitness workout guides and other forms of exercise routines that can guide you and your fitness. Below, we have outlined some of the most effective fitness apps.
What fitness app is the best?
Most of the time, these lists are down to a matter of interpretation and what type of fitness app is best for you personally, however, the following apps have a great reputation.
MyFitnessPal
This is an app that we have personally tested and it has the ability to monitor almost everything when it comes to health and fitness. You are able to log your steps, water intake, calorie intake, exercise and what you wish to achieve, all whilst monitoring your weight to a healthy standard.
The app includes a barcode scanner that allows you to scan your food to accurately count calories and monitor portion control. You are able to take this further by building a detailed food diary and checking restaurant recommendations to ensure healthy eating whilst eating out. It holds an average of 4.4 stars out of 5 and has more than 50 million downloads (2022). You are able to start a 30-day free trial and continue with a free, slightly less efficient version thereafter. It is the 3rd top fitness app according to the Play Store.
Calorie Counter +
Calorie Counter + is advertised as a Nutracheck food diary and macro tracker that allows you to scan the barcode of your food and get an accurate counting of the calories. You are able to access a 7-day free trial upon download before you can upgrade for £3.99 a month, or around $5.40 (estimated). However, you are able to continue to use the free version, but with limited features. If you have a Fitbit, then you are able to link to that using this app.
You can also log exercises, steps and view a weekly progress analysis. It has a 4.7 star rating out of 5 and has 1 million downloads (2022) on the Google Play Store.
Fitbit
This fitness app is promoted as being one of the world's leading apps for health and fitness
and claims to be dedicated to helping people lead healthier and more active lives. You can track daily progress and find free workout routines, nutrition information and the ability to track your sleep. You can even challenge friends to workouts and set yourself goals and earn badges for completing them. The app can work much more efficiently with a Fitbit watch, or it can work as a smartphone app, tracking steps through having the phone with you during workouts.
It has an overall rating of 4.0 stars out of five and has more than 50 million downloads (2022) on the google play store.
Sweat: Fitness App for Women
This fitness app is designed to cater to workouts at home or in the gym. It can help you to enter a community of women that can aid motivation and help you to reach your personal goals. The app includes levels from beginner to advanced and can cater to the following workouts, such as:
- High-intensity interval training
- Circuit training
- Bodyweight
- Powerbuilding
- Strength training
- Yoga
- Barre
- Pilates
- Recovery
- Cardio
This app is free to download, but long term use will require in-app purchases. It has an average of 4.6 stars out of five and has over 5 million downloads on the Google Play Store (2022).
Freeletics: Fitness Workouts
This app is popular, with over 10 million people have downloaded it from the app store, gaining them a 4.3 star rating out of five. It works by using your own body weight for high-intensity training workouts that have videos for each movement. You can subscribe to get access to personalised training plans that are adapted to your personal performance abilities.
The gym is not required with this app and it works great as a stand-alone method to workouts.
HeadSpace
Whilst fitness apps are often concerned with health and fitness in the form of exercise. However, we consider mental health to be a big aspect of gaining better motivation towards health and fitness. Headspace was created to aid meditation and help form a healthy practice towards calming the mind. It can help you to find more jobs, less stress and get a better night's sleep.
The best fitness apps for apple watch
If you have an apple watch, you may be wondering what the best fitness apps to download are. We have compiled a list of some of the most useful apps that you are able to download to make the most out of the fitness qualities that the watch allows.
Runtastic (Adidas Running Tracker Run App)
This app is designed to monitor sports, running, jogging and other forms of fitness and training that you complete whilst wearing your apple watch. The app is free and features GPS tracking so that you can track and document your walks and runs in the app, whilst documenting the duration, distance, calories you burned and your heart rate.
The app has a great community-building feature that allows you to view a newsfeed and follow others who have downloaded the app too. You can also gain followers yourself. It has over 50 million downloads and is the editor's choice on the Google Play Store. You are able to purchase additional premium features, but it is not essential.
Strava Tracker: Record running, cycling and swimming
Strava is a multi-purpose app that can track your fitness through methods of cycling or running. You can input your favourite cycling routes or trail maps in order to record your recent activities. With either your smartphone or your apple watch, you are able to record your running or cycling distance, map the route and take on daily challenges.
After completing trails and routes, you can connect and share with others. Share your route and the distance maps that have tracked your distance. There are many forms of fitness that this app records, such as:
- Swimming
- Hiking
- Alpine Skiing
- Crossfit
- Kayaking
- Rock Climbing
- Surfing
- Yoga
- Indoor Running
- Indoor Cycling
- Gym Workout
You are able to purchase in-app features that are not available in the free version. This app has a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and has over 50 million views (2022).
Streaks Work-Out
This app is available on IOS and is great for apple watch users. It is a tool that caters for those looking to train at any level of fitness, from beginners to experts and caters to different capabilities. It will find a workout for anyone, no matter the daily time you have or the limits you may feel.
The app will supply a range of different workouts that can be equipment-free if needed. These can focus on your core, arms, legs, back or chest. You can even build your own
workout routines and customise what daily workouts you wish to do. The goal is to complete a workout each day, but by keeping it customised to your needs. You are able to track your past workouts and routines in order to stay motivated and look at your statistics.
