Whether or not you are attempting to hit New 12 months’s resolutions or simply want a superb exercise or weight loss program tracker, the very best well being and health apps might help you get there. And in the event you’re feeling overwhelmed (or underwhelmed) by the alternatives out there, I am right here to share personally-tested exercise and planning apps to get you began.
Some folks thrive with customized, AI-made exercise or weight loss program plans. Others profit from social apps like Strava the place challenges and “kudos” from mates maintain you motivated. And you would be shocked how a superb spreadsheet or fundamental exercise log would possibly work higher than an costly app with movies and plans.
Damaged down into particular classes — basic well being/ health apps, exercise apps, companion apps for smartwatches, and weight/ weight loss program apps — these are the very best apps that will help you hit your targets for 2026, with data on key options, pricing, and why they’ve helped our workers succeed with their targets.
Normal well being & health apps
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Key Well being Options: Sleep Rating, Each day Readiness Rating, Stress Administration Rating, Menstrual Well being, Meal & Water logging, Mindfulness periods, Pattern “Insights”
Key Health Options: Lively Zone Minutes, Cardio/ Goal Load, Gemini-made customized exercise plans, video exercises, Fitbit/ Pixel Watch integration
Subscription: $10/month or $80/yr (AI plans/ evaluation, video exercises, long-term stories)
Why Fitbit will assist together with your targets: Recommending Fitbit Premium grew to become simpler as soon as Google employed Gemini to make the Fitbit Private Well being Coach. It lets you “converse” to an AI coach and create a complete exercise plan inside minutes, incorporating dozens of various indoor or outside exercise sorts. So whether or not your health objective is to drop a few pounds, enhance at a particular sport, enhance muscle mass, stroll extra, or the rest, Gemini may give you weeks of customized exercises for that objective. No different app is as complete or customizable.
AI apart, Fitbit advantages from syncing with low cost Fitbit trackers, so the app can observe stats like resting coronary heart price, blood oxygen, pores and skin temperature, sleep zones, and HRV. The brand new app exhibits “Perception” playing cards with pattern information for these stats, so you’ll be able to see how your well being is enhancing as you attempt to get fitter or drop a few pounds.
Why we depend on Fitbit: “Fitbit is easy and accessible for anybody simply beginning out with severe exercises.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
“I like the brand new interface and the way easy it’s to get vital information at a look. I have been impressed with the AI coach and its suggestions. I feel it is the most effective life-style health apps with a holistic method.” — Tshaka Armstrong, Contributor
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Why a spreadsheet will assist together with your targets: Apps might be motivational and auto-track your information and progress over time, with fancy graphs and AI evaluation. However they’re normally (A) paid, (B) mobile-only, and (C) specialised to 1 exercise.
That is why, on the subject of New 12 months’s resolutions or making a exercise calendar, a easy doc or spreadsheet works higher than looking for the proper, all-in-one app! Use different apps to trace particular targets like miles/ steps/ weight reduction/ books learn, however consolidate all of them into one doc you’ll be able to test in your cellphone or pc, utilizing tables and drop-down menus to label your progress (as I did above).
Or, use a spreadsheet to put out your long-term exercise plans, then a particular operating or energy app to place these plans into motion. I used that methodology to plan my months-long marathon coaching (see above), paired with my Garmin watch, and it was extremely efficient.
Why we depend on Google Docs/ Sheets: “Yeah, it sounds foolish, however I really discovered a use for spreadsheets. I want higher physique energy, so lifting weights is the best way I attempt to preserve it. I can maintain file of my present routine in addition to any targets, and there may be loads of room for additional notes. Better of all, I can test off every day’s exercise from my cellphone or my desktop and have entry to all my long-term progress, so I really feel like I am carrying out one thing.” — Jerry Hildenbrand, Senior Editor
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Key Health Options: Exercise recording, native routes with 3D maps, Heatmap, Section leaderboards, Golf equipment, Challenges, long-term exercise evaluation, Athlete Intelligence summaries, race predictions, On the spot Exercises
Subscription: $12/month or $80/yr (Saved routes, full information evaluation with AI summaries, On the spot Exercises
Why Strava will assist together with your targets: Most individuals strive tougher when cheered on or competing with others. Strava allows you to join with mates to supply and obtain “kudos,” motivating you to maintain getting on the market. You even have “Challenges” the place hitting sure thresholds nets you badges and awards from accomplice firms, and leaderboards the place you’ll be able to compete to be quickest on native routes and trails. And it helps you discover native Golf equipment with like-minded athletes, in the event you want in-person motivation.
