Best Health and Wellness Apps
Health and wellness are constantly on our minds here at Emerson. It comes with the territory of being a company that aims to help people live healthier lives. Of course, learning how to lead a healthier life isn’t just about what we eat, or the supplements we take — it’s also about how we choose to spend our time, what we do to maintain our physical health, and how we take care of our mental health.
Americans are much more sedentary than people in other parts of the world, at least in part because of the way our country is set up — we might live many miles away from our place of work and are unable to ride a bike or walk there. Our kids may live too far away from school to walk, and we may have to drive them. And therefore, we all have less time to devote to getting the per week (recommended for heart health).
And when we do have time, we’re tired. What we might prefer to do is fire up Netflix and lounge on the couch. But the importance of getting up and physically moving your body around cannot be understated. It’s literally a law of physics — a body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest. Even if you don’t like to exercise, you can move around and clean the house, or get outside and take a walk, and it all adds up.
To that end, we wanted to make some suggestions on how you can take conscious steps to leading a healthier, more active lifestyle. Here are 16 of the best apps for physical and mental health and wellness available today.
Best Healthy Lifestyle Apps
Harvest
We really like at Emerson. In fact, we’ve . Harvest helps you pick out produce at the grocery store (i.e. what does “ripe” mean for each fruit) and then tells you how to store it for maximum freshness once you get it home. (Are apples supposed to be kept in the fridge?)
It will also help you determine which produce is in season where you live, which will help you find better tasting, more nutrient-dense food year-round — and as any chef will tell you: the food you make is only as good as the ingredients you use.
Additionally, the app shows you a general pesticide level for each type of produce, so if you’re trying to decide whether or not organic produce is worth the extra price, you’ll have information here to help you make a better decision.
Price: $1.99 to download
Cronometer Nutrition Tracker
Food journaling often comes up in conversations about wanting to lose weight, but it’s helpful in far more ways than that. The practice of food journaling can be a powerful tool that helps you become aware of your eating habits (whether they’re good or bad), identify essential nutrients that may be missing in your diet, and give you insight into what works and doesn’t work for your body to feel it’s best.
There are a lot of food trackers out there, but is one of the best. You can add your own foods or recipes, set macronutrient targets, and access trends that monitor your dietary habits over time. But perhaps one of the best features is the ability to scan barcodes during your smartphone’s camera. People love this app so much that it has almost 10,000 reviews in the App Store and gets 4.8 stars.
Price: App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
MyFitnessPal
(now owned by Under Armor) is arguably one of the most popular food tracking and fitness apps. You can log your food, keep track of your macros, get healthy recipes, look for workouts, track your exercise, and even sync it up to your favorite fitness tracker. If having a community keeps you on track, MyFitnessPal provides that too, with access to their massive community of users.
The app itself is very easy to use, and gets easier the longer you use it because the app learns you. It knows the foods you commonly eat, and it will suggest them to you. If you eat the same breakfast every morning, it will suggest it, and you can even personalize your own meals complete with nutrition information.
Price: App is free to download, with premium features available for an additional price.
Fitbit
If you already have a , this health and wellness app is a no-brainer. The Fitbit app has vastly improved and added new features in the past few years, including personal training (with their premium membership), sleep scores, more accurate caloric burn data, and even period tracking (with ovulation estimates).
Price: App is free to download, with premium features available for an additional price. Trackers start at $69.95.
EWG Healthy Living App
The (EWG) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization on a mission to help people live healthier lives while lessening the impact on the environment. EWG has a really great tool called that helps people determine what the ingredients are in their personal care products. Their app takes things a step further.
The app allows you to scan food labels and cosmetics using the camera on your smartphone, and then gives you information to help you make an informed decision about that specific product, or another that might be a better option. This is a great way to stay mindful of what you’re putting in your body while you’re on-the-go.
Best Wellness Apps
99 Walks
“If there was one thing you could do to help you lose weight, think better, be happier and live longer, would you do it?” That’s the question Joyce Shulman, founder of asks in her eight-minute TEDx Talk titled . During the talk, she shares stories and science on how the simple act of lacing up your sneakers and walking out the door can do all of that and more — and when combined with the social aspect of walking with friends, the effect is amplified.
99 Walks is a monthly walking challenge app that inspires you to get up, , and crush your walking goals. The app provides all the tools you need, including a walk tracker, daily walking classes, team support, and a welcoming and motivational community of like-minded women.
Given that a brisk walk is one of the (it’s easy on your joints, but gets your heart rate up), 99 Walks can help you get some exercise while you decompress after a rough day. This is such a great wellness app, and it’s even better with friends.
Price: $16/month
BetterSpaces
is a wellness app designed to improve work life through community. At a time in our lives when a lot of people are shifting to a remote work model (whether part-time or full-time), apps like BetterSpaces can keep coworkers connected through interactive events, keep their bodies moving through yoga classes, and help manage racing minds through meditation.
In order to encourage teamwork and comradery among coworkers, the makers of BetterSpace offer three suggestions:
- Have a daily check-in with the whole team (or work group) during which people can talk about their plans for the day (if it’s the morning), what they accomplished that day (if it’s the afternoon), or what their plans are for the evening. This is something that would naturally happen in the office, but that we miss out on when we’re not in the same room together.
