What are the best diet and fitness apps?

Type 'diet' into Google play store and you’ll get over 1.6 million results. That’s a hell of a scroll to find the best diet app.

Tech companies and nutritionists agree there's huge potential for the role of technology in addressing the obesity crisis. While more health apps spring up every day, scientists have been investigating if they work and why for more than a decade.

The results have been… mixed.

There’s no shortage of creativity. There are hundreds of apps for every style of diet – low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb, keto, vegan, Atkins, even the military diet. Some have integrated bar-code scanners, heart-rate monitors and step counters. Some are utilitarian and some are games.

One group of nutrition scientists developed a mobile game app to help people fight temptation in a supermarket simulation, like a reverse Pac Man where you don’t eat the sugar dots. After daily use for 6 weeks, people who had previously experienced strong sugar cravings lost an average 3.1 percent of their body weight.

Do apps work at all?

In the few mass-market app evaluations, the results are generally positive. A 2018 study published in the journal Nature examined data collected by one of the best-selling apps over 18 months. Of the nearly 36,000 participants included in the analysis, 78 percent reported a decrease in body weight when they used the app for an average of 9 months. While the amount of weight each individual lost varied from modest to dramatic, the results are compelling.

But this does not mean diet apps are a silver bullet. One 2017 US survey of 1,600 people showed that those who had downloaded health apps reported they were in “good or excellent health”. In other words, people who stand to benefit from health apps aren’t downloading them.

Several studies have shown that apps are more effective for men and younger users. The 2018 study in Nature found that going to the trouble of converting your food intake into calories does not help you lose weight (this is probably good news as you don't need to bother!).

Ratings guidance

Popularity, ratings and reviews may be no indication of whether apps are likely to work. A 2015 analysis in the American Journal of Medicine mapped 19 of the most popular and highly recommended diet and fitness apps against a list of must-have features for creating successful behavioural change. The best of the best only contained about 20 percent of the recommended features.

There is no quality mark that ensures health apps have an evidence-based approach, professional medical oversight or accurate data. At their worst, dieting apps may induce feelings of guilt and frustration, give dangerous diet advice or encourage eating disorders.

Before you download an app, research healthy weight-loss plans so you can side-step fad diet apps. The NHS regularly updates its reviews of top diets. If you have an underlying health condition, talk to your doctor about changing your diet.

What should you look for in a diet app?

• Look for an app with a free trial version. Increased stress and frustration from bad design or buggy technology can make you give up. Give it a 3-day road test before starting in earnest. The app should be easy to start up and use and reliable.
• Choose an app that lets you set goals and monitor your progress. Setting small, achievable goals will give you more moments of success. Look for an app that gives you progress reports over time for maximum motivation.
• You should be able to track your weight and what you eat, but you may not need to track every bite. When using an app, the most successful dieters are likely to be those who most frequently record what they have for dinner (not calorie counts), when they exercise and their weight, according to research. Don’t give up if it feels overwhelming. Just keeping track of weight helps fight the yo-yo effect.
• A good app will teach you about nutrition and the benefits of healthy eating and encourage regular exercise.
• Sharing your goals with others is a proven method for success. Look for an app that has a social support area to connect with other people or, at best, one-to-one expert consultation.
• A good app will provide real-time personalized feedback when you input information and will send you reminders to stay on track.
• Choose an app that's tailored to the individual. They can be customized to your skill and fitness level. If you have an underlying health condition, use an app that takes this into account. Taste and culture are just as important – if an app made in California doesn’t have information on the foods you eat in Norfolk, it may not be very helpful.
• A good app will sync with other health and fitness apps you have, such as wearable activity monitoring devices. Anything to ease the tracking process will smooth the way to long-term use.

Sticking to using an app for the long term is critical to success. Slow, sustained changes to your diet are much more manageable and long-lasting than extreme short-term changes. Beware any fast weight-loss solutions!