Losing weight is challenging. Shelling out money for an expensive weight loss app makes the experience even more difficult. Your journey to a healthier you shouldn’t be littered with companies demanding that you hand over your debit or credit card.
To help you, we’ve researched and selected the best weight loss apps you can download at no cost. Some of the apps we’ve chosen are well known, such as MyFitnessPal, but there are others you may not have associated with weight loss.
Take a breath in, finding the will and determination within yourself. You bring the fortitude, and we’ll bring the best free weight loss apps to download for your journey.
MyFitnessPal
The Best Free Weight Loss App
Key Features
- Log calories with a huge food database
- Track your workouts and fitness
- Sync with fitness trackers and services
MyFitness Pal
Pricing
Free (Premium $80/year or $20/month)
Available on
iOS and Android
MyFitnessPal is an app so popular that it needs little introduction, but we’ll give you a recap of the king topping our guide anyway.
Launched in 2005, MyFitnessPal offers an all-in-one tool to those looking to lose weight, get in shape or keep an eye on their caloric intake. The app combines a food diary with a database of 14 million foods and fitness plans to help you burn extra calories and reach your goals.
We love MyFitnessPal because it delivers a complete experience, has proved itself over the years and has an immense ecosystem of supported products.
You can connect over 50 apps and devices, including Gamin, Fitbit, Samsung Health, Apple Health and MapMyRun, so your entire fitness world stays together.
You can upgrade your MyFitnessPal membership to premium ($80 a year or $20 a month) for additional healthy habit guides and custom nutrition tracking.
Still, we believe most users will find plenty of value in the app’s free base tier. Your first month of premium is free if you want to give it a try, though.
Key Features
- Log your daily caloric intake
- Track your activity and workouts
- Sync with select fitness trackers and services
Lose It!
Pricing
Free (Premium $40/year or $190 for life)
Available on
iOS and Android
Lose It! hasn’t received the full recognition it deserves, but it is certainly one of the best weight loss apps.
A bright and straightforward interface makes tracking meals easy. Lose It! allows you to track what you eat via a food database just as well as any other app and breaks down the calories you log into easily digestible labels and graphs.
In addition to food, you can also log other pertinent information, such as your water intake and exercise.
Lose It! has fewer supported services than some weight loss apps, but you can still connect many of your favorite apps and devices, including Fitbit, Garmin, Strava and Apple Health.
You can also gain insights into your eating patterns and learn how some foods affect your daily progress.
Lose It! is a free app to use. If you wish to upgrade to the premium subscription for $40 a year or $190 for life, you will gain access to a personalized weight loss plan as well as exercise and meal planning.
Gym fees can add up when you’re working on fitness and wellness goals. But you can set up a home gym for less than $100.
Key Features
- Log your daily caloric intake
- Track steps, workouts and calorie burn
- Sync directly with a Fitbit tracker
Fitbit
Pricing
Free, but trackers will cost extra
Available on
iOS and Android
Here’s a surprise! The Fitbit app isn’t just for people who own a Fitbit. Even without a dedicated Fitbit device, you can still use the Fitbit app to monitor your activity.
Using your smartphone’s sensors, Fitbit can track your daily steps, miles walked and calories burned — although a bit less accurate than a dedicated Fitbit.
If you purchase a Fitbit in the future, you can keep your existing data without starting over from scratch.
Like all good weight loss apps, Fitbit goes beyond fitness and into the world of nutrition. You can log your meals and snacks in Fitbit to keep track of the calories you’ve consumed. The food database isn’t as strong as other apps, though.
Another bonus feature — if you decide to grab a Fitbit wearable device — is the ability to track your sleep. You may gain better insights into your routine and, ideally, achieve a more restful night of sleep, which may affect weight loss, according to researchers.
The cheapest Fitbit trackers cost $60 for the Fitbit Ace 3 for kids and $70 for the Fitbit Inspire 2 for adults.
Meal prep can help you save money. You can also eat healthier by having good food ready to grab whenever it’s time for a meal or snack.
Key Features
- Find diets that work for your lifestyle
- Get meal plans that include up to 4 recipes/day
- Log food using search tool or barcode scanner
Lifesum
Pricing
Free ($29.99/quarterly, $49.99/twice annually or $99.99/yearly)
Available on
iOS and Android
The Lifesum health app is another excellent option for individuals who want to control their weight. Lifesum begins by helping you find a diet that works best for your life and preferences; choices include clean eating and high-protein diets.
Once you’ve selected a diet that works for your life, you can follow a simplified meal plan that offers four pre-planned recipes per day. Dietary options are available for those who want to focus on keto eating or prefer a diet devoid of meat.
Lifesum also lets you track your food using a search tool or a barcode scanner. If you’ve been having trouble getting on the right dieting path, Lifesum may be able to point you in the right direction.
Key Features
- Set weight loss targets and track your progress
- Count calories on the go
- Gain access to hundreds of healthy recipes
MyNetDiary
Pricing
Free (Premium $8.99/month or up to $59.99/year)
Available on
iOS and Android
MyNetDiary may seem like just another calorie-counting app, but it offers a complete weight loss solution for those needing assistance. MyNetDiary can match you with an appropriate diet and help you stick to it through logging and dieting tips.
In addition to tracking your calories, you can keep an eye on a detailed breakdown of macronutrients, including carbs, proteins and fats. Type in a food product to log it within the app or scan it using the built-in barcode scanner.
Choose from low-carb, keto, high-protein, low-fat and vegetarian diets. If you’re feeling low on inspiration, MyNetDiary offers up a selection of recipes for you to cook up. You can even link your smartwatch or fitness device to monitor your steps and workouts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What Is the Most Effective Weight Loss App?
Not all weight loss apps share metrics and users’ goals vary, so it can be difficult to point one out as the most effective.
Our top pick for the best free weight loss app is MyFitnessPal, which allows you to log calories and exercise. MyFitnessPal also includes recipes and bits of motivation to help you obtain your health goals and lose weight.
Is MyFitnessPal or Lose It! Better?
MyFitnessPal and Lose It! are excellent weight loss apps. We believe that most readers will find success and joy in using either one. We did, however, award the top spot to MyFitnessPal as it supports a number of additional services and apps.
We recommend trying both — they are free after all — and then picking the one you like best.
Is Noom Better Than MyFitnessPal?
Noom is a weight loss app that heavily focuses on the psychology of weight loss. While Noom is a good app, it is far from a free weight loss app.
MyFitnessPal, on the other hand, can be used for free and includes many of the same style food logging tools. If you are unsure, try a free trial of Noom to find out which one is best for you.
Michael Archambault is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder specializing in technology.
