
We can’t live without technology. Now, getting fit just got easier with the wide variety of mobile apps for fitness, exercise, and nutrition to help us reach our goals. Although there are a large number of FREE mobile apps for fitness and nutrition (for more information read the article, “Free Mobile Apps for Fitness – Too Good to be True?“), many of them are incomplete and leave users wanting more functionality. If you are one of the many people who have been disappointed by a FREE mobile fitness app and are looking to invest in better tools for your fitness needs, below is a list of the best paid fitness apps for iPhone and iPad.
Best Paid Fitness Apps for iPhone and iPad
Below is the top five list of paid fitness apps for iPhone and iPad. They are listed by price (lowest to highest).
Fitness Buddy: 1700+ Exercise Workout Journal ($1.99)

Fitness Buddy: 1700+ Exercise Workout Journal is the upgrade to the FREE Fitness Buddy app (300 exercises in standard library). Fitness Buddy and contains over 1700+ exercises with detailed descriptions, animations and an assortment of workouts. This app makes the workout tracking process simple and easy to fit into your daily schedule in order to sustain your motivation and enforce your commitment to your fitness goals. Features include:
- 1700+ unique exercises
- 1000+ HD videos
- Comprehensive exercises for all types of fitness equipment (i.e., barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, and stability balls)
- Exercise categorization (core, lower body, chest, shoulders, back, arms, cardio, stretches)
- 4000+ exercise photos and animations (retina display resolution)
- Detailed exercise instructions and muscle categorizations
- Capabilities to add your own custom exercises and favorite exercises
- 75+ workout routines (i.e., specific to your goals, equipment available, build your own routines)
- Body metrics tracking
Information
- Seller: AZUMIO Inc. (Tom Xu)
- Website: www.fitnessbuddyapp.com
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
- Languages: English, Bokmål, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
For more information on Fitness Buddy: 1700+ Exercise Workout Journal, visit the iTunes App Store.
Instant Heart Rate – Heart Rate Monitor by Azumio ($1.99)

Instant Heart Rate uses your phone’s camera to detect the pulse from your fingertip, leveraging similar techniques used in pulse oximeters. Simply place the tip of your index finger on the phone’s camera and your pulse reading will show up on the phone screen within seconds. Instant Heart Rate displays a real-time chart that shows every heart beat. Features include:
- Heart pulse measurement
- Real-time PPG graph
- Continuous or Auto-Stop mode
- Heart Rate Zones
- Data storage and tags
- Export data for registered users
- Sharing to Twitter and Facebook
Information
- Seller: AZUMIO Inc.
- Website: www.azumio.com
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi +3G, iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi (4th generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (4th generation),iPad mini Wi-Fi, iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPod touch (4th generation), and iPod touch (5th generation). This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
- Languages: English, French, and Slovenian
For more information on Instant Heart Rate, visit the iTunes App Store.
Couch-to-5K ($1.99)

Couch-to-5K is the official mobile app from the Active Network (www.active.com). The often imitated program has helped thousands of new runners move from the couch to the finish line. This nine week program gradually progresses users through a program that requires 20 to 30 minutes, three times per week. At the completion of the program, the user is ready to complete their first 5K (3.1 mile) race. The structure of the program prevents new runners from giving up while simultaneously challenging them to reach their distance goal.
In-App Purchases
- 5K-to-10K ($1.99)
Information
- Seller: The Active Network
- Website: www.active.com
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
- Languages: English
For more information on Couch-to-5K, visit the iTunes App Store.
Fooducate+ ($4.99)

Lose weight, eat REAL food, and track your progress. Fooducate grades your food, explains what’s really inside each product, and offers healthier alternatives. We’ve got the largest database of UPC-based nutrition information – over 200,000 unique products and growing. Fooducate+ is the upgraded version of the FREE app. This paid app offers:
- No advertising
- Priority support
- GMO information – uncover genetically modified organisms in your food
- Personalized ratings for carb control, pregnancy, lactation, heart health, low cholesterol, hypertension, vegetarian, and vegan profiles
Fooducate+ is designed to help users:
- Track your diet, calorie quality, and exercise
- Automatically scan a product barcode, search for products, or browse by categories
- See a food’s nutrition grade (A, B, C, or D)
- Learn about a product’s pros and cons
- Choose healthier alternatives
- Add your own foods to track
- Share your feedback with the community
- Create a healthy shopping list
- Submit new products for analysis
Information
- Seller: Fooducate Ltd.
- Website: www.fooducate.com
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
For more information on Fooducate+, visit the iTunes App Store.
Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro ($4.99)

