10 Tried and Tested Wellness Apps that I Love

I’m not going to lie. I’m an app junkie to a certain degree. I’ve tried all sorts of health & wellness apps throughout the years and love finding new ones as they are created! Some are great and some are not. Everybody is going to have their own personal preferences, but below are 9 health & wellness apps that I love and recommend all the time.

Why use health & wellness apps?

If we live on autopilot, life tends to pass us by. We become inattentive and numb to what’s going on around us and within us. I know the technology can definitely have it’s downsides. However, it can also help us keep track of things that we would otherwise completely ignore or forget about. Whether it’s our food, mood, or even our bathroom habits, apps can keep track of them in a way that we can look back to find patterns. Apps aren’t just for tracking things either. They can open up avenues of learning and creativity with a few taps and eliminate those pesky excuses.

Why do we even need health & wellness apps?

If you’re anything like me, your memory may not be fantastic when it comes certain things. I usually don’t remember exactly what I ate, or how I felt when I look back at things. Tracking my meals, moods, and workouts really help with that. Being a vegetarian, I worry about protein and amino acids. Using an app to track that keeps me on track so I can make decisions based off of my needs. Lifting weights, yoga flows, and even training runs are all created for me so I can spend more time focusing on my workout and less time trying to create them. My days of saying that I don’t have time to read or learn a new language are gone because of apps!

Staying organized and eliminating mental clutter is such a huge deal! Do you ever feel like you just don’t have the bandwidth to even know what to make for dinner? Yeah, well I’ve got an app for that too! Too many tasks at home and work and everything else for you to keep straight? I’ve got one that has kept me accomplishing my to-dos for years!

Finding the right tools to use for your needs can make your life so much easier in the long run. Sometimes it takes experimentation, but the payoff is worth it.

10 Best Health & Wellness Apps

Meal Planning: Mealime

Cost: Free | $2.99/mo

I’ve tried all the meal planners out there over the years. I always find them lacking due to either being dependent upon you hunting down and importing all the recipes or because the shopping list functionality makes things more complicated. I had used one that provided me with the weekly meals but the grocery cost ended up being exorbitant and produces a lot of food waste. Then I found Mealime. Created by dietitians, I have faith in their recipes and it ticks all the boxes for me. I’ve been using it for years and will never use anything else (I actually DID try something else for a week out of curiosity and promptly went back to Mealime)

Pros:

• They have a huge library of recipes that will keep the monotony at bay
• You can choose diet preferences, allergies, dislikes, and advanced filters so that you only see what fits your wants and needs
• “Personalized Meal Plans” are a fast and easy way to get your desired number of recipes with no food waste (which saves money!)
• The grocery list combines ingredients so it’s streamlined and categorized
• You can easily add your own recipes manually or from a website
• Two Words: Cooking Mode – it shows one step at a time in an easy to read format and you can move to the next by waving you hand over your phone, no touching required!
• Works with online grocery ordering if it’s available in your area
• Ability to add the ingredients you have on hand and be provided with recipes that use them

Cons:

• Some of the specialized diet recipes seem to follow a similar formula for some of their recipes, which, depending on your preferences, may feel limiting

Food Tracking: Cronometer

Cost: Free | $54.99/yr

I used to be a devout user of MyFitnessPal but wanted to experiment with other options and found Cronometer to be it’s biggest competitor in my opinion. It offers much of the same functionality, but with more insights. It does feel like it’s in it’s early stages but they are beta testing several great features like fast water tracking and voice logging like NutritionIX offers.

