Apps

If you are aiming to be more physically fit, increase your daily steps or aiming to burn more calories, there are various fitness apps to achieve your fitness goals. After searching through various fitness apps, a list consisting of the best has been made on the basis of their usability, user ratings, design, capacity and their update frequency.

Exercise has many advantages that have never been fully explored. It is free of cost, really easy to start, has few or no side effects when done properly and does not require a prescription. If exercise were a drug, it would prove to be the most gainful medicine ever.

Exercising daily brings many benefits along with it, such as it helps you maintain a healthy weight, makes your heart stronger, brings an improvement in your lung function and cuts down your risk of coronary heart disease drastically. In addition, physical activity also lowers the risk of depression, diabetes, cognitive decline and cancer.

As per the guidelines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for physical activity, it is recommended that for considerable health benefits from exercise, you should partake in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week, although indulging in at least 60 minutes of aerobic workout can also do you good.

Physical activity comes in various forms, such as high-intensity running and cycling or doing yoga stretches leisurely. Medical News Today has listed down the top 10 fitness app to help users achieve their physical activity goals with a little ease.

Fitness Apps: RunKeeper

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

The Fitness Apps RunKeeper keeps a track of your walks, runs and any other physical activity. From people taking a casual stroll to the 5k runner and those working towards taking part in the marathon, this GPS-based app shows an impressive community strength of 50 million users and is apt for everyone. To make your workout interesting, you can save, discover and build new routes with the help of GPS.

RunKeeper can help you in achieving your goals, whether it is to train for a race, to lose a few kilograms or to reach a particular pace target. The My Plan dashboard provides training plans that can be customised according to your needs, on the basis of your answers to a series of questions. You can also select from a range of ready-made schedules.

You can stay motivated and challenge yourself to reach your fitness goals, win rewards for the workouts you carry out and share your achievements with your friends using this Fitness Apps. You are able to create your own challenges too and invite friends to join you and encourage you on the way to achieve your goal in this Fitness Apps.

The Fitness Apps Strava

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

Fitness apps Strava aims to connect athletes throughout the world by providing a motivational experience without junk posts and ads that are seen on other social networks. You may join Strava for the Fitness Apps tracking ability but it’s inspiring and competitive community will make you stay. It is one of the top pick for social training purposes.

Strava’s community consists of millions of active adventurers, runners, cyclists and pros that keep a record of their activities. Strava has activity tracking that makes key statistics available such as pace, distance, elevation gained and calories burned as a result of the exercise. Also displayed is an interactive map pertaining to your activity.

You can also make a comparison of your performance with other those of other users and connect with the Strava community using this fitness apps. You can share the high points of your activity, stories and even publish photos of the top moments from your ride or run. You will be motivated and encouraged through the comments. In order to also indulge in a bit of friendly competition in your workout, you can aim for the best time on the leader board of the apps.

The Fitness Apps Yoga Studio

Android: $4.99

iPhone: $4.99

Yoga Studio is the most suggested yoga and fitness apps and for a valid reason. There are more than 70 standard and pre-programmed yoga and meditation classes with stages varying from beginner to advanced and lasting for a time period of 15 to 60 minutes. This Fitness Apps ensures there is something for everyone.

You can customize your class as per your need and can select on which aspect you want to focus on such as strength, flexibility, relaxation, balance or a mixture of all four. The explanation provides clear and easy to understand instructions on how to do a pose and how to transition from one to another flawlessly.

With instructions at every step for more than 280 poses, along with their benefits, variations, modifications and care to be taken for each of the poses, it provides you with an instant yoga library easily accessible from your pocket. You can also practice yoga regularly and fit it in your busy schedule by syncing classes with your phone’s calendar.

The Fitness Apps Sworkit

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

American College of Sports Medicine has rated Sworkit as the number 1 workout app for quality of instructional exercise standards and it is simple and customizable. Sworkit has brought more than 40 million workouts to people belonging to all levels of fitness. You can select your goals and aims to make sure you utilise every second after entering in your personal data into the fitness apps. The workout dashboard shows various exercises meant for cardio, stretching, strength and yoga demonstrated by your coach. You can view individual exercises by making use of the custom dashboard to assemble your own personalized workout.