- Encourage coffee dates among coworkers. This is an activity that might occur naturally when people need to get out of the office for a moment, or need an afternoon pick-me-up. Instead, they can do it virtually and in the comfort of their own homes.
- Encourage employees to schedule exercise or wellness activities in their calendars. By putting their lunchtime walk into their daily activities for all to see, they’re not only making it a priority, but setting a boundary by showing others that they won’t be available during that time. That’s their own private time to recharge and they should be allowed to do so without a barrage of texts or phone calls.
Price: Varies
Wellevate®
In a piece about health and wellness apps, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Emerson Ecologics app for . If you’re already familiar with our Virtual Dispensary® platform, this name should sound familiar to you.
Currently, we’re the only online supplement dispensary that offers a mobile app to keep practitioners connected with their patients. Patients love it because they have easy access to the exact supplements their practitioner recommends, and practitioners love it because they don’t have to keep inventory around and hope that it doesn’t expire before someone buys it — no overhead and no startup costs.
The Wellevate app offers over 300 premier brands always in stock and ready to ship directly to patients. Practitioners can keep everything organized by listing dosage recommendations for each supplement, and patients can place orders directly from there, so there’s never any confusion about purchasing the right product.
We may be biased, but we’re very proud of the Wellevate mobile app and have received quite a bit of positive feedback from practitioners and patients, alike. We’d love for you to check it out.
Best At-Home Exercise Apps
YouTube
You may be surprised to hear this, but is actually a really great resource for people in need of . The YouTube app has thousands of workout videos at your fingertips 24 hours a day, no matter what kind of fitness you’re into — yoga, dance, high intensity interval training, or weight training.
If the gym isn’t an option for you and money is tight, YouTube is truly one of the best places you can turn to.
Price: Free!
Peloton
You might be familiar with the Peloton name because of the infamous bike ads. What you might not realize is that that is entirely separate from their bikes and treadmills.
The Peloton app has thousands of workouts ranging from strength training to yoga to outdoor running. No matter what you like doing, you’ll have tons of guided support via enthusiastic instructors who will undoubtedly get you hyped up for your workout.
Price: Free to download, 30-day free trial before $12.99/month membership fee begins
Glo
is both a mental health and physical wellness app that offers meditation, yoga and pilates classes. If you love yoga and pilates, but really need guided instruction in order to enjoy the practice, Glo is perfect for you. And with over 4,000 classes offered by over 50 different teachers, you’re not likely to get bored.
Price: App is free to download, membership is $18/month
Best Mental Health Apps
BetterHelp
It seems as though is everywhere these days — on TV, on podcasts, on our digital advertisements. This mental health app offers professional, confidential counseling through more than 8,000 licensed professionals to individuals, couples, and teens.
When you sign up, you answer a few questions and then BetterHelp matches you with a counselor that matches with your largest areas of concern or , such as divorce, depression, death of a loved one, or childhood trauma. If you don’t like your counselor, you can ask for a new one at any time — no penalties or questions from the counselor you dropped.
Once you’re matched up, you can decide how you’d like to conduct your therapy, whether that’s over the phone, live video, or messaging. Regardless of which method works best for you, you can message your therapist at any time.
Price: App is free to download, service ranges from $40-$70 per week (billed monthly)
Calm
One of the most popular meditation apps available is . Calm offers , , which are — without a doubt — one of the coolest things to experience as an adult, and some to help you live a more intentional life.
Sleep stories are adult bedtime stories meant to lull you to sleep the way your parents used to when you were little. Well-known celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, Laura Dern, and Nick Offerman have lent their voices for Calm’s sleep stories. You can try a couple of them for free, but the rest require the paid membership.
Price: App is free to download, but most content requires a paid membership after a free trial
Headspace
has been making plenty of headlines as meditation has come to the forefront as a way for people to calm their minds, ease their anxiety, and live more intentionally. It’s very popular, and for very good reasons.
Not only does Headspace provide a daily guided meditation, but they offer for users (and potential users) to learn more about meditation, including , and sleep sounds and bedtime exercises to help you .
Whether you’re new to meditation or a seasoned vet, Headspace is a great mental health app.
Price: App is free to download, subscriptions begin at $12.99/month (cheaper when billed annually) after a one-week free trial. Headspace also offers special student and family pricing.
Lyf
Not everyone has a strong support system around them. In fact, some people have almost no one at all. If you’re in need of a group of people to stand (virtually) beside you, is a good addition to your mental health app load.
Lyf’s values are based on community, growth, and self-care, and they really put their money where their mouth is. This virtual support group app provides a place where you can find like-minded communities, psychologists who can help support you (confidentially), and generally help you feel a little bit less lonely.
Price: App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
DiveThru
While many of us stop journaling after our angsty teenage years, it’s a very effective tool for processing thoughts and feelings. But if you’re not the type to sit down and write down what’s in your head, there’s a mental health app for that.
Enter: , a guided journaling app that helps you “DiveThru what you go thru” via guided journaling exercises created by mental health professionals. They even have a private Facebook group you can join with other DiveThru users.
We really can’t say enough about the positive impact of journaling. Journaling helps prioritize problems, fears, and concerns. It can help you recognize personal triggers and learn better ways to control them. Journaling provides an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts.
Price: App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
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