LifeSum
This is an app that is catered to self-care and helps you to reach your health and fitness goals by encouraging you to eat better. It helps you to find a diet that you love, by catering to your personal lifestyle needs and food preferences. You can build a meal plan to follow, which can be adapted depending on your type of diet. For example, keto or vegetarian.
This app doesn’t just cater for weight loss but caters towards a happier and healthier lifestyle. Their mission is to improve people's lives through better eating.
What is Apple’s Fitness App?
Apple Fitness Plus (+) is Apple’s fitness app and it is available to download on your apple watch and to pair with any other Apple device. It features 11 different workout types, such as:
- Yoga
- HIIT
- Strength
- Guided Meditations
You can use the app to monitor your heart rate during workouts. It encourages you to make it easier for you to be able to practice mindfulness through the app's suggestions and meditations that it suggests through workouts or other forms of exercise. You can select the type of workout you wish to complete and choose between 5 and 45 minutes, pick your trainer, music and theme to tailor them to you. For the workouts, you can complete home workouts that require very minimum, if not no workout equipment at all.
You can view previous sessions on your iPhone, iPad or your Apple TV and listen to sessions from your Apple Watch.
Is Apple Fitness Plus Free?
Apple fitness plus is free for three months when you buy an eligible Apple Watch. However, more can be told by the sales advisor who sells you the item, ensure your purchase makes you eligible for this deal. However, once your free trial ends, you will have to pay around $10/£9.99 a month, or $80/£79.99 for an annual subscription.
If you do not wish to buy an apple watch, then you can claim a one-month free trial before paying for a subscription to the surface.
Apple Fitness App on Apple TV
You are able to access Apple Fitness on Apple TV. Your Apple Watch has the capability to be synced with the Fitness app on your Apple TV that has tvOS 14.3 or later. This can be done
by:
- Opening the Fitness App on your Apple TV
- Select your name, or select Other if you don’t see your name
- Select ‘Connect’ on your Apple Watch
- Tap ‘Continue’ and then enter the code that is supplied from the Apple TV on your Apple Watch
However, you are able to use Apple Fitness directly from your Apple TV. Doing this allows you to stream audio and video from your Fitness plus workouts.
Benefits of Fitness Apps
The idea of fitness apps seems great. They can help you to keep fit and lose weight, making them a great aid in your workout journey. Below, we have outlined some of the benefits associated with Fitness Apps.
Monitor your diet
You are able to easily monitor your diet. These apps can help you to calculate calories, monitor what you eat and help you to reflect upon your diet. It can aid you in understanding a healthy and balanced diet by giving you recommendations on the types of foods you should be eating. It can help you to notice foods that you should be avoiding, especially for those apps that allow you to scan your food.
Monitor Progress/Daily Steps
You can monitor progress as well as your diet and consumption. This can be extremely beneficial as it can keep your motivation up if you are able to see your progress and success. Additionally, it helps you to monitor your health and compare them to previous statistics.
Tracking and monitoring your daily steps is great for those who are looking to monitor their daily exercise. By being able to reflect on your daily steps, it is easier to understand how much weight you lose just through your basic step count.
Exercise and Fitness Tips
Fitness apps are great at providing tips for exercises that are personally catered to you and your needs. You have immediate access to unlimited numbers of routines, created by experts and personal trainers. These tips can be beneficial alongside your fitness journey and can be helpful, especially for beginners. You will be able to better explore ways to a healthier lifestyle through fitness apps.
Disadvantages to Fitness Apps
Whilst fitness apps are greatly beneficial, they do have some disadvantages that may persuade you to find an alternative method to fitness tracking.
Accuracy
Fitness apps that are used through methods such as a fitness watch or a smart phone can often provide inaccurate results. They are not 100% accurate and can sometimes miscalculate steps or workouts. Although, whilst they may not count each and every step, they are a good way to estimate how many steps you are doing on a daily or weekly basis. Additionally, you cannot solely rely on fitness apps to calculate accurate calories, so consider that these may not always be accurate.
Expense
Depending on the type of fitness app you are interested in using, there can quite often be hidden fees and other payments that make the cost of running these apps quite expensive. For example, if you are wanting to use Apple Fitness Plus, you need one of the apple products listed. If you do not, then you are required to make a payment of the watch in addition, which can be very costly. Alternatively, if you are just looking to have the app as a download on your smartphone, you might find that you need to upgrade to a premium version in order to properly reap the benefits.
Battery
These apps, when running in the background of a smart phone or smart watch, can cause the battery to drain very quickly. If you are wanting to use your fitness apps on a daily basis, this can cause your device to lose battery very quickly and result in more charging needed. With this comes negatives such as forgetting to charge the watch, or the battery draining completely whilst you are using it.
To sum up, fitness apps can be a great help to those who are looking for a fitness aid. Whilst they may not be 100% accurate, it is a way to find an estimated calorie total or an estimated number of steps. With that in mind, they can be extremely useful if you remember to keep your device charged.
