Mobile Longevity: A Guide to The Best Wellness Apps

Longevity published our annual print bookazine in April 2024, available in digital format for download. This edition is packed with content themed on Living Beyond 100, and one of the articles explores how you can find the best wellness app to improve your longevity.

A Guide to Longevity Apps

We know that taking care of our health is directly related to living a longer life – that healthy habits such as exercising, quitting smoking, and eating a balanced diet are key. 

Millions of people around the world are using apps to guide them in this. But if you’re still skeptical, here are eight good reasons why you should download one now:

1. Convenience: Health apps provide a convenient way to monitor and manage your health from the comfort of your own device. This can include tracking exercise, nutrition, sleep, and other health-related metrics.
2. Personalization: Many health apps offer plans and recommendations based on your individual health profile and goals. This tailored approach can make your health journey more effective.
3. Monitoring and tracking: They often come with features that allow you to track your progress over time. This can provide insights into your habits, help you to set realistic goals, and motivate you to make positive changes.
4. Accessibility to information: They can be valuable sources of information on various health topics, providing tips, articles, and resources related to fitness, nutrition, mental health, and more.
5. Motivation and accountability: Some health apps incorporate gamification elements, challenges, or social features that can boost motivation and help you stay accountable to your health and fitness goals. Sharing achievements with friends or participating in challenges can add fun to the process.
6. Integration with wearable devices: Many are compatible with wearable devices, such as fitness trackers or smartwatches. This integration allows for real-time monitoring of activity, heart rate, and other metrics.
7. Condition management: For individuals with specific health conditions, there are apps designed to help them manage and monitor them. These can include diabetes-management apps, mental-health apps, and apps for chronic disease management.
8. Health education: Some offer educational content and tips for helping users to understand more about their body, health condition, and how lifestyle choices impact overall well-being.

How to choose the right app

It’s important to choose a health app that aligns with your goals, preferences, and needs. 

Before using any health app, consider factors such as privacy, data security, and the reliability of the app. Always consult with healthcare professionals for personalized advice and recommendations based on your individual health circumstances.

It makes sense that you go with the flow. Choose the ones that are popular, well tested, reliable, and medically sound. After all, they’re popular for a reason. You’ll also find that these are easy to access.

Top 10 wellness apps

• MyFitnessPal: This app helps users track their diet and exercise, offering a comprehensive overview of daily caloric intake, nutritional information, and fitness goals.
• Headspace: Focusing on meditation and mindfulness, Headspace provides guided meditation sessions, sleep aids, and stress-relief exercises.
• Calm: Similar to Headspace, it’s a meditation and sleep app that offers guided sessions, relaxation music, and sleep stories.
• Fitbit: While Fitbit is known for its wearable devices, its app is also widely used for tracking physical activity, sleep, and nutrition.
• Nike Training Club: There are a variety of workout routines and training plans here, for different fitness levels and goals.
• Strava: Popular among runners and cyclists, Strava tracks and analyzes users’ outdoor activities, allowing for social sharing and competition.
• Lifesum: Focusing on nutrition, it helps users to track their meals, set dietary goal,s and receive personalized advice.
• 7 Minute Workout: Based on the popular high-intensity interval training (HIIT) concept, this app guides users through quick and effective workouts.
• Peloton: The company has expanded beyond exercise bikes to offer an app with a variety of workout classes, both on and off the bike.
• Sleep Cycle: Analyzing sleep patterns, it wakes users up during their lightest sleep phase, aiming to improve overall sleep quality.

Bear in mind that the popularity of apps can change over time, and new apps may emerge. In addition, user preferences vary, so what works well for one individual may not be the best fit for another. It’s a good idea to check app store rankings and reviews for the latest information.

Furthermore, every country will have apps more specific to that country. Here are some wellness apps that are finding traction globally:

For fitness

New smartwatches and fitness trackers are introduced every year, each coming with various sensors, built-in algorithms, and smartphone apps. Users can measure a variety of physical activity metrics, including steps taken, distance run or walked, calories burned, and even the type of workouts completed. 

There are many popular brands of smartwatches, offering an array of features, among them Fitbit, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Amazfit, Xiaomi, and Swarovski. According to research, Apple has dominated the market since 2017, generating sales of over €14 billion in 2023. Whatever you choose, always make sure it’s in line with your intended use. Smartwatches coupled with a smartphone from the same brand will offer closer integration. 

Whenever possible, choose a smartwatch with capabilities you really need, such as stress management, blood oxygen saturation monitoring, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, or waterproof capabilities. 

Above all, ensure that the smartwatch you select is within your budget. Premium brands offer cutting-edge features, but cost more. Affordable brands can still provide good features and functionality.

For nutrition

We know that a healthy diet is a major factor in maintaining health, and by tracking your daily caloric intake, you can keep an eye on what you eat and drink. Say goodbye to manually calculating those calories. Apps will do it for you, and also help you to log your meals, make better decisions, and adhere to your dietary objectives by providing nutritional information.

It’s important to take your goals into account when choosing your nutrition app. While some emphasize mindful eating or nutrition education, others concentrate on calorie counting or weight loss. In addition, there are solutions designed specifically for individuals with unique dietary requirements or food preferences, such as those who are pregnant and those who have food allergies. 

