10 Best Fitness and Exercise Apps 2026

We’ve tested the best workout apps 2025 for at-home training

We hope that you’ve found a personal favorite among the best workout apps featured here today. If you’re more of a pen-and-paper type, check out these workout calendars you can download and print for free. It has step counters, provides calorie-burn calculations, heart rate monitoring, and more. You can set the duration of the workout, select what part of your body to focus on in each session, and check out your progress that connects to other health apps including Strava and Apple Health App. Many users are praising this app for intuiting their needs for a tool that helps them monitor their weight loss.

best fitness apps for lifestyle improvement

Wellness Apps to Improve Your Life

We chose these apps for their quality, user reviews, and overall reliability. Regular physical activity can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is some combination of too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, or high blood sugar. With a regular schedule of moderate-intensity physical activity, people start to benefit from even less than 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity. In terms of activity tracking, our tester found the ScanWatch 2 was limited, with no GPS tracking and only seven modes of activities available on the watch at one time.

How to choose the best running apps

The researchers looked at 30 popular fitness apps and found that overall, the rate of adherence to guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine was low. The authors found that only one app in the study scored higher than 50%. We looked at how easy the apps were to download and use, whether they were compatible with most of the best running watches on the market, and how motivating they were on days when we just didn’t want to run. This isn’t the best app for serious runners – there are no training plans or competitive running metrics, but if you want to make running with your local running club more fun, it’s a cool way to do that. The main plus with the Peloton app is its trainers – from Becs Gentry to Susie Chan.

FitOn: Fitness Workout Plans

best fitness apps for lifestyle improvement

“The instructor, Bianca, was beautiful, the setting amazing, music perfect. I’m absolutely hooked on her workouts,” a tester commented. Some workouts require equipment like a Pilates ball, resistance bands, or hand weights, but bodyweight-only options are easy to find. The app offers accessible fitness plans for different ability levels.

Free Healthbeat Signup

Visual learners, emotional wellness seekers, and journal-curious minds who’d want a guided, aesthetically pleasing self-reflection tool. Its minimalist design keeps things distraction-free while still feeling insightful. As you log your moods and entries, Reflectly generates emotional pattern insights, helping you notice trends in your well-being over time. On top of daily astrology readings customized just for you, you’ll also find guided meditations, journal prompts, and affirmations with which you can align with your higher self. All of this matters to people because astrology often resonates most during times of personal transitions and uncertainty, offering metaphorical guidance for self-reflection.

How we chose the best food tracking apps

It’s about finding the one (or maybe a few) that fit into your life in a way that feels good, not forced. Maybe you want to move more, eat better, or just check in with how you’re really feeling. There are guided meditations and bedtime stories, too, if you want a little extra help winding down. It doesn’t try to be complicated or overpromise—it just gives you tools to help your mind quiet down at night.

Best For Running: Nike Run Club

For more tips, check out our story on Everything You Need for Your Yoga Practice. There’s no pressure to be a “writer” or spill your soul—it’s just quick, clear, and personal. Instead of writing long journal entries, you just tap a mood, add what you did that day, and over time, you start to see patterns you might have missed. It’s perfect if you want to be a little more mindful and kinder to yourself during busy days. The design is clean and easy to use, and seeing your progress can be surprisingly motivating. If you’ve been lying awake with racing thoughts or just want to make your bedtime routine more relaxing, BetterSleep is a simple, soothing companion.

  • In terms of activity tracking, our tester found the ScanWatch 2 was limited, with no GPS tracking and only seven modes of activities available on the watch at one time.
  • If you’ve ever done a BodyPump class in your local gym, you’ll have been introduced to the world of Les Mills.
  • You can chat, call, or even do video sessions—whatever feels comfortable.
  • The best fitness app will depend on a person’s exercise goals, ability, and the type of exercise they would like to do.
  • While MacPherson recommends Obé for its strength offerings, you can also do cycling, HIIT, yoga, dance, mini trampoline, boxing, and power.
  • She holds a master’s degree in clinical nutrition from New York University, as well as advanced certifications as a Women’s Fitness Specialist and a Behavior Change Specialist.

Personify Health

This app was also featured as one of Healthline’s picks for the best fitness gifts. Healthline tester Anne Arntson originally paired the Peloton app with an Echelon Smart Connect bike to get in on the spin classes she was missing during the height of the pandemic. As she began testing some of the app’s other classes, she realized how much she enjoyed the range of class types and lengths available.

Best Wellness Apps to Improve Your Health, Sleep & Stress Relief in 2026

EvolveYouIf you’re someone who likes to mix up your workouts, alternating between cardio or weights, Pilates or HIIT, the gym, or workouts in your living room, EvolveYou is a workout app worth considering. Designed for women by personal trainer Krissy Cela, the app has six different trainers on board, all of whom have several different workout plans to choose from. workout app for weight loss The list includes hiking, canoeing, an e-bike rides, rowing, alpine skiing, swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, and yoga. Of course, it’s important to point out that there are no actual workouts on Strava, so unlike other apps on this list, don’t expect to follow a strength training session — this is an app for tracking your progress.

Best Wellness App for Weight Loss: Noom

There are themed runs for runners who want to have fun, we particularly loved the Disney run, and you can tailor the runs by time or your goal. The sessions were extremely motivating and were easy to follow even using an iPhone propped up against the screen of the treadmill. If you’re a runner who prefers to clock your miles indoors, finding an app that makes treadmill running more fun can be a challenge.

To top