Best Physical and Mental Health Apps Available in 2022

Wearables, tracking devices, apps, online classes—technology can be a powerful tool for maintaining our physical and mental health. And there's no shortage of apps, programs, and devices available to help out. 

Whether you're looking for a fitness tracker, a stress management tool, or a habit-building app, you'll find plenty of options to help you stay healthy in 2022. Read on to learn more about some of our favorites. 

Best Physical Health Apps

You may go for the occasional run and eat the odd salad—but staying healthy is more than that. It's a lifelong commitment that starts with making healthy choices every day. 

But we live in a fast-paced world where convenience often trumps health, and it can be all too easy to let healthy habits slip. Here's where health apps can play a valuable role. With more customized approaches, coaches, personalized help, and real-time data, health apps are changing how we approach our wellbeing. 

These apps can help you stick to your goals and make better lifestyle choices by providing reminders and motivational messages. They can also track our progress and provide valuable feedback. So, if you're looking to get fit and improve your wellbeing, it's a good idea to pick from the following:

1) Nutrisense

The Nutrisense app works with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to provide insights into blood sugar management. Nutrisense utilizes CGM technology to identify individual glucose trends over time to help you determine what choices affect your blood glucose levels and how. 

By providing real-time data on blood sugar levels, CGMs allow users to make informed decisions about their lifestyle and dietary habits. The best part is that you also receive one-on-one in-app support from a credentialed dietitian or nutritionist when you sign up for one of their commitment programs. 

Unique Features

• This app provides you with actual data from your body from wearable devices called CGMs.
• It's the only app on this list that constantly tracks your body's real-time responses to food, sleep, and exercise. 
• This data can help you identify patterns and make necessary changes to your diet and lifestyle. 

Pros

• Easy to use and powerfully connected to your body via wearable CGM technology. 
• Includes a food diary to track what foods affect your blood glucose trends.
• There are educational resources about nutrition and diabetes management.
• You can work with a credentialed dietitian or nutritionist from Nutrisense’s Nutrition Team for additional support.
• Nutrisense pulls it’s nutritional information from Nutritionix, which is the largest grocery database on the planet, with coverage for over 92% of grocery items in the U.S. and Canada

Cons

• You receive initial access to the app as part of a paid subscription to the CGM Program.
• You need to change your wearable CGM sensor every two weeks to continue tracking blood glucose data in the app. 

2) Healthtap

HealthTap is a free health app that allows you to track fitness goals, set up reminders for doctor's appointments, and get tips from certified doctors. 

You can also use the app to find nearby health clinics and pharmacies. You'll be surprised at how much easier staying healthy is when you have all this information right at your fingertips.

Unique Features

• You can consult with a doctor via video or text chat.
• HealthTap's health feed provides personalized content based on your symptoms, medications, and health condition.
• It allows you to share your data with your doctor.

Pros

• The app offers articles, videos, and tips from doctors on various health topics.
• The app can track your vital signs, medications, and activity level.
• Doctors can answer your questions, provide diagnosis and treatment options, and prescribe medications without an office visit.

Cons

• Insurance does not cover the Prime plan.
• You sometimes have to pay out-of-pocket for prescriptions.
• Lab work is only available through the app in the USA.

3) MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is a free health app that tracks track diet, exercise, and weight loss. The app provides users with a calorie calculator and food database and the ability to track their water intake and set fitness goals. 

MyFitnessPal also offers a premium subscription that gives users access to additional features, such as detailed nutrient analysis and progress tracking. 

Unique Features

• Logs your exercise to determine how many calories you have burned and how many you need to eat.
• It’s uniquely designed to help you reach your fitness goals.

Pros

• MyFitnessPal has detailed nutrient analysis and progress tracking.
• It helps you track your goals over long periods.
• You get immediate feedback from the app.

Cons

• It may encourage working with fad diet plans.
• Using the app can be time-consuming and may not be instinctively user-friendly for those just starting their health journey.

4) Apple Health

The Apple Health app (built into your iPhone) is a powerful tool that can help you track and manage many aspects of your health and wellness. This versatile app monitors a wide range of information, including sleep patterns, physical activity, nutritional intake, blood pressure, and heart rate. 

