The Apple App Store launched a new collection of apps called Healthy Living Essentials this year. The list is made up of three different sections -- training, eating and progress -- with five apps in each section.
Some apps might look familiar because they were featured in Apple's list of best new health apps for 2014, but others are new to app store's wellness app collections. One significant move by Apple was including three vegetarian apps in its "eating" section of the collection. Also, more than half the apps are paid. In the "progress" section, Apple chose to include Nike+ Running, which was only unusual because Nike's other new app, Nike+ Move, uses Apple's M7 motion coprocessor, an important new component of Apple's newest smartphones.
MobiHealthNews has compiled the 15 apps from the App Store's Healthy Living Essentials list below.
Training: "These apps offer a wide range of customized workouts, giving you a portable personal trainer that'll motivate you wherever you go." --Apple's App Store
This app is targeted at the female Nike user base and offers 100 workouts from “Nike Master Trainers” and athletes including tennis player Maria Sharapova.
Users can choose individual workouts, or select a targeted, structured four-week program which will either help users get lean, toned or strong. The app also lets users stream music from their smartphone’s music library. The app is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.
FitStar: Tony Gonzalez -- Freemium
Although the FitStar fitness app is free to download, users have to pay for almost everything else in the app. The top in-app purchase is a monthly membership to FitStar Premium for $4.99 per month. The next most popular is an annual membership to FitStar Premium, which costs $29.99. Users can also purchase specific exercise programs, such as the Get Lean Program or the Get Strong Program.
All programs and memberships offer users a series of workouts that they can personalize or share on social media.
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App -- Free
The 7 Minute Workout App prompts the user to enter his or her fitness level so that the Smart Workout feature can offer the user a more personalized experience. At the end of the workout, the app prompts the user to explain how difficult or easy it was and from there, the app uses an algorithm to predict what kinds of exercise routines could be used next time. Workouts span 20 different intensity levels and the company said the app is suitable for beginners all the way up to professional athletes. Within the app, a user can also control his or her iTunes library.
After users first put their fitness level into the app, the Smart Workout feature not only provides a varied workout program, but also recommends intensity increases.
This app is modeled after workouts created by Mixed Martial Arts World Champion Georges St-Pierre (GSP). Workouts focus on techniques taken from gymnastics, bodyweight exercises and high intensity interval training. Touchfit also personalized workouts so that each new workout is an improvement on the last based on feedback from the user.
The app also offers nutrition guides based on advice from a nutrition coach, Dr. John Berardi, with information on supplements and what to eat when recovering from an injury.
Popsugar Active helps users do video workouts and picture tutorials from anywhere. Users can download videos to watch offline or online and schedule workouts in an in-app calendar so that they can stick to a routine. Some workouts included on the app are Booty Burn With Victoria’s Secret Model Trainer, 10 Minutes to Tank-Top Arms, and Yoga For Back Fat, but other videos are added every week.
There's also a search function so users can find videos based on any time constraints that they have.
Eating: "Improve your diet and ensure you're eating the right food with detailed guides to healthy cooking and smart nutrition." -- Apple's App Store
The app description explains this app doesn't want to convert someone from one diet to another, but instead encourage the user to eat more fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Users can choose from over 49 recipes currently included with the app. There's at least one in-app purchase -- a holiday recipe pack for $1.99. All recipes, the description writes, were created with the intention of bringing the user better digestion, improved sleep, and balanced moods.
If users like a recipe, they can share the recipe with friends or save them within the app. The Whole Pantry also made sure to include recipes for vegetarians, vegans, and those who cannot eat gluten.
Vegetarian How to Cook Everything -- $9.99
This is the app version of New York Times columnist Mark Bittman's cookbook. Like the book, this app offers 2,000 vegetarian recipes and cooking guidance. Users can browse recipes using search filters, create shopping lists, use built-in timers, and email up to 10 recipes a month to friends.
The app also has an iPad version with exclusive features including bookmarking recipes, accessing a notes tab attached to each recipe, a "constant on" setting to make sure the screen doesn't go dim while cooking, and a how-to section with illustrated tutorials.
The Photo Cookbook - Vegetarian -- $3.99
This app is "like a private cooking class in your own kitchen with an experienced chef who explains the preparation process", according to the description.
Every step and direction in the process, including the ingredient list is accompanied by a picture of what the food should look like at that point. In the app, there are 60 vegetarian recipes divided into four different categories: soups and appetizers, salads and light meals, family meals, and special occasions. Users can also email recipes that they like to friends.
Green Kitchen offers users vegetarian recipes with a "bare minimum of gluten, sugar and dairy products". The app also lets users filter out recipes that are vegan or gluten. The app runs on both iPhones and iPads, offers over 96 recipes, and provides step-by-step cooking instructions. Each recipe marks whether it is vegan, focused on raw food, gluten free, sugar free, or whole grain.
This app, developed by fitness app maker Runtastic, provides users with different quizzes to teach them which beliefs about nutrition, fitness, diet and health are myths, and which aren't. The app will answer various questions about health and fitness, for example 'Is wheat bread healthier than white bread?', 'Does non-alcoholic beer contain alcohol?', and 'Does restless sleep lead to weight gain?'.
The app boasts more than 600 different facts and myths. Users can take quizzes, challenge their friends, or view facts in a browsing mode. The app also offers a user statistics on how much they know about health and fitness based on how they do on the quizzes. Runtastic also offers a lite version of this app.
Progress: "With beautiful and easy-to-use progress trackers, it's easier than ever to monitor your diet and maintain a good exercise routine." - Apple's AppStore
This app aims to appeal to every kind of runner, from the user who wants to make a new marathon time to the runner who is running his or her first race. The app helps users get guidance and training from the virtual Nike+ Coach that offers training programs and daily workouts. The app also tracks the user's progress in distance, pace, and time. When users have information they want to share or want to compete with friends, they can access Nike's social community.
Argus by Azumio tracks fitness and nutrition by passively monitoring activity levels and helping user manually enter food, caffeine and water intake into the app. Users can also take a picture of their meals to track what they are eating throughout the day. The app also has an instant heart rate monitor that uses the phone's flash to check the user's pulse.
Lifesum tracks nutrition and fitness choices to help the user improve his or her habits. The app is free to download, but to use the app, the user needs a membership, which costs $14.99 for three months of use and $35.99 for a year of use with many variations in between.
The app offers diet plans, weight plans, a food and exercise tracker, a barcode scanner, integration with fitness tracking companies like RunKeeper, Moves, and Withings, a journal to help the user stay motivated, and Facebook sharing capabilities.
Moves automatically tracks a user's exercise and commute passively and without using as much battery as when the GPS is tracking movements. The app can identify walking, cycling and running and recognizes common places the user goes every day. It plots the user's routes on a map and shows how many calories were burned for each activity.
Moves uses the GPS sparingly and instead uses data from the phone's accelerometer, cell towers and WiFi locations to create routes for the user's day.
Fitocracy provides users with workouts that the app will track. Every workout, users earn points and beat quests to get to new fitness levels. The app also offers a community to users can interact with others who are trying to improve using the program. Fitocracy also syncs with RunKeeper for those that don't want to just do Fitocracy workouts.