You can select workout plans on the basis of your fitness goal such as to become leaner, fitter or strongerin this fitness apps. Each of these categories consists of workouts that are free of cost for seven days and are available at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Once you upgrade to Premium, you get full access to workouts that are guided, intervals that you can set for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and Tabata and endless custom workouts.

The Fitness Apps J&J Official 7 Minute Workout

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

A workout method based on science, the J&J Official 7 Minute Workout is designed by Chris Jordan, director of exercise physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. The fitness apps is based around research on HIIT and circuit training that demonstrates that small spans of hard exercise with short recovery time can develop aerobic fitness rapidly.

The setup is quick and you can indulge into a 7-minute workout, or 9.07 minutes with a warm-up. You can swipe between workout views with ease with the help of the slick interface which displays time, video or music that can be selected from your own music library in your phone. Based on your likes and dislikes you can give thumbs up or thumbs down for exercises in this fitness apps.

To learn how to perform every one of the 72 exercises securely and efficiently, there are video tutorials available which you can browse through. You can keep a track of your progress in the performance dashboard which indicates the days, amount of cycles completed, and work done. You can also share a snapshot of yourself with your friends while you are training to help keep you driven or perhaps to indulge in a little healthy competition.

The Fitness Apps Couch to 5K

Android: $2.99

iPhone: $2.99

Couch to 5K enables you to transform from a couch potato to running 5K in a small span of just 9 weeks by following their fun and easy training strategy. This app is ideal for beginners to motivate them to devote about 20 to 30 minutes to exercising, thrice per week to make them be 5K ready.

This tool, which helps in race training, allows you to keep a log of your workouts and share your development on Facebook. Your distance and pace growth can be observed in the graphs section, and workouts can be entered yourself if you have worked out on a treadmill.

You can chose from four interactive and inspiring virtual coaches that have audio cues as well to direct you throughout each workout and help you stay on track. You can also sync your phone’s playlists with this fitness apps so that you can listen to your choice of music while exercising.

 

Fitness Apps JEFIT: Workout Tracker Gym Log

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

This fitness apps is very helpful for gym-goers as it’s easy to log weight and track repetitions on each machine with just one click. JEFIT allows you to keep a track of your workout routines and your respite time, and log and chart all of your body measurements as you improve.

If you are a beginner at the gym, JEFIT makes available more than 60 routines for its users, specially designed by the JEFIT team themselves. In addition, there also 2,000 plans which are created by the community that you can uses to get started. An exercise dashboard shows a surplus of 1,300 exercises for cardio machines and equipment for weightlifting and also provides visual instructions on each step on how to perform the complete exercise along with useful tips.

JEFIT’s workout community is pretty active and you can connect with millions of other users or can add friends to keep yourself motivated. You can also share the progress you have made in your training with the community and compare the statistics.

Fitness Apps Zombies, Run!

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

Zombies, Run! is an engrossing running game and an audio adventure. After installation, a story is presented to you with details such as after a zombie epidemic you have to run and make it to the last remaining outpost meant for humanity’s survival. You aim on the way is to collect supplies, rescue survivors and secure and defend their homes.

You can save hundreds of lives and also discover the actuality of the zombie apocalypse by running in a park, walking on trails or even by jogging on a treadmill. Your mission and music channels will be conveyed to you through your headphones and you need to speed up if the zombies are after you.

The first four missions are free of cost and each week a new mission can be unlocked. Upgrading to Pro helps unlock unrestricted access to more than 260 missions and interval training plans. If you are looking for an adrenaline rush and an adventure, this fitness apps is just for you.

Fitness Apps Charity Miles

Android: Free

iPhone: Free

If you want to make a real difference with your training, Charity Miles is the best fitness apps to use. You can help charities benefit from you being physically active, simply like going out to get coffee, taking your dog for a walk, riding your bike in your neighbourhood or shovelling some snow. Users have helped raise more than $2 million for charity with this app.

You can choose from more than 40 charities to show your support, on initial setup. Once you begin you activity, you get sponsored by a particular brand to finish your task. The dashboard displays your activity, duration, distance and the entire amount earned by the community for the charity that you chose.  You will be motivated to put in extra efforts as all physical activity eventually contributes to charity. On the plus side, you will improve your fitness levels and overall health.

