In case you haven’t taken a (virtual) walk down the weight-loss aisle of the app store, here’s what you need to know: There are tons, and I mean tons, of free—if not inexpensive!—weight-loss apps on the market. And they can come in handy to help you develop consistent healthy habits (hey, you’re probably on your phone anyway, right?).
The best weight-loss apps can help users make more informed choices by highlighting areas that they could work on such as drinking more water, curbing late-night snacking, and simply getting more steps during the day, says Meredith Price, RD, a nutritionist in Brooklyn, New York.
By tracking stats from calories to sweat sessions, users are able to see their data and, thus, their overall progress, which for many people can be motivating and help hold them accountable—and there’s research to support this. Most recently, a 2019 paper found that people who tracked their food using MyFitnessPal lost more weight than those who didn’t use the app as diligently.
“However, the app is not going to do all of the work for you,” Price notes. “Just like with anything, hard work and dedication need to be put in.”
Ready to tap your way to better weight-loss results? Download one (or more!) of these expert-approved apps stat to start crushing your goals.
1. Fitbit
Best for: those just starting a fitness program
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Though you can totally pair it to your FitBit watch, you don’t need one to use the app. Instead, you can go directly onto the app to find free workouts like cardio and strength-training sessions, nutrition programs, and even meditation tracks. The app also makes it fun to get moving by allowing you to start challenges and share data with other friends on Fitbit.
If you do want to keep track of your stats as you go about your day, like say how many steps you’ve gotten in throughout the day, you should make sure you pair it with your phone or smartwatch. Elsie Senat, a NASM-certified trainer, says the app is specifically a great tool for beginners, who want to use fitness to meet their weight loss goals with daily walks or movement goals, since it makes it pretty easy to track of how many calories you’re burning during your workouts, your daily steps, and even your heart rate.
You can download the app for free access to audio and video workouts, but subscribing to Fitbit Premium will unlock an even great library of workouts and other features.
2. MyNetDiary
Best for: calorie tracker for people on specific diets like keto, low-carb, high-protein, etc.
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Keeping track of your food on MyNetDiary is a breeze, thanks to its database of over 937,000 foods. Not only can you easily add what you’re eating to the app, but it can also deliver hyper-specific nutritional information. The database has info on up to 37 nutrients, and it’s being continuously updated.
Senat says the app removes the guesswork of figuring out how you can get into a calorie deficit to lose weight by doing the math for you and tracking your nutrition. “Tracking your macros & calories during the initial phase of your weight and fat loss journey is so important because it teaches you what you are consuming in your body. Many people do not realize how much food they are consuming and how little nutrient-dense they are.” MyNetDiary gives you all of that info in a user-friendly format, so no need to try to figure out the science of losing weight on your own. One other cool feature of the app is that it can offer you diet tweaks if the data you’re putting in shows you’ve hit a weight loss plateau.
The app is free, but you can sign up for a premium subscription for access to more features like shareable reports and recipes.
3. Noom
Best for: learning what nutrients to add to your diet
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Noom is a weight-loss program with an accompanying app focused on helping you make behavioral changes by rating the foods you eat with a color, much like a traffic light: green, yellow, and red. In addition to food ratings, it also offers you educational info about how to create healthy habits and why some foods are ‘better’ than others.
Ella Davar, RDN, says she recommends the app for people who want to make healthier lifestyle choices. “I love that the app teaches users about various advanced topics like the pros and cons of coconut oil, benefits of apple cider vinegar or candida diet overview,” says Davar. “This app is focused on providing accountability and education, which is a great way to build healthy habits if the engagement level is high.”
The app also has a community component that allows you to talk to others on the diet in real time, in addition to Noom’s own health and wellness coaches. Though you can download the app for free, the paid tier is about $59 a month.
4. WW
Best for: community-based accountability
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What you’ll love about WW (Weightwatchers Reimagined) is that it’s a weight-loss system based on points, so no food is off limits. After taking a personal assessment, you’ll be matched with a food plan that’ll suggest food choices based on your preferences. You can use the app to track your points and foods, in addition to other aspects of your health like sleep, water intake, and activity.
