The union between technology and the health and fitness industry is currently spreading its love all over our mobile phones. We’re talking about apps.

There are a lot on offer but before you walk down the aisle of the App Store, take a look at what’s most popular and our recommendations of which will be most helpful.

For fitness:

  • My Fitness Pal. This is a popular and widely used fitness app now owned by sport mega brand Under Armour. When they bought it in 2015, the app had 80 million users. Potentially the most useful feature is the app’s calorie counter
  • Map My Fitness. This app claims to the “number one training app” based on downloads. For us, it’s awesome because it syncs seamlessly with Facebook
  • Also worth a look is NTC – The Nike Training Club. This is a free app with a lot of great workouts compiled by their master trainers. It will make you sweat!
  • Moves. We’ve found this app a handy addition to the stable. It works when you aren’t so you can see just how many steps you’ve taken without even realising
  • Also notably, Men’s Fitness magazine recommends Simple Steps as its best “get off the couch” app. We can get on board with that

For health:

  • Don’t wait to see a Doctor the next day. If your regular GP is closed, use the House Call Doctor app to book an after hours Home Doctor.
  • Medicare. Do not forget about this app. Obviously, it’s free and it’s actually pretty slick. You can upload specialist receipts and make claims and have the refund deposited into your nominated bank account. If you really want to streamline things, we’d recommend a My Gov account
  • Does your gym have an app? You’re already paying a membership so check if they offer an app. Often they’ll sync with your calendar so you can set yourself reminders
  • What about your private health insurer? Again, this is an easy way to claim refunds
  • For the ladies, we highly recommend the app Clue. It’s free and it’s the best way to track your menstrual cycle. You can add notes about symptoms and it’ll keep a record for you to show your doctor
  • Men’s Fitness magazine also recommends de-stressing app Calm for its sounds of “babbling brooks and crashing waves”. Namaste.
    We’re all just so app happy
  • According to Flurry – an app analytics provider – there was a time a few years ago where the health and fitness industry carved out this sizable spot on our screens.

House Call Doctor App

In mid-2014 Flurry reported, growth in health and fitness apps was 87 per cent faster than the industry average. And the love affair with apps is not slowing down.

The growing trend now among developers is customisation. You’ve made the commitment to download their product, now they want to get personal.

In the future, we’ll see more apps yes, but we’ll also see more features. There will be more ways for you to interact with the products, feed it information about your habits and for it to help you interact with your existing social networks.

So let’s take a moment and make a toast. Here’s to you and your apps. We hope you have a beautiful, happy and most importantly, healthy, life together.