The very best health apps can by no means be a “one-size-fits-all” resolution, as a result of by its nature, health could be very private.The time period means various things to totally different individuals, starting from aesthetics to power, to with the ability to run a marathon quicker than you could possibly final yr.
That makes selecting the very best health apps a problem, and one we’ve solved by providing a spectrum of choices that will help you take your decide for the objectives you keep in mind. Seeking to bulk up? Take into account Fitbod, or Stronglifts. Able to run? Strava could also be for you. In search of an array of guided exercises? Perhaps Fitbit Premium or Apple Health Plus are ultimate.
No matter your aim, you’ll discover an choice right here to go well with you. You would possibly want extra package, particularly in the event you’re specializing in a specific train like operating, through which case you’d higher take a look at our greatest operating watch and greatest trainers guides. Should you’re going to deal with hitting the gymnasium, check out our greatest gymnasium footwear record.
Under are our picks for the very best health apps in 2023.
Lloyd Coombes Writer Lloyd Coombes is a contract contributor from Essex, UK, with a ardour for health and tech. He could be seen at TechRadar, iMore, Stay Science and extra frequently, and enjoys weightlifting and middle-distance operating.
The short record
Need to get straight to the very best health app to your wants? Use our fast round-up beneath to right away discover an app that matches your wants – and you may learn extra about it by leaping to our full write-ups and explanations utilizing the hyperlinks.
Fitbod 1. Fitbod Greatest health app general Like a private coach in your pocket, Fitbod can construct you exercise plans for quite a lot of objectives and disciplines, though it shines within the gymnasium. A dwell service ingredient retains including new options frequently. Learn extra beneath Fitbit Premium 2. Fitbit Premium Greatest health app for Android customers With meal plans, mindfulness workouts, and that all-important Day by day Readiness Rating, Fitbit Premium is a straightforward advice for Fitbit customers trying to take their health to the subsequent stage. Learn extra beneath Apple Health Plus 3. Apple Health+ The very best exercise app for Apple customers With an enormous number of guided exercises, Apple Health Plus is a superb place to begin one thing new – whether or not that’s yoga, or coaching in the direction of a selected operating distance. Learn extra beneath Peloton 4. Peloton Verify Amazon Greatest for guided content material As you may in all probability guess, Peloton’s app is good for anybody utilizing the corporate’s glorious spin bikes, with exercises that vary from cardio to weights and many extra. However its the library of slickly-produced content material which stands tall. Learn extra beneath Runna 5. Runna Greatest health app for run teaching Runna presents extra operating metrics than you’ll know what to do with, with loads of extra group options, too. Anticipate it to enhance your tempo and endurance in any respect distances. Learn extra beneath Strava 6. Strava Greatest health app for adventurers Working, using, mountaineering, snowboarding, swimming… in the event you’re an outdoor individual, particularly runs and rides, Strava is the right app for you. Equal elements social community and health monitoring app. Learn extra beneath
Greatest health app general
(Picture credit score: F8 studio / Shutterstock / Lloyd Coombes)
1. Fitbod The very best health app for most individuals Our knowledgeable assessment: Specs Out there on: iOS, Android Worth: $12.99 / roughly £10 / AU$20 per 30 days Causes to purchase + Big vary of workouts + Caters to newbies and skilled customers + Intuitive and spectacular UI Causes to keep away from – A restricted free trial
Fitbod is an app that acts like a private coach in your pocket. Customers set their objectives, be that weight reduction, powerlifting, and every little thing in between, and the app generates a exercise plan primarily based on the tools you’ve got in your gymnasium – and even simply with physique weight in the event you’re not signed up anyplace.
The very best half about Fitbod is that it’s regularly including new options, and whereas that does result in the occasional bug, latest additions like a graph that exhibits your muscle power over time are the sort of factor that units it aside for individuals who take pleasure in selecting up heavy weights.
Learn our full Fitbod assessment
Greatest for Android customers
(Picture credit score: Google)
2. Fitbit Premium The very best health app for Android and Fitbit customers Our knowledgeable assessment: Specs Out there on: iOS, Android Worth:: $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$15.49 per 30 days Causes to purchase + Straightforward to make use of + A great deal of further options + Nice guided content material Causes to keep away from – Wants a Fitbit tracker to get most out of it – Premium month-to-month/yearly value
Because the title implies, Fitbit Premium is unquestionably higher with one of many firm’s trackers, opening up a complete bunch of additives to the bottom expertise.
From extra superior sleep monitoring to exercises and mindfulness workouts, Fitbit Premium presents slightly of every little thing. Its killer characteristic, nonetheless, is the Day by day Readiness Rating which helps pool your entire knowledge right into a single determine that exhibits simply how fatigued you might be, and whether or not you’ll want to take a restor not.
That’s one thing that no different app on this record does higher. Nevertheless, you really want a Fitbit or a Google Pixel Watch to get quite a bit out of the metrics, and though FItbit is system-agnostic, its buy by Google means it is barely simpler to put money into for Android customers.
Learn our full Fitbit Premium assessment
Greatest for iOS customers
(Picture credit score: Apple)
3. Apple Health Plus The very best health app for iOS customers Specs Out there on: iOS Worth: $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$14.99 per 30 days Causes to purchase + Smooth interface + An enormous variety of exercise sorts + Slickly-produced guided content material Causes to keep away from – Apple solely – Requires a watch to get full advantages
Should you personal an iPhone, chances are high you’ve got both tried Apple Health Plus otherwise you’ve obtained a free trial ready for you. Apple Health Plus is chock-full of guided content material, from meditation, HIIT, and power exercises to kickboxing, dance, yoga and extra. Usable on an iPad, iPhone, or sensible TV, it interfaces along with your Apple Watch so you may see your important stats on the display as you prepare.