Davar says she like the WW app because it connects you to other people on a similar journey. “I love that WW is focused on community building and provides a sense of support for dieters,” she says. The app has its own social media like feature integrated into it, where other people share their tips, setbacks, and even photos.
Plan subscriptions with access to the app start at $5.07 a week. But if you’re looking to learn more about making smart food choices, Davar says she would recommend another app or plan that focuses more on the quality of ingredients unlike WW’s point system.
5. SparkPeople
Best for: people just beginning their weight loss journey
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SparkPeople’s goal is to help you create a weight loss plan you can stick to. To use it, you input what food preferences and your weight loss goals are, and it’ll give you a custom meal plan you can track right on the app. Davar says the app is a good fit for people who don’t know where to start on their weight loss journeys, since you can find recipes and basic information about dieting on it.
For those who want to complement their changes in eating styles with some exercise, the app can also track your activity, including your sets and reps. You can even find exercise demos on the app from certified trainers if you’re looking for workout ideas.
The app is free to download, but will cost you $4.99 a month for a premium upgrade.
6. Fooducate
Best for: tracking your macros and nutrients
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Fooducate makes keeping track of the quality of your foods super easy. The app allows you to scan the barcode of whatever you’re eating to pull up info on that particular food’s nutrition. It’ll then assign it a grade-based rating that will clue you into how ‘healthy’ it is. In addition to a grade, the app also breaks down your food’s macro counts, and other nutritional information about its ingredients, like whether it’s made with added sugars, MSG, or other ingredients you might want to avoid.
Davar likes that you can also use the app to find recipe ideas, or other healthy food options. The app also allows you to track your sleep, mood, and hunger levels. It’s free to download, but does come with in-app purchases.
7. Nike Training Club
Best for: at-home workouts
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If fitness isn’t your strong suit, the Nike Training Club app makes it easy to find your flow by offering more than 185 free workouts for you to get moving to. The workouts range from HIIT sessions to work that’s a lower in intensity, like yoga. Senat says she loves the ease of use of the app, too. “I absolutely love this app. It’s is a one-stop shop for fitness and is perfect for home workouts. Plus it’s well-categorized, includes follow-along videos and has a built-in timer.” The app also offers you workout recommendations, so the more you use the app, the more those recs will feel relevant to you.
Though you can’t track calories on the app, it does offer nutrition guides from Nike Master Trainers, including info like recipes and recovery tips, and the best part is the app is free.
8. Cronometer
Best for: learning what nutrients to add to your diet
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While your days of keeping a diary to chronicle your ~crushes~ might be very much in the past, your time spent recording what you eat and when shouldn’t be, especially if you’re looking to shed a few pounds. That’s because food journaling can not only keep you more accountable but also help you see your eating patterns and in turn, motivate you to make better food choices, says Price.
That’s exactly why she recommends Cronometer, a food logging app with an extensive database of nutritional info and A+ visuals to help you understand all the info provided. Unlike lots of other food journaling apps on the market, this one stands out for its wide focus. It doesn’t just offer insights on calories and macros (key for keto-ers!), but it also gives a breakdown of vitamins and minerals, making it good for weight loss overall as well as learning what nutrients your diet might be needing, Price says.
9. Oh She Glows
Best for: adding more greens to your diet
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Brought to you from OhSheGlows.com, one of Price’s fave recipe blogs, this app is great for both plant-eating pros and newbies, as well as those looking to shed a few pounds. The unfortunate reality, according to Price, is that most Americans don’t get enough fruits and veggies in their diet. And for those trying to lose weight, this is particularly negative since these types of fiber-rich foods are known to help weight loss, Price explains.
This app makes it super easy to up your produce game thanks to its searchable archive of over 140 plant-based recipes, including 120 gluten-free options. Added bonus? The photos on the app are beautiful, which might encourage you to try something new, Price says.
10. MyFitnessPal
Best for: portion sizing and control
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You really can’t go wrong with this app, which offers a whole lot of bang for its totally free buck. That’s right: It’s one of the best free (!!) weight-loss apps out there. Sure, there’s in-depth calorie tracking (it has one of the largest databases of food around, coming in at a whopping 6 million items) but it also outshines other apps when it comes to understanding how the portions of food you eat each day stack up in comparison to one another.