Pros:

• The number of nutrients tracked is phenomenal (including caffeine!) and they are grouped into targets for things like immune health, bone heal, etc.
• The barcode scanner is available on the free version (MFP recently put theirs behind a paywall)
• If you’re lacking in a nutrient, you can see suggested foods to help you meet your goal
• It syncs/imports data from sources like Garmin, Apple Health, Samsung, Fitbit, and even Dexcom!
• There are a BUNCH of biometrics you can log in addition to food such as body measurements, blood pressure, labs, mood, and even the status of your dookie (which is more important than you think)
• The food database is from more reliable sources than some other trackers. Yes, this makes it smaller, but it’s more accurate where it matters
• Eat/drink the same thing every day? You can set repeating foods so you don’t have to log them daily
• Intermittent Fasting timer (pro)
• Cheaper than the leader in the arena by $25/yr

Cons:

• Whereas they offer the barcode scanner for free, the recipe importer is only available with the pro membership. This can be a big downside for those of us who eat our own prepared meals vs foods with a barcode
• The ‘common foods’ tab is generalized and not based on what YOU eat most frequently
• Adding a recipe manually is kind of clunky
• If you like things like an app with blog articles, recipes, workouts, and a community – this might not be for you

Meditation: Insight Timer

Cost: Free | $59.99/yr

Back in 2017, I started searching for an app to use for a more consistent meditation practice. I tried so many of them, but the biggest barrier was cost. Then I found Insight Timer and never looked back. They boast over 40,000 free meditations in every style and topic imaginable, a timer with sounds, live classes that include yoga, courses, challenges, and a journal. I’ve used it daily since I first found it because it removes so many barriers associated with a daily meditation practice.

Pros:

• Did I mention over 40,000 free meditations? You can search, filter, and sort by time, style, and topic. These include music, guided meditations, and lectures
• A fully customizable timer for your own practice with the ability to create multiple presets
• Live classes nearly all the time
• Curated challenges & courses (plus)
• Follow your favorite teachers and get notified when they publish a new meditation
• Downloads for offline use (plus)

Cons:

• Recently, they’ve allowed teachers to create premium tracks that are only available with a membership and I’ve seen a large number moving towards these
• Courses are only available for the plus membership

Yoga: Down Dog Yoga

Cost: $9.99/mo | $59.99/yr

If you ask most people where they find their home practice flows, YouTube will likely be the number one answer. However, I don’t want to be dependent upon an internet connection. Wellness apps are most effective when they can be used whenever they are needed. I love Down Dog Yoga (and their other apps like HIIT and Running) because you can choose all the settings that you want from the style, length, focus, music, teacher voice, difficulty level, and more! After choosing the settings, the app creates a flow for you that is different every time. This saves me so much time and alleviates decision paralysis when trying to decide on a YouTube video!

Pros:

• Fully customizable practice that differs every time
• Ability to download for offline use
• Save the flows you like the most
• *New* ability to choose which poses you like/dislike to customize it even more
• Nice built in music selection (you can also choose ‘none’ if you want to play your own)
• Verbal cues allow you to practice by listening only if you want

Cons:

• No free version available
• Not *every* pose is in their library, which may be limiting to more advanced practitioners
• Only one model (female) available, which might seem exclusionary to men

Weight Lifting: Caliber

Cost: Free | $19/month (group coaching) | $200/month (1:1 coaching)

For the longest time, I used online plans, excel, and Garmin to track my weight lifting. I wouldn’t say I’m a complete novice, but I’m no CPT either (yet). This meant relying on more generic lifting plans I’d find online that usually lasted anywhere from 4-16 weeks. While they helped me get stronger, I knew there had to be a better way.

After some research, I found Caliber. This is one of my favorite wellness apps because it takes things like your experience, time availability, and equipment into account and guides you in a way that actually teaches you about the methods as well as proper form. Because I’m a number junkie, I love that it has an algorithm that give you a score to show how your strength is not only increasing, but how balanced it is as well! I haven’t delved into the paid coaching programs yet, but likely will in the future.