Extra lately, Strava has doubled down on Athlete Intelligence, a instrument that makes use of your exercise historical past to evaluate the standard of a particular exercise and supply context in your enchancment over time. This yr, Strava launched “On the spot Exercises,” with customized actions throughout 40 sports activities sorts and 4 sorts (‘Keep’, ‘Construct’, ‘Discover’, or ‘Get well’), together with customized routes out of your beginning location utilizing a Heatmap of different customers’ exercises. Basically, Strava gives customized, tailor-made exercises, with out committing to a long-term plan.
Why we depend on Strava: “I discovered my native operating group via Strava final yr; I admire when Strava tells me a sure exercise was my quickest within the final month; and I am motivated to turn into the ‘Native Legend’ for sure segments like my close by observe.” — Michael Hicks, Wearables Editor
“Strava is a superb app to attach with others who’re into health and maintain your self accountable. Many health apps sync with it, so you’ll be able to publish your watch’s exercises and maintain your self energetic and motivated.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
Exercise apps
Key Health options: Exercise monitoring, media playback controls, 5K/10K/13.1/26.2 coaching plans, audio-guided runs, challenges, streaks, real-time location sharing
Subscription: None
Why Nike Run Membership will assist together with your targets: NRC is standard with veteran runners as a running-focused different to Strava with related gamification (i.e., badges, challenges, and likes) and long-term stat monitoring.
Why I like to recommend it for newbie couch-to-5K runners, other than the dearth of subscription, is Coach Bennett’s audio-based guided runs. As you run, the professional operating coach gives you pointers and motivation as you are struggling to maintain tempo and keep shifting.
Why we depend on Nike Run Membership: “I’ve used Nike Run Membership to run over 1,500 miles throughout a decade and numerous units. NRC handles the fundamentals excellently, with the intense and daring Nike font making your tempo, length, coronary heart price, and extra seen at a look. It helps media playback controls, and its post-run breakdowns are each data-rich and straightforward to grasp. The app prioritizes pleasant competitors with different customers (with weekly challenges) and your self (with awards and milestones) whereas reminding you to relaxation.” — Brady Snyder, Contributor
“Nike Run Membership helps me get into extremely productive steady-state runs and brainless interval coaching. I simply open it, select a run that matches my intention, and transfer my ft.” —Tshaka Armstrong, Contributor
Various choice: Strive Zombies, Run!, which has dozens of hours of audio tales designed to maintain you motivated as you run, together with some Marvel adventures.
Key Health options: Customizable exercises with customized units, full train listing, exercise graphs, macronutrient monitoring
Subscription: $5/month or $30/yr (Limitless exercise templates, analytics like muscle maps and macros)
Why Sturdy will assist together with your targets: Whether or not you are understanding at residence or the gymnasium, you do not want an app distracting you. You want simplicity, a streamlined exercise log the place you’ll be able to test off one train or set, then transfer on to the following, with out giving your self an opportunity to slack off.
Sturdy fulfills that area of interest! You’ll be able to construct out exercises utilizing its complete train library, together with Heat-ups and Drop/ Failure units, after which observe that exercise to completion. The PRO subscription provides you extra information, however the free model is greater than ok to get you began.
Why we depend on Sturdy: “Sturdy is the gymnasium diary the place I totally flesh issues out. I constructed out my exercises and observe not solely my progressive overload however my physique half positive aspects (i.e., biceps, calves, quads, and so forth.).” — Tshaka Armstrong, Contributor
Alternate options: Strive Hevy for a exercise log with extra neighborhood options, or Fitbod in the event you want AI assist constructing your exercises.
