With the right apps, your smartphone can help you live a happier, healthier lifestyle—but there are so many available these days, it’s hard to know where to start. We’ve sorted through them all and collected our 10 favorites to help you build better holistic health habits.
A healthy diet starts with healthy ingredients. Yuka scans food product labels and rates their impact on your health using an easy-to-understand color-code system. Here’s our favorite part: if you scan a product that scores poorly, Yuka will recommend alternatives that are more nutritious.
The Yuka app is free, but there is a paid version (for which you can set your own price) that adds features like offline use, product search by name, and recommendations based on dietary restrictions.
If you want to start eating healthier, your mindset and eating habits are just as important as your diet. If your only goal is losing weight, you might not be eating healthily. Created by neuroscientist Jud Brewer, MD, Eat Right Now combines mindfulness practices with behavioral science to help you build a healthier relationship with food.
This app works on a paid subscription plan that offers daily video and audio lessons. They provide you with the tools to identify patterns of stress eating and reduce food cravings.
Drinking water has tons of benefits for your body, and Waterllama is here to help you achieve your hydration goals. This free app lets you log your daily water intake and sends you smart reminders if you skip a sip.
The app connects to Apple Health, which can help you set goals that are tailored to your body and fitness level. Waterllama also lets you track other beverages so you can set challenges for yourself, like a caffeine break or adding a breakfast smoothie to your morning routine
Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which has an immediate effect on your physical and emotional state. The Breathwrk app is free and guides you through more than 50 unique breathing exercises that are separated into categories depending on your goals: managing stress, improving athletic performance, falling asleep faster, and more.
If you subscribe to Breathwrk Pro, you can access a much larger library of breathing exercises as well as coach-led classes that will help you build healthy, long-term habits.
It’s estimated that one in five people in the US lives with chronic pain. If you’ve struggled to find effective treatment, Curable might be the solution. This pain management app takes a biopsychosocial approach—combining physical, emotional, and psychological exercises.
With an annual subscription, this app gives you access to audio lessons that will teach you how to reduce pain symptoms with science-backed techniques, such as somatic tracking, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and guided meditation.
Happiness isn’t a destination; it’s a muscle that needs to be exercised. Happify gives you the tools to practice the art of feeling good. This app provides personalized daily activities and games designed by neuroscientists to promote positive thinking, gratitude, and mindfulness.
You can track your mood and monitor your progress in specific areas like building resilience or overcoming negative thoughts. You also get access to a database of scientific articles with the latest research on positive psychology, CBT, and mindfulness.
If you’re in need of fresh air, exercise, or some natural healing, this app makes it easy to explore the great outdoors. AllTrails shows you parks and trails that are perfect for every kind of outdoor activity.
You can explore by area or by the exercise you’re looking for, including hiking, trail running, snowshoeing, and mountain biking. AllTrails also connects you to a thriving community of fellow nature-lovers, which allows users to track their activities, share routes, and make recommendations.
A good night’s sleep is crucial for your physical and mental health, and Pillow aims to help you get just that. This sleep monitoring app analyzes your sleep patterns, then provides you with personalized reports to help you build better sleep habits.
The annual subscription fee also gives you access to a collection of guided meditations, stories, and soundscapes to lull you to sleep. There’s even a smart alarm clock feature that will wake you up at your lightest sleep stage to reduce grogginess in the morning.
Sustainability practices are good for the planet, your health, and your closet. Good On You is an ethical fashion app that investigates clothing and beauty brands and gives them a rating based on factors like their carbon footprint and treatment of workers.
If a brand you love doesn’t make the grade, don’t sweat it—Good On You will help you find sustainable alternatives. And if you want to get started without the app, learn which fabrics you should avoid to curate a wardrobe that’s healthier for your body and the planet.
For those seeking spiritual wellness or anyone curious about expanding their horizons, Gaia is a great place to start. This app is like the Netflix of spirituality, with a catalog of thousands of documentaries and educational films covering topics from conscious parenting to sound healing.
Much like Netflix, Gaia has fees, but a subscription also gives you access to guided yoga sessions and meditation programs that you can customize based on your practice.