Pros:

• Creates a lifting routine for you based on your goals and parameters
• Weekly articles help to educate and dispel common myths (I really appreciate this as a Dietitian)
• You can easily swap out exercises if something just doesn’t work for you
• A video demonstrating how to perform the movement along with a written guide (including key points to remember) really help if you’re not super sure how to do it
• Strength score, balance, and progress charts help you visualize how you’re improving
• The barbell weight calculator makes it so easy to know what plates to put on the bar. Goodbye mental math!
• You can add notes to each exercise AND see your history to determine what weights to use
• Built in timers help you keep track of your rest times
• Group and 1:1 coaching is available with the added benefits of routine changes, nutrition recommendation/tracking, the ability to have a coach check your form, and more

Cons:

• The app can get a little glitchy depending upon your internet connection. I’d love to see more functionality in offline mode
• The constant pop-up for the coaching programs. There’s a button in the top corner that is easily accessible, so I feel like the pop ups are a tad annoying
• The routine doesn’t change unless you manually change it (this isn’t necessarily a con because they explain the importance of mastering an exercise instead of hopping around, but some people like to change it up more often)

Running: Nike Run Club

Cost: Free

Full disclosure: I am NOT a great runner. I enjoy it, much to my doctor’s dismay. Having a connective tissue disorder means that my body isn’t exactly built for the impact of running. However, I do it anyways because that’s just how I roll. I’ve tried multiple times to complete programs from apps like Zombies, Run! or the Garmin training plans. The problem is that they have expectations that my body just cannot meet. Trying to push myself to that point would, and has, resulted in injuries. I’ve given up and retried so many times over the years, but I needed something that would provide some guidance while still letting me listen to my body.

Then, I found NRC. It’s allowed me to train at my own pace while still furthering my abilities. I’m still not a great runner (and that’s OKAY), but I definitely have more fun doing it thanks to Nike Run Club. I think when most people start downloading wellness apps, a running app is usually on that list and this is one of the best.

Pros:

• Great coaches! They’re fun, conversational, educational, and motivating while always reiterating that YOU are in control and to listen to your body
• Plans that are easy to follow, doable, and don’t get completely thrown off if you miss a run
• Recommended playlists that work with Apple Music
• Fun challenges every month
• The ability to choose impromptu guided runs if you aren’t working on a specific plan
• Ability to choose if it’s outside or a treadmill run
• Connect with other runners and create a community to support each other

Cons:

• It plays nicely with Apple Watch but not necessarily anything else, which is a bummer for us Garmin users (and Samsung, Fitbit, Polar, and the like)
• The playlist syncing can be a little funky

Mood: Daylio

Cost: Free | $11.99/yr

Several years ago I began to understand the importance of acknowledging our moods. Thus began my journey of daily mood tracking. I did the bullet journal thing for a while with it’s pretty layouts, but I ended up needing something that I had on me all the time. That’s why this has become one of my most used wellness apps. It’s super simple. You simply choose the face that best fits your mood and save it. That is at it’s most basic functionality. It’s fast, easy, and painless.

However, most of us want to know more about the exact mood or what we were doing that made us feel that way. This app is great for that! You still have your five-emotion scale, but you can create a list of feelings that go with each one along with as many activities as you want (that can be neatly grouped into categories). To get even more detailed, you can add photos and journal entries into each one as well!

Remember me saying that I’m a number junkie? Daylio provides weekly, monthly, and yearly recaps on your stats: what your average mood was, correlations between moods and certain activities, mood stability, and more. This is a great way to see what makes you happy and do more of it!

Pros:

• Fast and easy to record your mood at any given time
• Create as many moods and activities as you want
• Ability to customize color schemes and emoji styles
• Add photos or a blurb to really help you remember things
• Journal templates allow you to quickly add things like a gratitude entry, self-reflection, idea, etc.
• Statistics! So. Many. Statistics
• Set important dates like anniversaries and birthdates and get a countdown to them
• Syncs steps & sleep with Apple Health to see the correlation between that and your mood
• Fun achievements to earn as you use the app

Cons:

• They used to have a lifetime membership, but that’s been discontinued (although the yearly price is reasonable)
• It would be nice to have the widgets log mood without having to open the app (i.e. tap the face on your lock screen and that’s all you have to do)