Did you get enough protein? How much of the fat you consumed was saturated? Did you eat three times as many french fries as you should have? (No judgment, we’ve all been there.) The MyFitnessPal app can tell you all of that. For an even better understanding of portion control, Childress recommends heading to the MyFitnessPal blog, which has an easy-to-understand portion size guide.
11. Waterlogged
Best for: staying hydrated
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Whether your like yours with a little lemon (which, btw, won’t necessarily help weight loss) or stacked high with ice cubes, keeping up with water is key. And this is especially true when trying to shed a few pounds, as water “aids in digestion and can help fill us up too,” Price says.
But if some days seem to fly by without you throwing back enough H2O, this app’s got your back by allowing you to set sipping reminders throughout the day. “Clients who have used this app have had great success, not only with increasing their fluids, but then also seeing weight loss,” Price says. “You’ll also find that when you start drinking enough fluids, you have more energy!”
12. Lose It!
Best for: tracking calories
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Everybody needs a different amount of calories to maintain their weight depending on several factors (like age, sex, and level of physical activity).
The average woman needs anywhere from 1,600 to 2,400 calories every day, according to the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines. To lose weight, you have to trim that number of calories down; cutting out 250 to 500 calories each day may result in modest weight loss.
Bored yet? It’s okay—calorie-counting can be a real drag. I mean, who wants to do math after (or before) meals? That’s where an app that tracks calories for you really comes in handy. Input what you ate (or plan to eat) and let the app do all the calculations for you. For an app that lets you set a goal, track daily food and exercise, and connect to other fitness apps for comprehensive metrics, registered and licensed dietitian Allison Childress, PhD, recommends Lose It!.
“The premium version offers community support from other users, and another cool feature is that you can take a picture of your food and the app will bring up the nutritional information for it,” she says. Scanning bar codes is convenient, but uploading a pic of what you’re eating? That’s a piece of cake (sometimes literally!).
13. Sleep Cycle
Best for: managing your sleep
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If those pounds won’t budge, your sleep schedule and cycle could be to blame. That’s because, when it comes to weight loss, it’s about more than just calories in and calories out, says trainer Grayson Wickham, CSCS, founder of Movement Vault. It’s also about hormones, stress, and sleep.
Enter, Sleep Cycle. The app tracks your movement and sleep patterns to give you tips on how to improve your sleep quality, Wickham says. Plus, it uses that data to slowly wake you up when you’re in your lightest sleep phase, which is the most natural time to wake up.
14. Aaptiv
Best for: staying engaged with your workouts
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If the bags at your favorite kickboxing class have all been claimed and your favorite indoor cycling class is all booked, no sweat. Just download Aaptiv for on-demand audio classes.
Here’s how it works: The voice of a trainer will guide you through a fitness studio-style session with music that’s tailored to a wide variety of workouts. Whatever fitness vibes you’re feeling, Aaptiv has something for you, says certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist Jaime Mcfaden, CPT.
“I recommend Aaptiv to my clients because it lets them do their workouts wherever, whenever, and however they want,” Mcfaden says. “So if they want a long run outside one day, there are workouts like that, and if the next day they want a 10-minute strength class, Aaptiv has that, too,” It’s this combination of workouts that makes it such a powerful tool for members, since getting a well-rounded routine is key to achieving weight loss results, she adds.
Get started with a 30-day free trial.
15. Interval Timer
Best for: sweating with HIIT
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By now, you’ve probably heard the buzz: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the best ways to burn calories and shed weight. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t require a little bit of clock-watching. Which, as anyone who’s ever spent 20 minutes eyeing the seconds knows, can really take the fun out fitness.
“I recommend Interval Timer because it allows you to program the timer to match your workout so you don’t have to worry about counting the seconds on the clock. Instead, all you have to do it plug in your earbuds and stop every time the phone buzzes,” Alena Luciani, CSCS, founder of Training2xl, explains. So, for example, if you’re doing a Tabata sequence of 20 seconds on with 10 seconds rest for four minutes, you can program that in and the app will buzz when you’re meant to switch from your high to low interval and back again.
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