We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community which free health and fitness apps everyone should know about. Here's what they recommended:
1. YouFood
"Take pictures of everything you eat and log it on this app. You can follow other people and find new recipes. It holds you accountable, and they also have lots of little features like water tracking and goal setting. The community that I’ve connected with on this app is so wonderful and supportive, and it’s a great way to visualize your food and see how you can improve!"
2. Fooducate
"I can go to the grocery store and scan an item and the app will give me a letter rating based on its nutrition contents and ingredients. It will also list more nutritious alternatives to that product. This has made me more aware of the food I put into my body!"
"It's a calorie counter app with a huge database. It helps you get a better idea on what you’re actually putting into your body. 'Just a handful' of chips starts to add up if you do it a couple times a day."
4. MySugr
"This is great for diabetes management. It's simple, fun to use, and taming my diabetes monster encourages me to pay closer attention to my blood sugars and factors that can raise/lower it."
—Erika Ramaeckers, Facebook
5. DietBet
"I LOVE DietBet for losing weight. You can bet money that you’ll lose 4% of your body weight in a month, then split the pot with everyone who achieves that goal! It’s super fun and supportive!"
6. Flipp
"It isn’t explicitly for health and fitness, but seriously helps a lot when it comes to finding the best prices on healthy food from week to week. All you do is input your zip code and all of your local grocery ads are all in one easy, convenient place."
8. Happy Scale
"It helps you keep track of your weight by smoothing out fluctuations, and giving you small weight milestones to keep you motivated and remind you that you’re making progress."
9. Lose It!
"I’ve been using Lose It! It tracks your calorie intake and exercise, you can set a weight goal, and it helps you create a more realistic time span as well as a goal for daily and weekly calorie intake to reach your weight goals."
10. 8fit
"They test your fitness level and give you a plan. You won’t do the same fitness routine every day; they switch it up and offer free music! The app also teaches you how to do the exercises with 'how-to' videos. For someone who’s never worked out and is overweight and out of shape, this is perfect for beginners!"
12. Zombies, Run!
"You get a narrative, and change your pace according to the story. You can also change the settings based on if you're running outside or on a treadmill, and whether you want zombie attacks to occur — meaning you run faster more often. No greater motivation to get in shape than running from zombies!"
—Kate Gifford, Facebook
"Simple Workout Log is AMAZING for things like weight lifting, cross fit, or anything that includes routines, sets, and reps. I use it every time I go to the gym!"
—Aeryn La Mar, Facebook
14. Pact
"Pact is great if you have a hard time committing. You can earn money by completing your weekly workouts, and if you don’t make your target then you have to pay. You choose the amount you pay, though."
"It has specific workouts for newbies, pros, etc. It shows you how long the workouts are and how many calories you burn. If you don't know how to do a workout move (froggers for example) during the workout session, theres a video showing you how to do the moves. I like that they feature sport stars and well known trainers’ workouts that you can do yourself. You WILL feel the burn!"
16. Charity Miles
"You are able to donate to a charity of your choice each time you run (and walk too, I think)."
17. Workout Plan
"It’s a very underrated app that lets you enter very detailed workout plans. You can set it up by day of week, and when you initiate a workout in the app in real-time, it prompts your next exercise — great for weight lifting!"
18. Sworkit
"You can customize workouts and keep track of calories, plus you can decide how long to work out for and what Spotify station to listen to. I went ahead and bought the premium version of the app, something I never do — it was that good!"
19. Down Dog
"It always gives you a new [yoga] workout and the music is always perfect. The videos are easy to follow and the set times can help you from getting lost in the workout."
20. RackMath
22. Fitness Blender
"You can sort through the videos based on calories burned, length, difficulty, and type of workout (cardio, toning, cool down, etc.). The workouts are just as good as many classes offered by gyms, but they're 100% FREE! Plus many require little to no equipment and can be done in the privacy of your own home."
—Sarah Higgins, Facebook
23. C25K
"I absolutely recommend this app for anyone who wants to train for a 5k or just get into running. I started and thought the app was insane when it told me to run three minutes straight, but I followed it, and now I am almost done with the 10k version!"
Response in this post have been edited and condensed for clarity.