These days, more people are using technology to “gamify” health and fitness. From professional athletes to those us who just want to live a little bit healthier, the market is littered with products that track our steps, monitor our heart rates, and provide other important data anyone can use to improve their overall fitness.
What many of us fail to realize is our most powerful ally in the quest for better health is already in our pockets. Plenty of free apps and built-in features make it possible to use any recent phone as a fitness tracker.
Free Apps to Enhance Your Fitness Experience
You don’t need an expensive Fitbit or other device. Instead, you can use your phone to count steps. Plenty of free and low-cost fitness apps are available for both iPhone and Android devices. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Moves: Moves is a user-friendly app that records any walking, biking or running you do over the course of the day. It’s always on and collects data automatically, so you never have to worry about forgetting to enable it before you break a sweat. Get daily updates and track your activity over time. With Moves’ simple user interface, it’s easy.
- Runkeeper: If you’re a jogging fanatic, Runkeeper is a must-have app. Track your daily fitness, train for a long-distance run or follow a personalized workout schedule. Best of all, Runkeeper connects you with a community of more that 45 million users who challenge each other and celebrate their progress together.
- Lose It!: If weight loss is part of your fitness goals or if you simply want to eat healthier, be sure to check out Lose It! An integrated food diary and exercise tracker, this useful app helps you manage daily caloric intake, portion size and more.
Use Your Phone as a Fitness Tracker
Recent updates to Android and iOS have introduced even more useful tools for anyone who wants to use their phone as a fitness tracker. Both Apple Health and Google Fit connect with other phone fitness apps and step counters to provide a centralized dashboard for measuring a wide range of health indicators.
The bad news? You’ll need the newest Apple or Android devices to benefit from all these features. When it’s time upgrade your phone, check out The Whiz Cells to see how you can earn money by selling your old phone online.