Fitness Apps CARROT Fit

iPhone: $3.99

CARROT Fit is an enjoyable way to get fit with your strict coach which is computer-generated. CARROT has just one goal of transform your unfit body into a perfectly physically fit one and stops at nothing to make you achieve this goal. CARROT  fitness apps uses bribery, inspiration, threats and ridicules to get you moving.

This fitness app is based on the same principle as the J&J Official 7 Minute Workout which is the 7-minute science-based method. The difference is that these 7-minutes involve sweat and pop culture, consisting of activities such as Celebrity Face Punches, Dragon Mating Dances and Mt. Doom Climbs. The routine is intense and you can take part in 30 seconds of hardcore and punishing exercise, followed by rest time of 10 seconds.

CARROT also tracks the number of steps you have taken and the amount of weight you have lost. It also displays your workout sessions on a calendar. CARROT will then evaluate your progress and if it is not satisfied with it, the feedback she gives is pretty harsh. However, if CARROT finds your progress impressive, she will present you with app upgrades as rewards. It is available in Google Playstore.

With the help from Google Photo Books app, one can now make physical albums. Creating photos albums now tends to get much quicker and less troublesome wherein the price seems to be reasonable and the end result is amazing. Google Photo Books which had been announced this spring has come up with this fabulous process of creating it with ease.  Uploading of photos tends to be time consuming and sorting them out could be troublesome.

Google Photo Books tends to reduce this process wherein one could just sort through the digital photo pile utilising the Google’s AI search chops, and choose 20 photos one would desire to feature. You can order them according to your choice.  A 20 page softcover comes at a price of $10 with 35-cents for additional page and the hardcover at $20 with extras at 65-cents a shot.

The feature had gone live recently though only on desktop.  Google had mentioned that Google Photo Books would come to the smartphone app shortly.  Creation of soft and hardcover albums from online photos was made available from firms such as Shutterfly, Mpixes and many others, for years. However Google Photo Books  process is amazing with regards to its speed and decision.

Google Photo Books Utilises Facial Recognition

Google Photo is an app that tends to back up photos from your smartphone and computer automatically so that the user is ahead of starting the creation process of the album since they need not have to upload a collection of photos to get started.

 

The amazing two year old Google Photo Books now tends to have around 500 million users. It utilises facial recognition to sort the people automatically of those people whose photos are taken the most and which one can tweak by tagging also.  According to the Google, around 1.2 billion new photos have been backed up on Google Photos each day. To get started, one could begin with a search for mom, dad, brother, son, daughter and more or rather a place or an event.

 

Then opt for the ones you want to utilise for the album and thereafter click `+’ sign towards the top of the menu and select `Photo Books’.  Once you arrive at the layout page, you will get some options here.  You have the choice of changing the title of your book, delete photos from the layout as well as move them to another page.

Innovative Sharing Tab of Google Photo Books

One photo per page is offered in the layout and it is what sets Google apart from photo giant Shutterfly offering several more options ending in slowing down the process. The books of Shutterfly seems good, however there were several options which were time consuming in completing.

 

An innovative Sharing tab is said to be added to Google Photos, providing a means of sending out photos of dear ones and friends from one’s photo sessions. Product manager, of Google Photo Books , David Lieb had commented that when one lives their life and do things, a bunch of photos are created though only a small fraction tends to get shared.  The challenge is how Google could apply machine learning in resolving the issue?  The solution is that they can figure out which photos one should take for sharing with friends and vice versa

Every day we are the ones who face so many challenges in our lives to survive and lead a normal life. But the hard truth is that our lives have been shaped by none other the science and technology. Recently, the latest update from the Google will please everyone as the company has kept its promise which was made last month by launching the latest feature of Backup and Sync from Google tool.The basic objective of the tool is to help the netizens to have their files or necessary documents backed up on their personal computer.

This comes as a replacement for the old software Google Photos desktop app in addition to the google drive for both the PC and the MAC. The features have been combined to give the new tool a spectacular addition which will make the tasks easy for the users. Now they don’t have to use different software or apps for the backing the files onto the cloud. The interface has got an improvised version than the previous ones and using the tool has got easier than before. You just need to sign in to your Google account and choose the files or the folders that you want to move to Drive. The tool will automatically sync with any kind of existing settings on your PC or MAC.