Journal: Journey

Cost: Free | $6.99/month | $83.88/yr | $94.99 lifetime

As far as wellness apps go, having one for the ability to brain dump is pretty important. Going back to needing things on me in order to use them, Journey became my go-to journaling app. It’s definitely helped me journal more and I can get my thoughts out far fast that with writing (and without the hand cramps). It has a very simple user interface with a clean writing space. You can also add photos and location and see memories from years past. There are also coaching prompts and templates to get you thinking. Some are free, some require a membership, but it’s still very usable with just the free version. The cloud syncing is nice so that you never have to worry about losing your precious entries!

Pros:

• Easy to use. No fussy formatting unless you want to fancy it up
• Coaching programs and templates for all sorts of topics and goals
• Cloud syncing
• Free version has plenty of functionality
• You can see an atlas of your photos and entries
• Throwbacks to entries from that day in prior years
• Mood, weather, and activity logging
• Tag your entries so you can keep them organized
• Ability to publish to ghost, WordPress, and Tumblr

Cons:

• Very few coaching programs/prompts without a membership

Reading: Libby

Cost: Free

Intellectual pursuits and learning are a part of holistic wellness. I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. Sadly, as I got older, my time to read became less and less. Audiobooks used to be considered out of the question because I felt it wasn’t “real” reading. At least until I stumbled upon Podiobooks in 2008 and it opened a whole new world. Later, I discovered that more and more libraries started using Libby for the digital magazines, eBooks, and audiobooks. Now I’m able to get through 60+ books per year, primarily via audiobooks while I’m driving and eBooks to read while I’m on the treadmill. Whether it’s in the car, while I’m cooking, or folding laundry, I can get my fix of fiction and nonfiction. Some may not think that Libby belongs on a list of wellness apps, but for those who thrive on learning, it’s a must have.

Pros:

• Free magazines, eBooks, and audiobooks that only require a library card
• Ability to place holds on titles that aren’t currently available
• eBooks can be read in Libby itself or sent to a kindle
• Adjustable playback speed
• Sleep timer for those who like a bedtime story
• Subscribe to magazine titles and get notified when new issues are available
• Download titles for offline reading/listening

Cons:

• Titles limited to what your library catalog contains

Productivity: TickTick

Cost: Free | $35.99/yr

My list of wellness apps wouldn’t be complete without TickTick. I’ve possibly saved the best for last because my life may very well fall apart without it. I started using this in grad school and don’t know how I functioned without it. It’s more than just a to-do list. It is a way for those who suffer from executive dysfunction to finally organize themselves and stay on track. Tasks can be categorized into different lists, contain subtasks, descriptions, attachments, and various formatting. They can be organized into an Eisenhower Matrix, calendars, and habits. There’s even a pomodoro timer for those of us who need a little extra help focusing on things. Of all the wellness apps I listed, this is one that I couldn’t do without.

I have a tendency of recommending wellness apps to my clients and this is one that I never fail to mention to them. It’s just that good.

Pros:

• Fast, easy way to create and organize tasks
• Tasks can be assigned to different lists and color categorized
• Prioritize tasks in order of importance
• Create subtasks for bigger projects
• Easily make reoccurring tasks so you don’t have to create them over and over
• Customizable pomo timer to help you stay on task
• Available as an a mobile AND web app
• Collaborate and assign tasks if you’re working with a team
• Statistics to see your productivity and earn fun themes from ‘leveling up’

Cons:

• There’s nothing I don’t love about this app!

Conclusion

Wellness apps are a great way to stay on track and keep track of your wellness efforts and journey. I’ve tried all sorts over the years and after lots of trial and error, I’ve found some that have a permanent home on my phone. Not every app will be to everyone’s liking, but finding the right one can make your journey much more fun and interesting.

What about you? Have you tried any of these I’ve mentioned? Do you love them? Hate them? Have a better alternative or a favorite that isn’t on the list? Drop a comment and let me know!