Key Health options: Prebuilt packages, on-demand exercises, professional trainers, train kind guides, wholesome recipes
Subscription: $20/month or ~$120/yr (necessary)
Why Sweat will assist together with your targets: Tailor-made to girls, Sweat has long-term energy packages tailor-made to any talent stage, with a clear UI that makes it simple to navigate via exercises and see (A) the correct kind for each train and (B) the muscle map of the way it’ll impression your physique. It is on the costly facet however gives quite a lot of worth as an alternative choice to a (costlier) private coach.
Why we depend on Sweat: “I subscribe to Sweat as a result of it offers an ideal stability of cardio and energy coaching exercises, with out requiring me to plan my complete week. As a postpartum mother with little or no time, understanding precisely which exercise I am as a consequence of do every day is extremely useful and really eases my thoughts.” — Nandika Iyer Ravi, Information Editor
Alternate options: Peloton or Apple Health+ are the plain massive hitters for basic teaching, whereas Centr is a extra hardcore choice.
Smartwatch/ good ring companion apps
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Key Health options: Garmin Run/ Biking/ Energy/Triathlon Coach, day by day advised exercises, energy/ yoga exercises, Coaching Standing, Coaching Load, long-term metric graphs, Garmin Golf, Garmin Trails, LiveTrack, downloadable/ customized programs, Challenges & Badges, gear monitoring, race predictions, and extra
Key Well being options: Physique Battery, HRV Standing, Sleep Rating/ Coach, menstrual monitoring, meals logging with AI picture recognition and barcode scanning, Life-style Logging, Well being Standing
Subscription: $7/month or $70/yr (AI summaries, Vitamin logging, Trails, Efficiency Dashboard, teaching movies, and different small options, not required)
Why Garmin Join will assist together with your targets: Garmin watches primarily get reward for the long-lived {hardware} and post-workout evaluation in your wrist. Garmin Join is a bloated, labyrinthian app that takes time to regulate to, but it surely’s stuffed to bursting with options you will not discover elsewhere (particularly totally free), most notably customized coaching plans and day by day advised runs, rides, walks, or energy exercises.
The Actions tab allows you to see how your efforts evaluate week-to-week or month-to-month, whereas the Efficiency Dashboard (above, subscribers solely) makes your information much more colourful and dynamic. Garmin additionally added meals logging, Life-style Logging, and well being outlier warnings to the app lately, making it apparent that it needs Hook up with enchantment to extra “mainstream” athletes, not simply the professionals.
Why we depend on Garmin Join: “Garmin feels extra complete and ultimate for severe gym-goers than Fitbit.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
“Garmin has helped me hit marathon and half-marathon PRs, enhance my VO2 Max, and run extra miles than I ever have earlier than. It motivated me with dynamic run recommendations based mostly on my coaching load and operating tolerance, so I at all times knew how exhausting to push with out overdoing it.” — Michael Hicks, Wearables Editor
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Key options: Readiness, Sleep Rating/ Debt, Well being Panels, Meal logging, Cycle/ Being pregnant/ Premenopause insights, Cardiovascular Age, Daytime Stress, Resilience, Oura Advisor, Computerized Exercise Detection
Subscription: $6/month or $70/yr (necessary)
Why Oura will assist together with your targets: The enchantment of a sensible ring is to get a laundry listing of information, day and night time, for individuals who discover smartwatches too cumbersome, distracting, or uncomfortable for sleep monitoring. And the Oura Ring tops our greatest good ring listing on the energy of its app.
Over the previous couple of years, Oura has packed its app with a complete listing of well being metrics, with the AI Oura Advisor because the flashy topper to make all the pieces extra accessible. Other than the plain nightly stats about sleep high quality or coronary heart well being, Oura tries to research long-term developments and supply extra context in your physique’s capability to deal with stress. And it gives some rudimentary health instruments.