Consider star ratings, price, degree of personalization, and average user reviews. Here are some good options: 

• YAZIO Calorie Counter & Diet: YAZIO determines the specific number of calories and nutrients you require. In addition, it has a barcode scanner for simple food monitoring and offers over 2,500 nutritious and manageable recipes. It also has smart food evaluations and detailed nutrition facts.
• Nutritionix Track: This is a food, nutrient, and exercise tracking app, developed and maintained by a team of registered dietitians.
• Lose It: The app offers a calorie counter, food diary, and weight-loss feature, so you can stick to your diet and achieve your weight-loss goals.
• Ketoscan Mini: A portable breath acetone analyzer, it measures ketone levels and calculates body-fat burning rate from your exhaled breath. It also records and monitors your acetone levels and weight, daily, weekly, and monthly. In addition, it leaves comments and tracks your calories with photos of the food you ate. You can check your results on both the device and the mobile app.

For sleep

Sleep is as important to overall health as nutrition and exercise. Insufficient sleep has been shown to negatively affect mood, learning, and the creation of long-term memories, and increase vulnerability to mental-health issues such as depression.

If you’ve tried investing in new pillows and linens, wearing a sleep mask, using a white noise machine, or even replacing your mattress, and you’re still waking up exhausted, a sleep tracker may be a helpful tool. It’ll record the length and quality of your sleep, as well as sleep disruptions and some of your sleep habits. It’ll offer insights and advice on how to enhance your sleeping patterns. 

There’s wrist-worn and wearable technology, while some rest on your bedside table or clip onto your pillow. Top examples include the Apple Watch Series 9, the Google Pixel Watch 2, the Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon, and the Garmin Venu 3S. 

If you want to support a local company, take a look at the affordable Sleepace SleepDot, from the Mattress Warehouse. It monitors sound and body movement, with collected data sent to a synced app on your smartphone.

For mental health

Poor mental health is on the rise, significantly affecting both mental and physical well-being. While no amount of technology can promise to make everything better, some apps can assist you in reducing the stressors of daily life by offering mindfulness exercises, deep-breathing exercises, meditation, and guided relaxation sessions. 

When selecting a mental-health app, take into account your objectives, as well as your preferred services, workouts, and activities. Always examine customer reviews. 

Calm was reported to be the highest-grossing health-related app globally in January 2024, generating almost $7.7 million in in-app purchases.

In South Africa, the Intelligent Breathing Cupping Massage Device integrates the three functions of negative pressure: cupping, scraping, and massage. It reportedly promotes blood circulation, dredges meridians, stimulates acupuncture points, relieves fatigue, relieves pain, dispels cold and dehumidifies, improves immunity, and relaxes muscles.

For telemedicine

As individuals become more adept at using innovative technologies in all aspects of daily life, new apps in healthcare are changing the ways doctors and patients interact with one another. Telemedicine is enhancing access, quality, efficiency, and experience in the treatment of patients, allowing patients to get medical advice, acquire prescriptions, and have consultations with healthcare professionals remotely, thus cutting down on clinic visits and travel time, and eliminating distance. 

Although telemedicine has been in use for many years, its use has increased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic because of its low cost, capacity to increase access to specialty treatments, and potential to lessen the physician shortage. A valuable supplement to in-person appointments, telemedicine doesn’t replace them. Be sure to do your research when choosing a doctor for virtual consultations. If possible, opt for a specialist you’ve seen before to better monitor your progress.

These are some of the top telemedicine startups in South Africa:

• Syked: offering mental-health solutions for students, employers ,and the general public
• Guardian Health: for finding doctors and booking appointments or video consultations
• BusyMed: offering telepharmacy services
• Contro: offering telepharmacy services for sexual health
• Vula Mobile: connecting general healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers) with eye specialists

There’s also a great option for patients concerned about skin cancer risk. The DE300 camera peripheral for skin examinations offers a wireless digital wi-fi microscope and plug-and-play architecture for easy integration.

For biometrics

Biometric monitoring devices (BMDs) are wearable devices and smartphone sensors that can be used to gather physiological, behavioral, or biological data, including blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and heart rate. Examples include wristbands and skin patches. Data collection is continuous, remote, and unobtrusive. 

You’re advised to always get medical advice and conduct research before selecting or using any of these devices. 

South African startup VitalX has created a wearable device that provides a real-time platform for tracking vital indicators, including body temperature and pulse rate, via a cloud connection, giving your doctors and nurses comprehensive information, so they can decide on your care quickly and intelligently.

Another interesting app is the Portable Heart Rate Monitor, which captures high-accuracy heart-rate data in just 30 seconds. This affordable device has no complicated setup, as you simply place your fingers on the sensors to get a measurement. It has a fast connection to record the results to an app, and enables you to track and share the results with your doctor.

The bottom line

With the world – and technology – evolving, there’s no excuse for not making your health a priority. Not only will wellness apps help you to set and track health goals, whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking, or reducing alcohol consumption, but they also enable you to set reminders for taking medications, drinking water, or engaging in healthy habits, such as getting up and walking, throughout the day. 

Just be sure to do your research. Choose trustworthy apps and devices, safeguard your privacy, and ensure data security. And don’t forget to maintain a healthy lifestyle and a regular schedule of medical checkups.

GRAB YOUR LONGEVITY 2025/6 COPY

While the aforementioned article featured in the previous issue of Longevity, our latest issue includes even more incredible articles and features. Our “Back to Earth” issue is Longevity’s must-have edition for anyone ready to reflect on what we put in and on our bodies.

From expert insights with Dr. Zach Bush, Dr. Ash Kapoor, Oscar Chalupsky, Dr. Ela Manga, Dr. Maureen Allem, Dr. Anushka Reddy, Dr. Des Fernandes, Dr. Craige Golding, and many more, this issue explores everything from food, clean beauty, sustainable living, fashion, travel, and other mindful choices.

While available nationally in Southern Africa at your nearest Woolworths, Exclusive Books, and selectively at Superspar, Pick’n Pay, Airport lounges, and your local garage shop, you can also buy a digital copy at Zinio.com