The Working of Backup and Sync App

The new Backup and Sync from Google tool can be used to back up the photos even from the Flash drives or the USB connected drives like the digital cameras or the SD cards. Once the backup is done you can access the files or the folders from the google Drive at any time. The drive can be accessed even from the tablets or mobiles. The photos will be available in Google photos. So even if they gest deleted from the mobiles or the tablets, they would be safe in your Google drive. 

The Software

The software is now a free version for the users and you can easily download it have your PC synced. The business users should not try this at once as Backup and Sync from Google is currently for the normal users. The company is planning to release another enterprise for the business and corporate purposes.

The feature is planned to be released later this year. With the help of the Backup and Sync from Google software, you can set your configuration and choose preferences. The photos that will be uploaded will be uploaded depending on your choice of preferences. You can select the type of quality to be uploaded for the photos and videos. Moreover, you can make changes in the Drive in your own way like managing deletions, editing, making certain changes. The best part is you can upgrade the storage part with the subscription fees which will give access to use more amount of space and save you offload your desktops completely and thus save space.

 

Every owner of an Android smartphone has to deal with them every day and loads them mainly from the Google Play Store. The talk is of applications, short apps. What many people do not know is that the expanding software can also be legally loaded onto the phone via various other sources: Alternative App Stores. How good is their offer? How safe are they? Whether the view is out of the box or whether the content is not an annoying adware. Continue reading…

Amazon App Store: Apps against data

There are so many alternative app stores. The best known is Amazon App Store. The application for the apps store is loaded onto the Android phone via APK file. As with the official Google counterpart, the content can be searched through a category overview and loaded directly – if you have an Amazon account. A few weeks ago, Julia has already looked at the offer more closely and showed maladministration. With the installation, the user grants the shopping giant a time to track and store the apps. For each minute the company pays a certain amount to the developers. So everyone should know for themselves what is worth the free app fun.

F-Droid: Freeware for geeks

Fans of Freeware will get their money’s worth at F-Droid – so the developers promise. As with Amazon Apps store, you can download and install the appropriate APK file directly from the website. The apps store lists all open-source programs, which are free of charge and at the same time ad-free. There are even a few useful root apps that have already been removed from the Play Store. But beware: this could lead to the destruction of the phone with unclean programs, because of the software deeply into the Android system intervenes. F-Droid itself promises to list only “clean” applications.

In addition to recommended software in “What’s new,” there is also a comprehensive, categorized list of available apps. An Even beta software can be downloaded and updated via F-Droid. An advantage over Amazon Underground is also the elimination of the registration force. Only gaming freaks should look with a weeping eye on the free apps store: The contents are very clear and mostly not really appealing. In addition, the open-source freeware is often a simple application, which can only be used by normal users.

GetJar: Restricted Play Store without Google Account

The developers behind GetJar have been looking to all those who want to download and use the free Android software without a Google Account. The apps store comes as a website, which can be called simply mobile. A categorization, as well as a curated selection, provides the necessary overview. However, this is not absolutely necessary because the apps selection is very limited. In addition, you are looking for paid applications at GetJar in vain. Contrary to the great example of Google, the apps exam is treated very negatively. One should, therefore, take an eye on applications with a certain skepticism. All too soon infected software could land on the mobile phone and pick up sensitive data.

Also, the update possibilities are only rudimentary. Updates must be played manually. Apart from the lack of Google constraint, Get Jar offers disadvantages mainly and should not be used in practice.

Slide Me: Apps-Store for everyone

The developer of Slide Me is a very special way. Unlike F-Droid or Get Jar, the user creates his own account. You can also use the account to publish your own applications through a developer upgrade. The store offers free, also paid content. For the latter a special prepaid account has to be charged, a single payment of the apps is not possible. The lower limit for charging is $ 5. In addition to the mobile phone bill and credit card, the re-valuation can also be made securely by Paypal. Anyone who makes software recommendations can earn money similar to Google’s apps. Annoying: Advertising is displayed despite paying content.

