The benefits of fitness go on and on, but you need consistency and discipline in order to stick with a routine long enough to reap those benefits. That's where technology can help. The right app can act as a virtual personal trainer or training partner to keep you motivated and accountable.
Healthline looked high and low for the best fitness apps to help you out, and we chose the year's winners for their quality, user reviews, and overall reliability. Find one that suits your needs, and get your fitness on.
iPhone rating: 4 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free
The Fitbit app isn't just for counting steps. Use it to track stats like calories burned and active minutes, monitor your heart rate, record workouts, log your food, measure hydration, see how you sleep, and much more. The goal is enjoying a healthier, more active life, and the Fitbit app syncs wirelessly to computers and more than 200 other devices to make that happen.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: $2.99
Get off the couch and on the road with the official Couch to 5K training app. Commit 20 to 30 minutes three times a week for nine weeks, and you'll be ready for your first 5K.
Choose your virtual coach for audio cues during training, calculate your pace and distance, map your routes, listen to your favorite tunes, and check out your progress as the days pass. If you've always wanted to be a runner, this is a great place to start.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free
Map My Run is a great app for tracking and mapping all your runs, but it doesn't stop there. Use it to log more than 600 activities like cycling, walking, gym workouts, cross training, yoga, and many others. Use the Gear Tracker to track mileage on your shoes, find nearby places to run, and connect with more than 400 devices to import and analyze all your data.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Fitness Buddy is like a virtual personal trainer and nutritionist in one, with hundreds of workouts you can tackle at home or at the gym, plus personalized meal plans and recipes. All exercises feature clear instructions and videos, and progressive workout plans make this ideal for beginners or advanced lifters.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free
BodySpace is a social fitness platform that combines the benefits of virtual personal training with the world's largest online fitness community. Pick a training program or start with the perfect workout, and track all of your stats to monitor your progress. Meet and follow fellow BodySpace fans to stay motivated and connected.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Ditch the notebook — the JEFIT Workout Planner is a faster, smarter way to track your training at the gym. Use the workout planner to create your own fitness plans and routines specific to your goals, browse the exercise database for inspiration and detailed exercise instructions, and check out your gains to stay motivated.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
The ASICS Runkeeper app is designed to help you reach your running goals. You can track all your runs, set measurable goals, and review your stats to enjoy the results of all that hard work.
Six motivating voices can be customized to relay your pace, distance, and time, and personalized plans make you more likely to get up and out the door, day in and day out. Use the in-app challenges to stay motivated, and participate in virtual running groups for support and inspiration.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free
Charity Miles is a fun app for helping yourself stay fit — while also helping others. Earn money for charity when you walk, run, or bike. Choose one of over 40 charities, and start and stop the app to track your distance. Members of Charity Miles have earned over $2.5 million for charity so far, and the app is a wonderful reminder to appreciate your own health.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Superstar trainer Jillian Michaels will whip you into shape with her app, which features personalized health, fitness, and diet plans. Get moving with more than 800 exercises shot in HD video, and multiple premium customized workout programs. You can choose fitness levels, swap or ban exercises, adjust transition times, and select available equipment. Plan meals for the whole family with the app's robust meal planning section, and enjoy daily customized health tips from Jillian herself.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Abs are made in the kitchen, and MyFitnessPal can help you dial in that nutrition so you can really see the results of all your time in the gym. With a huge food database, barcode scanner, recipe importer, restaurant logger, calorie counter, and food insights, you'll have a comprehensive idea of your nutrition.
Choose a goal — weight loss, weight gain, and weight maintenance — and let MyFitnessPal help you build healthy habits to reach it. Log your exercise and steps, and get support and motivation from the active forums.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Beginners and 5K runners working up to a 10K will find guidance with the 10K Runner app. Go from zero to a 5K in eight weeks, and from a 5K to a 10K in another six weeks.
Use the app to alternate walk/run intervals, run segments that gradually increase over time, get audio guidance from a virtual coach, and to pump your favorite running tunes. Whether you're training outside or on the treadmill, 10K Runner is simple, easy, and effective.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Runtastic makes it easy to track distance, time, speed, elevations, and calories burned — all the stats that matter. A Voice Coach offers audio feedback, and saved statistics make it easy to analyze your training patterns for motivation and improvement. Plug in a yearly running goal and Runtastic will help you get there.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
This robust calorie counter also tracks fitness and features customized workouts. Use the enormous nutrition and calorie database to count calories and plan healthy meals, and check out all the exercise demos and health and fitness articles.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Exercise is only half the equation. Learn how to eat for health with Fooducate, a comprehensive nutrition and health tracker. Scan barcodes and nutrition labels, and let the app show you what you're really consuming. You can also track food intake and exercise, personalize the app for a more relevant experience, and even track sleep, mood, and hunger levels to better understand your own patterns.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Instead of telling you to move more and eat less, Noom uses a psychology-based approach to identify the thoughts and triggers that affect you. Then it creates a personalized plan to help you build healthy new habits. Learn how to navigate your environment, master your triggers, and overcome barriers that have held you back from weight loss or better health.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
This app is a handy guide to the great outdoors, featuring hiking, running, and biking trails all around the world. With more than 60,000 curated trail maps, plus reviews and crowdsourced photos, you'll find a perfect trail no matter where you are. Detailed GPS directions get you right where you need to go, and you can add trails to your bucket list and save your favorites.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: $4.99
If the mountains are calling and you must go, PeakFinder makes it easy. See names and 360° panorama displays for more than 650,000 peaks around the world. The 'show me' function for visible peaks helps you identify local mountains. The app also features solar and lunar orbit with rise and set times. Plus, it works offline and worldwide.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
If you have seven minutes a day to commit to fitness — anytime, anywhere, no equipment needed — Seven can help you see results. With workouts based on scientific studies, this app is designed to get you the maximum benefit in the shortest possible time. Just choose a goal — getting fit, losing weight, or getting strong — to get started.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free
Chris Jordan, director of exercise physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, created a fast, simple, science-based way to make every minute count. If finding time for fitness is challenging, this app can help. Use the workout library with its 22 preset workouts of varying intensity and duration — from 7 to 32 minutes — or create custom workouts. With 72 exercises, you can create more than 1,000 variations so you'll never get bored.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Get started on a six-week program to get leaner, fitter, or stronger. Sworkit has plans for beginners, intermediate, and advanced exercisers, and the huge database of bodyweight exercises means you can work out anywhere — no weights or gym membership required.
iPhone rating: 4 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Fitbit Coach offers dynamic workouts that adapt to your feedback, goals, and abilities. With bodyweight and running or walking workouts made just for you, the app is designed to move you steadily to your personal fitness goals. Customized coaching videos explain exercises step by step and offer motivation and tips. With hundreds of exercises for different body parts, you can keep your workouts fresh.
If you want to nominate an app for this list, email us at nominations@healthline.com.
Jessica Timmons has been a writer and editor for more than 10 years. She writes, edits, and consults for a great group of steady and growing clients as a work-at-home mom of four, squeezing in a side gig as a fitness co-director for a martial arts academy.