Unique Features

• One of the main features of the Apple Health app is its ability to record data from various fitness trackers and wearables.
• It connects to other devices that monitor things like heart rate and blood pressure, allowing you to accurately measure how these different aspects of your health progress over time.

Pros

• You can easily log food items consumed throughout the day.
• You can log fitness activities that impact your overall fitness goals (and if you have a wearable tracker, it will log automatically),
• It offers a comprehensive way to track blood pressure, heart rate, sleep, and nutrition.
• Apple Health can connect with other nutritional apps like Nutrisense, allowing you a much more powerful and comprehensive experience. 

Cons

• Many of the features that make this app unique require you to own a wearable tracker like a Fitbit or an Apple Watch, which can be expensive.

5) Skincare Routine

The Skincare Routine app is a cutting-edge beauty tool that tracks vital data points related to your skin health and overall appearance. 

With detailed tracking features and valuable tips and advice, the Skincare Routine is an indispensable tool for anyone who takes their skincare regimen seriously.

Unique Features

• It uses advanced sensors and analysis algorithms and can monitor fine lines, wrinkles, dryness, oiliness, and pore size.
• It tracks environmental factors such as humidity levels and UV exposure, giving you personalized recommendations to optimize your skincare routine.
• It also helps you log products you use on your skin and any treatments or procedures you may have tried.

Pros

• The app monitors how much water you drink, how often you exercise, and how much sleep you get each night.
• The Skincare Routine app can produce detailed analytics to help you understand your unique skin type and needs by recording various data points related to your skin, such as hydration levels and breakouts.

Cons

• It's typically focused on beauty routines.
• There is no ingredients list in the app, making it challenging for those with sensitive skin to follow the advice.

Best Mental Health Apps

In today's fast-paced, technology-obsessed world, it is more important than ever to take care of our mental health, but also more challenging. Fortunately, several innovative mental health apps can help us cope with our mental health issues and stay on top of our wellbeing.

Perhaps one of the most essential features of these apps is their ability to provide access to personalized support from experts in the field. Whether you need guidance to manage sleep routines, set healthy boundaries, or find ways to deal with stress, these apps can help:

6) Calm

The Calm App is a mindfulness and meditation app that offers a variety of guided meditations, sleep stories, and relaxation exercises. It also provides tools to help users manage anxiety and stress, such as breathing exercises and visualizations. 

Unique Features

• The app offers a variety of guided meditations, breathing exercises, and relaxing sounds that help reduce anxiety and promote focus.
• Calm includes a tracking feature that allows users to monitor their progress and set goals for their practice.
• The Calm app provides a wide selection of sleep stories—narrated bedtime stories to help users fall asleep.

Pros

• Calm includes meditations that range from three minutes to thirty minutes to help users focus and relax.
• The app offers a variety of relaxation exercises, such as guided breathing and visualization exercises.

Cons

• You cannot add people you know on the app, and there's no internal community support.
• The app is free, but most unique features require upgrades and payments.

7) Talkspace

Talkspace is a popular mental health app that provides users access to licensed therapists. The app offers both one-on-one therapy sessions and group chat rooms. 

Unlike traditional therapy, which can be expensive and time-consuming, Talkspace is affordable and convenient, making it a popular choice for busy people. In addition, the app offers anonymity and privacy, meaning that users can feel safe sharing their thoughts and feelings. 

Unique Features

• Talkspace offers a variety of features to help users get the most out of their therapy, including daily mood tracking, weekly check-ins with therapists, and access to a community of support.
• Talkspace aims to help people deal with various mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, stress, and relationship problems.

Pros

• Talkspace makes it easy to get the help you need without leaving your home or office.
• It’s more affordable than traditional therapy.
• The app offers anonymity and privacy.
• Talkspace offers a variety of therapeutic tools and resources, such as articles, exercises, and meditation guides.

Cons

• Medicare and Medicaid are not accepted insurance carriers.
• The exact pricing information for Talkspace is unavailable until you sign up for their services.
• Talkspace records conversations, making some users uncomfortable even though they guarantee anonymity.