Endomondo is a sports community based on free real-time GPS tracking of running, cycling, etc. Bring your mobile on the track and get a complete training log. Endomondo is an online program for people who are into running, cycling, walking, skiing, kayaking, skating – or other sports involving movement across a distance. Endomondo, the mobile app, is associated with Endomondo.com, the place where users automatically track all sports data to monitor performance over time. At Endomondo.com users meet like-minded friends, get inspired by them, challenge them and follow their activities in real time. Users will get the most out of Endomondo.com with a GPS mobile phone or a Garmin GPS watch.
In-App Purchases
- Endomondo – Premium (In-App Purchase)
- Training Plans: Reach your running goal with a personal training plan (5K to marathon distance)
- Heart Rate Zones: View time spent in different heart rate zones to analyze your intensity and train smarter
- Workout Comparison: Compare two to three workouts at once and get a better understanding of your performance
- Personal Best History: See how your personal best has changed over time and get an overview of your improvement
- Training Analysis: Analyze total training volume in detail with access to the full training stats module
- Weather Information: Get weather info included in your training log to see weather details for each workout
- Endomondo Premium – Annual ($19.99)
- Endomondo Premium – Monthly ($2.99)
Information
- Seller: Endomondo LLC
- Website: www.endomondo.com
- Compatability: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad Wi-Fi +3G, iPad 2 Wi-Fi +3G, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (4th generation), iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, and iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
- Languages: English, Danish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish
For more information on Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, visit the iTunes App Store.
Best Paid Fitness Apps – Honorable Mentions
These two paid fitness apps “could” have made the list if the overall investment wasn’t as high as they are currently listed. The content in both programs is exceptional but the price point doesn’t compare to the ones listed above. If you are in the market to invest in quality exercise tools for functional training and fitness take a look at the two programs listed below.
TRX FORCE (FREE) * no exercises or programs are installed

The TRX FORCE Super App is the digital version of the comprehensive, 12-week TRX Tactical Conditioning Program used in all branches of the US Military. This program, now available to civilians with critical updates and added features, will push you beyond your limits to get you fit for whatever mission you face – whether in the line of duty or in your daily civilian life.
Service members use the TRX FORCE Super App as a digital backup should their TRX Tactical Training Program Guidebooks become lost or are destroyed in the field. Now, for the first time ever, the TRX FORCE Super App is available for civilian purchase. The TRX Tactical Training Program at the Super App’s core provides a robust training solution for anyone at any fitness level ready to take on a serious challenge and experience serious results.
When you download and open the FREE version of TRX FORCE you will be required to login and purchase exercises and/or programs in order to use the Super App.
In-App Purchases
- TRX FORCE All Content ($39.99)
- TRX FORCE Exercise Library ($19.99)
- TRX FORCE Phase 1 ($9.99)
- TRX FORCE Phase 2 ($13.99)
- TRX FORCE Phase 3 ($17.99)
Information
- Seller: Fitness Anywhere, LLC
- Website: www.trxtraining.com
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
- Languages: English
For more information on TRX FORCE, visit the iTunes App Store.
P90X ($2.99)

P90X® has evolved. The breakthrough workout program that revolutionized home fitness now has a companion app that lets you Bring It!® on your iPhone®, so you can get even more amazing results—and work out with P90X anywhere. Keep track of your sets, reps, and weights, view your progress, log your nutrition, and share your results. With interactive features like these, you’ll stay motivated and accountable to get more out of P90X and P90X2 than ever before.
- Schedule your workouts (calendar auto-populates with the correct workouts)
- Track your sets, reps, and weights as you complete each P90X and P90X2 DVD workout
- Customized progress reports at day 30, 60 and 90
- P90X Community (earn achievement badges for accomplishments and share your results and compete with your friends on Facebook®, Twitter®, email, and Game Center)
In-App Purchases
Guided Workouts (purchase versions of the P90X workouts designed specifically for the iPhone):
- P90X Fit Test (FREE)
- Ab Ripper X (FREE)
- All P90X Workouts Bundle ($59.99)
- 5 P90X Resistance Workouts Bundle ($29.99)
- Chest & Back
- Shoulders & Arms
- Legs & Back
- Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps
- Back & Biceps
Original P90X Individual Workouts:
- Chest & Back ($6.99)
- Plyometrics ($6.99)
- Shoulders & Arms ($6.99)
- Yoga X ($6.99)
- Legs & Back ($6.99)
- Kenpo X ($6.99)
- X Stretch ($6.99)
- Core Synergistics ($6.99)
- Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps ($6.99)
- Back & Biceps ($6.99)
- Cardio X ($6.99)
Information
- Seller: Beachbody LLC
- Website: www.beachbody.com
- Size: 43.9 MB
- Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is iPhone 5 optimized.
- Languages: English
For more information on P90X, visit the iTunes App Store.
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