Why we depend on Oura: “I depend on Oura as my day by day psychological well being monitor. It tracks once I’m harassed and offers customized ideas for getting the remaining I want.” — Nandika Iyer Ravi, Information Editor
“The Oura app is a passive expertise for me. I take advantage of it to test my sleep high quality and general day by day well being and wellness, as I put on it extra persistently than my Garmin or Pixel watches.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
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Key options: Readiness, Sleep Rating, Exertion Rating, PAI rating, Zepp Coach coaching, meals logging with AI picture recognition, tracked energy exercises with rep counts and muscle maps
Subscription: $12/month or $70/yr (Zepp Aura superior sleep stories, music, meditation, and AI coach)
Why Zepp Well being will assist together with your targets: Amazfit watches are well-known for his or her finances worth, but it surely’d be tougher to suggest these finances watches if the companion Zepp Well being app weren’t so helpful.
You will discover the same old assortment of nightly well being information, however packaged properly with easy scores. The Zepp Coach might help construct exercise plans tailor-made to your skills, whereas meals logging is extra easy than on different apps. And other than the optionally available Aura sub, all the pieces is free.
Why we depend on Zepp Well being: “I just about use Amazfit solely nowadays. The Zepp app syncs completely with Strava, which I take advantage of to share with mates and construct neighborhood. The Zepp app additionally makes it silly simple to log meals with its LLM-driven know-how. I’ve written about this a number of occasions now, however you need to use pure language to enter your meals and snacks as an alternative of scrolling via a bunch of lists or scanning barcodes.” — Nick Sutrich, Senior Content material Producer
Weight & diet/ weight loss program apps
Key options: Vitamin monitoring, meals logging, AI recognition, AI chatbot for recipes, calls with nutritionists, related CGM
Why Healthify will assist together with your targets: Logging each single meal and snack is a serious time suck, particularly when it is advisable calculate each ingredient to a meal. HealthifyMe’s entire premise is eradicating that delay by letting you merely {photograph} one thing and get the dietary stats in a flash. It additionally has AI teaching and recommendations, or a approach to join with actual nutritionists for a payment, however the streamlined meals logging is what made this app so standard.
Why we depend on Healthify: “HealthifyMe is my go-to for staying accountable to my calorie deficit.” — Nandika Iyer Ravi, Information Editor
Key options: Meals logging, calorie and macro counting, voice logging, AI meal scan, barcode scanning, intermittent fasting tracker, recipes, grocery listing sharing,
Subscription: $25/month or $100/yr (for many options apart from fundamental guide meals logging and calorie depend)
Why MyFitnessPal will assist together with your targets: It is the identical causes we listed for Healthify, besides MyFitnessPal has a barely longer function listing in change for its subscription, like hundreds of recipes, customized meal planning, voice logging, progress stories, and so forth. You will additionally discover Android and Apple Watch apps, making it simple to test your day by day stats or rapidly log a favourite meal.
Why we depend on MyFitnessPal: “MyFitnessPal helps me maintain observe of my life-style and habits. I log my meals and workouts to watch my macros.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
Key options: Connects with good scales for weight, physique composition, visceral fats, and extra
Subscription: $10/month or $100/yr (Well being Enchancment Rating, Heart specialist evaluate, Well being Assistant, Sensible Developments, and so forth.)
Why Withings will assist together with your targets: You’ll be able to change Withings with different good scale manufacturers, however this app tends to be a workers favourite. The gist is that you would be able to see greater than your weight, but in addition your physique fats/ muscle proportion and (with fancier scales) particular information on how that fats is segmented all through your physique. Basically, having a sensible scale will allow you to observe how your well being and health targets are immediately impacting your physique.
Why we depend on Withings: “Withings is essential to me as a Kind 2 diabetic. It provides me a segmental evaluation of physique fats & muscle losses and positive aspects. What’s most vital is the visceral fats metrics, the way it tracks the fats round your inner organs that may actually imply life or early dying.” — Tshaka Armstrong, Contributor
“Withings exhibits me my weight, physique fats, and muscle mass, in addition to how I am trending, which helps me know if I must make modifications.” — Derrek Lee, Managing Editor