It isn’t only for individuals who wish to work out at residence, pandemic-style: since its launch, Health+ has pivoted to content material that may put together you for out of doors exercise, with modules reminiscent of Yoga for Working or lower-body preparation for snowboarding.
Audio-only guided content material, reminiscent of Time to Run and Time to Stroll, can speak you thru runs, transporting you to well-known places and listening to tales from celebrities reminiscent of Dolly Parton, Shawn Mendes and Ted Lasso star Rebecca Waddingham. It is an oustanding app, and nicely price consideration in the event you’re an current Apple person.
Greatest for guided content material
(Picture credit score: Peloton)
4. Peloton The very best health app for guided content material Common Amazon assessment: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Specs Worth: $24 / £20 / $36 per 30 days for highest tier Out there on: iOS, Android, Peloton machines As we speak’s Greatest Offers View at Backcountry.com (Males’s) View at Amazon (Black) View at Zappos Causes to purchase + 1,000 hours of latest content material a month + Stay courses + Number of exercise sorts Causes to keep away from – Premium month-to-month worth – Plenty of exercises designed for costly tools
Peloton has modified. As soon as a byword for pandemic-era on-line spin courses, Peloton has come out the opposite facet by a turbulent interval within the firm’s historical past, to ship a first-class health app.
Sure, the linked leaderboard-based exercises for the Peloton Bike, Peloton Tread, Peloton Information and now Peloton Row are nonetheless the spine of the corporate, however there’s been an enormous push to permit customers to take their exercises off-machine.
Hitting the same old mixture of power coaching, yoga, HIIT, and different mat-based exercise choices, Peloton (like Apple Health+) additionally has audio-based choices for coaching exterior. Peloton has a reliance on guided content material locked behind sure tools.to actually get the very best out of it (once more, like Apple Health+) however the trainers are professional and the sense of group, when you’re embedded within the cult-like following, is second to none.
Greatest for run teaching
(Picture credit score: Runna)
5. Runna The very best health app for run teaching Our knowledgeable assessment: Specs Worth: $17.99 / £15.99 / approx AU$30 Out there on: iOS, Android Causes to purchase + Spectacular stats and operating evaluation + Group options + Appropriate with Apple, Garmin, COROS watches Causes to keep away from – Primary app layound
Should you’re severe about operating, then there’s an excellent probability Runna might help you attain the subsequent PB or distance goal you’ve set your self. Whereas the app itself is fairly primary, it does supply entry to a running-centric group and an enormous quantity of refined teaching know-how.
It’s ultimate for lapsed runners and newcomers, too, with an audio prompter for serving to you decide up the tempo, however skilled runners will love the extra detailed operating metrics provided right here, too. Each week you additionally get a message out of your coach, the place they offer you recommendations on elements reminiscent of approach and mobility.
Really useful additions to your exercise embrace stretching intervals, and Tempo Prompter data your pace and tells you to decelerate or pace up relying in your tempo. It is undoubtedly price investigating earlier than your subsequent operating occasion – in spite of everything, it is cheaper than an actual operating coach.
Learn our full Runna assessment
Greatest for adventurers
(Picture credit score: Spotify)
6. Strava The very best health app for runners, cyclists and adventurers Specs Worth: $11.99 / £8.99 / AU$14.99 at premium tier Out there on: iOS, Android Causes to purchase + Free model is great + Nice social options + Straightforward to make use of Causes to keep away from – Unsuitable for power coaching
Strava is a component health app, half social media platform, however its addictive mixture of plotting your operating route by recognition, snatching segments from native leaders and incomes the ‘kudos’ of your pals makes it one of the widespread apps on the planet.
Its premium tier provides extra choices like custom-made routes to your subsequent run, topographical maps, further metrics, and restoration workouts that will help you run, cycle, ski, swim or paddlebaord extra frequently and extra safely. It is system-agnostic, so you may import your metrics from virtually any watch into the app, however it might additionally estimate its personal metrics too.
It is an amazing useful resource to get into the social facet of operating, with ‘pleasant’ competitors from mates and different customers, and it is nice to make use of for any out of doors pursuit.
How to decide on the very best health app for you
With so many choices, it’s tough to choose one health app that caters to all, particularly as “health app” is such a broad church time period. A bicycle owner, for instance, is not going to be utilizing the identical exercise app as a gym-goer. Fortunately, you don’t must, and lots of definitely have strengths and weaknesses.
For instance, whereas Strava can monitor your gymnasium exercises by Apple’s Health app, it’ll battle to offer you helpful data, because it will not report any knowledge factors past coronary heart price and energy burned. Then again, it’s good for operating and biking monitoring, even in its free model.
Lots of the apps on this record play properly collectively, too, with the likes of Fitbod and Fitbit Premium in a position to pull knowledge from Google and Apple. With that in thoughts, we’d suggest testing out one which appears to cater to your chosen self-discipline, even when only for the size of the free trial, of their free iterations to test you’ve got obtained the fitting app to your gadget.
How we take a look at health apps
When testing the very best health apps, our reviewers use them over a interval of a number of weeks, and we strive the commonest options the typical person is prone to familiarize yourself with.
Whether or not it’s racking up the miles on foot or loading up weight within the gymnasium, Techradar’s specialists take a look at on a number of exercise sorts, with totally different platforms together with iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Put on OS, and extra.