8) Moodfit

The Moodfit app is a powerful tool with an easy-to-use interface and various helpful features. It helps you track and analyze your emotions daily to understand what influences your moods and how you can improve them over time. 

Unique Features

• This innovative app works through cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques and mindfulness practices.
• The app helps you track your moods and habits over time to understand your mental health.
• The app uses cutting-edge technology to provide personalized support for users at all stages of their journey towards improved mental wellbeing.

Pros

• Moodfit helps you manage stress, anxiety, low moods, and other mental health issues.
• The Moodfit app enables you to track and analyze your emotions to see what influences your moods and how you can improve them over time.
• The Moodfit app can help you identify your unique thought patterns and emotions to tackle challenges in a more deliberate, effective way.

Cons

• While your information is private, it is recorded.
• It's not for people who need mental health services that may involve crises.

9) Happify

The Happify app is a tool for improving your overall wellbeing and happiness. Whether you are looking to manage stress, boost your confidence, build resilience, or cultivate mental strength, this app has the tools and resources you need to get started on your journey to greater happiness and fulfillment. 

Featuring exercises, activities, games, and trackers that have been scientifically tested and proven to work, this app makes it easy to focus on the things that truly matter.

Unique Features

• Happify helps develop strategies for managing negative feelings and building more positive habits.
• Happify uses scientifically validated techniques to help users strengthen their emotional resilience, build meaningful relationships, and increase their overall sense of wellbeing.

 Pros

• The app uses the latest research in cognitive psychology as its base, leveraging cutting-edge techniques to help you become more aware of your thoughts and emotions.

Cons

• There is no free trial of the premium version of Happify. 
• The app can be challenging to navigate.

10) Down Dog

The Down Dog App is a yoga app that provides various yoga class options. There are classes for beginners, intermediate, and advanced yogis and classes focused on specific areas such as flexibility, strength, and balance. 

In addition to classes, the Down Dog App also offers a library of yoga poses so that users can explore new poses at their own pace. With so much to offer, it's no wonder that the Down Dog App is one of the most popular yoga apps on the market.

Unique Features

• The app has various features that allow users to customize their workouts, including choosing the level of difficulty, the length of the session, and the type of yoga.
• Down Dog has a variety of yoga poses and breathing exercises, making it perfect for both beginners and experienced yogis
• The app provides step-by-step instructions and video tutorials for various yoga poses.

Pros

• The Down Dog App provides users with a community of other yogis, where they can share tips, advice, and support.
• Down Dog has a timer feature, so users can track their progress and ensure they are practicing for the recommended amount of time.

Cons

• There is no free version of the app.
• It can be dangerous to push yourself into new poses if you're new to yoga, so working with instructors in person first may be a better approach.

11) SleepScore

The SleepScore app is a cutting-edge health technology that helps to promote better sleep habits. Using sophisticated diagnostic tools and advanced algorithms, the app can assess your sleep patterns and provide actionable recommendations for improving your sleep quality. 

With user-friendly features and detailed data analytics, this innovative tool is quickly becoming one of the most popular sleep apps on the market. 

Unique Features

• Based on state-of-the-art technology, it uses a variety of sensors to monitor and analyze your breathing patterns and heart rate, as well as the quality of the air you're sleeping in
• Data gathered by the app is analyzed using advanced algorithms so that you can get personalized tips on how to improve your sleep habits and overall wellbeing.

Pros

• Designed by industry experts, this innovative technology uses cutting-edge sensors and biometric data.
• You can discover valuable insights into how you sleep, what affects your sleep quality, and how you can improve your overall rest.
• SleepScore provides the tools needed to improve your wellbeing and take back control of your nights.

Cons

• The app requires you to begin the process of recording every night manually. 
• Some user reviews say that the alarm built into the app is uncomfortably loud.

There are many benefits to using health apps, both for individuals and healthcare providers. Have a specific requirement that you couldn't find on this list? Stay tuned to learn more about fitness, nutrition, and weight loss apps in our upcoming articles!