30 widely used health and fitness apps

30 widely used consumer health and fitness apps

Health and fitness apps are becoming increasingly refined, and healthcare organizations are figuring how how to embrace their use by patients. It’s difficult to gauge the total number of apps designed for consumers—a couple years ago, the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics set the total number of mobile health apps at 165,000—given the rate of growth at the time, that number is closer to 200,000 now. Approximately two-thirds of apps are related to health and fitness.

Apps are increasingly being integrated to enable their use for a use well-rounded view of their health, diet and fitness goals—for example, Garmin Connect integrates with MyFitnessPal to enable a user to incorporate the calories burned during exercise to overall diet and weight reduction objectives. Apps also are enabling users to manage specific conditions, and helping them interact with healthcare organizations.

Here are some of the most popular apps, as well as a sampling of apps that are reinventing the way consumers seek healthcare.

ActiveX

Developer: Active Network

ACTIVEx provides customized Tabata workouts, training plans, weekly relevant content and a community of active people to help users reach goals. Users can build their own workouts with their favorite moves or take on training plans and challenges created by trainers.

http://activexapp.com/

Amwell

Developer: American Well

Amwell is an app that promises to bring affordable medical care to smartphones, enabling users to see a doctor in minutes. Amwell connects them to board-certified, experienced medical providers. Healthcare is now available, 24/7, with on-demand or scheduled appointments, often with next-day availability.

https://amwell.com/

The Apple Heart Study

Developer: Apple

In a cutting-edge use of the Apple Watch for medical research, Apple is partnering with Stanford Medicine to conduct research on irregular heart rhythms. Participation is easy, by just downloading an app. It can be used by any U.S. resident older than 22 using a recent iPhone and an Apple Watch Series 1 or later. After the app is downloaded, users are asked to give consent for participation. The heart rate sensor data provided over time will be collected by Stanford Medicine and Apple for research analysis.

https://www.apple.com/watch/apple-heart-study/

BetterMe Weight Loss Workouts

Developer: Genesis Development Partners

BetterMe is intended to help users achieve personal wellness objectives by building and modifying meal and workout plans. BetterMe enables users to benefit from the expertise of fitness and diet specialists. To build on the benefits of constant physical workouts, BetterMe offers a list of meal plans compiled on the basis of a user’s dietary habits and needs.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/betterme-weight-loss-workouts/id1264546236?mt=8

BlueStar

Developer: WellDoc

BlueStar is an FDA-cleared in-app diabetes coach developed by WellDoc. The vendor says using the app will enable those with diabetic concerns to lower their A1C and achieve diabetes health goals through BlueStar’s guidance, education, motivation and accountability. It is only available by prescription, and the software provides summarized data and analytics to a patient’s providers.

https://www.welldoc.com/product/

Calm

Developer: Calm

Calm is a popular app for mindfulness and meditation, intended to bring more clarity, joy and peace to users. It promises less anxiety and better sleep with guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs and relaxing music. Calm is the a meditation app suitable for beginners, but it also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users.

https://www.calm.com/

C25K (Couch to 5K run training)

Developer: Zen Labs

The program aims to take out-of-shape users off the couch and put them on the road to running a 5 kilometer race. It’s intended for inexperienced runners who are just beginning an exercise routine. The plan's structure prevents new runners from giving up and at the same time challenges them to continue moving forward. C25K starts with a mix of running and walking, gradually building up strength and stamina.

http://www.c25kfree.com/

The Diary Health App

Developer: The Diary Corp.

The Diary app for individuals provides personal health data tracking, survey completion and daily care reminders for improved health outcomes. It connects with a platform for medical care teams—The Diary CarePro—that provides an integrated system that supports care coordination with real-time communication between care teams and patients. The use of The Diary app requires users to have an account with an organization that uses The Diary CarePro.

https://thediary.com/

Doctors on Demand

Developer: Doctors on Demand

Available for users who want healthcare in virtual, remote settings. Users are able to connect quickly with board-certified physicians and doctoral-level therapists over live video. Just like an in-person visit, the doctor can take a user’s history and symptoms, then will perform an exam. It enables treatment of cold and flu, urinary tract infections, allergies, depression and anxiety, skin and eye issues, and more. It can be used in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

https://patient.doctorondemand.com/

Fitbit

Developer: Fitbit

Used by nearly 28 million consumers a month, the app is intended to pair with devices that measure several health parameters. Fitbit devices can track daily activity, workouts, sleep and more. The app can be used on its own to track basic activity and runs on a phone, or it can be connected with one of Fitbit’s many activity trackers and the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale to get a complete picture of health.

https://www.fitbit.com/app

Fooducate

Developer: Fooducate

Fooducate scans and grades foods based on their ingredients. The app is a one-stop dietary source that offers users a community of others trying to change eating habits and become smarter food consumers. It rates the quality of food, health values of products, and provides discussions, recipes and dietary tips.

https://www.fooducate.com/

Garmin Connect

Developer: Garmin

Garmin Connect is promoted as being a one-stop source for health and fitness data. When paired with a compatible Garmin device, activity tracking is just the beginning of what Garmin Connect can do. Users can create new workouts, build courses and even challenge friends to compete, all within the app.

https://connect.garmin.com/en-US/

GoogleFit

Developer: Google

Google Fit is a health-tracking platform developed by Google for the Android operating system. It is a single set of APIs that blends data from multiple apps and devices. An estimated 2.6 million active users take advantage of this app.