Something unusual is the look because it comes in the chic tile design, therefore. In addition to applications presented by the operators, “Top Paid” or “Latest new” are also displayed. If you frequently browse the Apps Store, you get a quick overview of new settings. Because it is all the sadder, the selection to the Google Play Store several below.

Conclusion: alternative apps stores with compromises

The Google Play Store is undoubtedly the undisputed Primus in the field of apps stores. It offers the widest range of Android software and is the safest way to install applications on the mobile phone.

Alternative apps stores like Amazon or Get Jar lure mostly with the free mentality. However, you often pay with your own usage data or in the worst case with the security of the smartphone. Due to the possibility of the Slide-Me users to upload their own apps, one of the few stores with paid content is not necessarily secure.

For Geeks, only one F-Droid can be given a recommendation, because there is mostly good open-source software listed and offered. Probably the best variant is, however, still applications from the Google Play Store to relate and thus safety in the data and device function ability to enjoy.

The best navigation app on Android and iPhone is Google Maps but taking into account that most of the users tend to use it while driving, it could miss out on some of its features. Irrespective of the user being new or experienced we could check on the best options of getting the most out of it.

Save Home/Work Addresses in Google Maps

Google Maps could be a bit pleasant by adding in your work and home address since it tends to simplify navigating to each place.  On tapping the three-line menu bar in the search box, followed by Place and add your home and work address.

Addition of multiple destinations

Setting up multiple destinations tends to make it easy.  However there are two types of adding multiple stops.  First plan the direction to the final destination and then tap the three-dot icon towards the top right area > Add Stop.  Then enter in the next location and the Map would then navigate you between them.  The user could add up to nine various stops at this point. On the other hand you could also add a stop midway along the route.  This could make up for a snack or a cup of coffee on a road trip.  You could start up navigation to your last destination.  Once Maps starts navigating, tap the big search button and search for what is essential.  Maps would only portray your choices along your existing route.

Save Your Parking Spot in Google Maps

Google has the facility of saving your parking spot with the latest version of Google Maps. When the parking is done, one would see a pop-up which prompts you to save your location which you can do so and then can also add more information such as what lot one is in or how much time is on your meter.  This is a new feature and if it is not seen, you could check for it at a later stage.

Using Google Maps for Saving Locations of One’s Choice

Based on how Google Maps is utilised, you tend to have convenient options of saving locations.  Generally, My Maps has always been the go-to though it needs you to have access to desktop computer.  Go to the My Maps site from your computer and create a private or public map which is accessible in Google Maps on the phone.  It would be convenient if one is developing an itinerary for a vacation or intending an event or working on a combined map with colleagues. New lists of features are available when one is on the go wherein you could look for locations on Google Maps and tap the Save Button.  You will then get a list of your locations inclusive of defined lists known as Favourites, Want to go and Starred Places.

Look at History to See Trips Undertaken

Google Maps, by default tends to keep history of every trip undertaken which could be useful or not.  You could tap the three line menu button, Settings > Map History where you can view all the various places navigated. You have the option to disable it by flipping the toggle towards the top of the screen to `off’.

Download Maps for Offline Viewing

Offline maps are essential if one tends to have a bad data plan with their phone or while travelling internationally.  You could search for a city or place name and tap the name or address towards the bottom bar.  Tap the Download button to save the map.  What is saved can be viewed by tapping the three line menu button in the search bar and then tap Offline Areas. In some of the case, one can still navigate and search for location in this mode.

Send Directions from Your Computer to Phone

If one has been viewing directions to a place on a computer and prefers to do the real navigation on their phone, you could send the data to your phone till you are logged in Google account on both the devices.  You could first search for a destination and locate a route. Once done you will see a possibility to send the directions to your phone if it supports Google Maps

Dig Deeper in Transit Directions

Google Maps is said to be an amazing way of getting around if using public transit where Google tends to do a good job of providing plenty of search factors in modification of search effects. You could search for a destination in Google Maps and tap the public transportation button where you will get a list of the options to get to your destinations. Should you desire to change the time around, you could tap the Depart at button and alter that to the options of your choice.  Moreover you could also tap the choice button in fine-tuning your results plus the choice of public transportation needed.