5 Of The Best Apps For Intermittent Fasting In 2023
If you've been hanging out in the fitness community for a while, chances are you're already familiar with intermittent fasting (IF). It's a type of eating plan where you set a schedule of when to eat and when to fast, with the fasting period typically longer than the eating window. Experts consider intermittent fasting as one of the best ways not only to lose weight but also to increase your overall quality of life. There are also studies indicating how fasting can help with retaining long-term memory in adults.
What makes intermittent fasting an easy health plan to get into is that you don't need any fancy equipment to start. You can just use your clock or your phone's timer. However, if you tend to forget your fasting period or want to get in-depth insights into your progress, there are a bunch of IF apps to help you with that and more. We've made it easy for you and compiled five of the best intermittent fasting apps in 2023.
Fasting Tracker
With a whopping 705,000 reviews on the Google Play Store, Fasting Tracker, available on Android and iOS, is easily one of the top intermittent fasting apps for your phone. Like other similar apps, it features the most common IF plans, such as the popular 14–10, 19–5, and 6–1.
However, instead of simply listing all the available plans, Fasting Tracker thoughtfully categorizes them into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sets to make it more convenient for you to pick which plan suits your level best. In the beginner set, you have four different plans that all skip either breakfast or dinner every day. In the intermediate set, there are five plans, where you can only eat one meal per day.
In the advanced set, you'll be fasting for one or two days every week, depending on which of the three available plans you started. If you can't find the most appropriate pre-defined plan for you, Fasting Tracker comes with an option to customize your own schedule as well.
Another helpful feature is the body status that appears in your notification panel once you start your fasting timer. This gives you a brief explanation of what happens to your body during certain hours within your fasting period. There are also useful in-app infographics/articles below the status in case you want to learn more about IF in general. Fasting Tracker comes with a free and premium version. In the premium version, you'll have access to more IF plans, guides, and recipes.
BodyFast
If you're not new to intermittent fasting and are looking for more predefined plans to try out, then BodyFast might be what you're looking for. It includes a wide selection of more than 50 different plans, divided into Standard, Special, and Autophagy categories. Each plan comes with a short description, so you'll know exactly what to expect and how to do it. Although the plans already include pre-set fasting periods, you can still conveniently modify the times to match your lifestyle.
On top of tracking your fasting period, BodyFast can also track your body measurements (weight, hip, waist, BMI), helping you check your progress easily. As you continue to use the app and gain progress, you'll even earn trophies to keep you motivated on your IF journey. Another great thing about BodyFast is that it includes a dedicated recipe section, where you can find dozens of meal ideas for breakfast, dessert, snack, main dish, and soups and salads. Some of the recipes can be viewed for free, while the majority are exclusive to Coach (premium version) users.
Speaking of Coach, it doesn't only offer more recipes but also a unique fasting program that aligns with your personal goals. This can come in handy for people who are more likely to stick to a personalized IF plan rather than a generic one. You'll even get daily coaching to guide you along the way and weekly challenges to spice up your routine. BodyFast is available on both Android and iOS.
LIFE Fasting Tracker
Get too overwhelmed with the multitude of intermittent fasting protocols other apps offer? Prefer something simpler and easier to use? Then, check out LIFE Fasting Tracker. Unlike similar intermittent fasting mobile programs, this app doesn't come with a list of IF plans for you to choose from. Instead, what you get is a basic fasting timer where you set your preferred fasting period and specific start and end times. You can also find a progress monitor within the app, tracking your weight, waist circumference, and other stats like fasting glucose, blood and breath ketones, and body fat percentage.
If you want to gain a deeper insight into your current health status, LIFE offers a Marketplace section, packed with assessments, quizzes, and courses, including Push-Up Assessment, Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator, and Blood Health Snapshot, among others. There's also a Learn section in the app featuring articles and videos talking about all things health.
However, one of LIFE's top tools that you really want to take advantage of is the Circle. A Circle is a group composed of other LIFE users embarking on the intermittent fasting journey. You can either create your own or join one of the publicly available Circles. Inside the Circle, you're free to share your progress with the group, talk with the members, and cheer them on with motivating comments. What's great about this feature is that you'll have accountability buddies to support you. You can download LIFE on your iOS or Android device.
GoFasting
While GoFasting is only available for Android users, it boasts a wide variety of features that make it one of the top intermittent fasting apps in 2023. For one, it provides you with a personalized fasting program right off the bat. When you open the app, you'll answer a series of questions regarding your health goals, body statistics, and preferred difficulty level.
It will then recommend one of the common IF plans, which you can start following right away. No need to trouble yourself with choosing from the dozens of available ones. If you feel that the recommended plan isn't right for you, you can opt to change it to a new one anytime.
Apart from monitoring and reminding you of your fasting period, GoFasting also helps you with other aspects of your health. It can send you reminders to drink your water every hour or so and tracks the number of steps you make using your phone's physical activity monitor. But perhaps the feature that makes GoFasting stand out from the rest is its multiple widgets.
It offers over 10 different ones you can add to your home screen. There's a widget that shows your fasting timer, step count, and water intake together, but you can also pick a widget showing each statistic separately. With the widgets, you can easily check your progress for the day without needing to open the app itself. GoFasting comes in both free and pro versions.
Sunrise
An IF app exclusive to iOS, Sunrise makes fasting quick and simple. While other apps require you to answer long and winding questions as soon as you open the app, Sunrise simply needs you to sign in and you're good to go.
The interface itself is also minimalistic and easy to navigate. You have the Timer tab, where you can find seven pre-defined plans and an option for a custom plan. Then, there's the History tab, a calendar marked with the dates you completed your fast, and a My Data tab, a dedicated page for your weight, fasting statistics (longest fast, current streak, best month, etc.), and earned badges.
You can also browse through the Learn tab within the app which hosts videos and articles about intermittent fasting. Unlike other IF apps that require an upgraded account to view most of the articles and infographics, Sunrise offers them completely for free. You can enjoy the app without needing to subscribe to its Plus plan, but if you do decide to upgrade, you'll get access to features like fast scheduling and presets, advanced statistics, and insights.