https://www.google.com/fit/

HealthTap

Developer: HealthTap

The app enables users to get instant answers and help from more than 108,000 top doctors right from their phones or tablets. Users also can pay for a virtual consult to video or text chat with a primary care doctor 24/7 or a doctor of choice during their virtual office hours.

https://www.healthtap.com/

Lifesum

Developer: Lifesum

Lifesum is a diet and food diary tracker that offers personal diet plans, a food tracker, a calorie counter and healthy recipes, all in one place. The developer says it can help users reach their health goals, enabling them to track small habits that can make a big difference in health achievements.

https://lifesum.com/

Livestrong MyQuit Coach

Developer: Livestrong.com

Livestrong MyQuit Coach is one of several apps that seeks to give users support, data and inspiration to quit smoking. The Livestrong.com team built the MyQuit Coach app that gives users a personalized plan to help them finally stop smoking.

https://www.livestrong.com/

Lose It!

Developer: FitNow

The developer contends that some 15 million users have lost nearly 70 million pounds using this app. Lose It! uses principles of calorie tracking to help users succeed—they just enter their profile details and goal weight, and the app calculates a daily calorie budget. Next, users track food, weight and activity.

https://www.loseit.com/

MDLive

Developer: MDLive

The MDLive Mobile App is intended to make connecting with a doctor fast, easy and convenient. In addition to medical and pediatric care, MDLive also offers behavioral health therapy services and psychiatry. The average wait time is less than 15 minutes to consult with a state-licensed, board-certified physician averaging 15 years of practice experience.

https://www.mdlive.com/

My Calendar Period Tracker

Developer: Abishkking

Period Calendar is an easy-to-use application that helps women keep track of periods, cycle, ovulation and fertile days. It can be used by those who are concerned about conceiving, birth control, contraception or regularity of period cycles, The tracker enables users to track irregular periods, weight, temperature, moods, blood flow, symptoms and more.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/period-tracker-period-calendar/id896501514?mt=8

My Fitness Pal

Developer: Under Armour

MyFitnessPal pairs an app and website to enable users to track diet and exercise to determine optimal caloric intake and nutrients for the users' goals. It uses gamification elements to motivate users. Users can either scan the barcodes of various food items or manually add them in the database of over five million different foods. It works with more than 50 devices and apps, enabling users to synchronize health data to third-party devices.

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Nike+ Running

Developer: Nike

Nike Run Club gives athletes everything they need to run better and more often, including GPS tracking of runs, audio-guided running workouts, weekly and monthly distance challenges, customized coaching plans that fit goals and adapt to a runner’s progress and motivation from friends.

https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/nike-plus/running-app-gps

PillPack

Developer: PillPack

PillPack is a pharmacy that aims to deliver a better, simpler experience. It aims to sort and deliver medications to users’ door at no additional cost. It’s a startup that hasn’t been widely used, but its future looks interesting—it was acquired earlier this year by Amazon, enabling the retail giant to have a way to sell prescription drugs in all 50 states.

https://www.pillpack.com/

S Health

Developer: Samsung

Samsung Health provides core features to help users keep their bodies fit and healthy. It records and analyzes daily activities and habits to help maintain successful diet and healthy lifestyles. Users can add and track various physical exercises and activities in a single step using the built-in trackers. The developer contends it helps to create a balanced lifestyle pattern by recording a variety of information like food, caffeine and water intake details.

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/samsung-health

Sleep Cycle

Developer: NorthCube

Sleep Cycle is an intelligent alarm clock that tracks sleep patterns and wakes users up in light sleep, which the developer contends is the natural way to wake up, feeling rested and energized. Sleep Cycle uses sound analysis in sleep tracking.

https://www.sleepcycle.com/

SweatCoin: Sweat for Coin

Developer: SweatCo

Sweatcoin converts a user’s steps into currency units called sweatcoins. Users can then spend them on goods, services and experiences on its marketplace with partners or exchange them with users’ friends and family. Sweatcoin uses a device’s HealthKit step history data to continuously improve its algorithms and provide users with better offers.

https://sweatco.in/

Sweat: Kayla Itsines Fitness

Developer: The Bikini Body Training Co.

Sweat is the personal training app featuring Kayla Itsines. It focuses on female health and fitness with education plus motivation from Kayla and other personal trainers. Together, Kayla Itsines, Sjana Elise Earp and Kelsey Wells join Sweat’s mission to help women live their best life through health and fitness.

https://www.kaylaitsines.com/

Sworkit

Developer: Nexercise Apps

Sworkit is billed as the workout program for people who have felt too busy to work out. Developers describe it as a top-rated fitness app based on the parameters for safety, stretching, progression and more set by the American College of Sports Medicine.

https://sworkit.com/

WebMD

Developer: WebMD

The app provides access to mobile-optimized health information and decision-support tools, including WebMD’s Symptom Checker, Drugs and Treatments, First Aid Information and Local Health Listings. The app also gives users access to first aid information without having to be connected wirelessly.

https://www.webmd.com/webmdapp3

The Wonder Weeks

Developer: Domus Technica

This app enables users to use notes to track a baby's progress. They can share baby Notes with family and friends, or even send the Notes to the user to re-read them later.

https://www.thewonderweeks.com/

ZocDoc

Developer: ZocDoc

The app enables users to find doctors, read real reviews, book appointments instantly and more. It can identify local doctors in the user’s insurance network and much more.

https://www.zocdoc.com/