Smartphone Apps

This page is dedicated to the Apps which have been recommended by RNIBs' Technology for Life (TFL) representatives and other visually impaired users.

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing

1. Garmin Vivofit 4 activity tracker
   This activity tracker allows you to keep on top of lots of different aspects of health and fitness. The tracker is like a light, slim watch which is comfortable to wear all day and at night too. The Garmin Vivofit 4 tracks steps, distance and calories burned, monitors sleep and provides a personalised daily step goal. It also has useful tools that let you set alarms, start a countdown timer, check the weather and find your phone. There are more expensive options with more features, but TFL says this model has everything he needs.

2. MyFitnessPal
   MyFitnessPal, a completely free calorie counter and exercise tracker that you can use online via a website or on an Android or Apple smartphone. You input data like your height and weight and it then allows you to set goals, like your ideal weight and how much exercise you want to do. MyFitnessPal tracks your progress, by you adding exercise and the meals you eat. It’s easy to search for all the nutrition information about a food items by scanning the barcode or searching in a large database. It also contains healthy recipe recommendations.

3. Step Tracker
   This is a free pedometer and calorie tracker app, only available on Android (but there are lots of similar products for iOS too). In GPS tracking mode the step counter tracks your fitness activity in detail (distance, pace, time, calories) and records your routes on a map with GPS in real-time. But if you don’t choose GPS tracking, it will count steps with built-in sensor to save battery. It is not perfect, but definitely helps to reach your daily step target.

4. Oak – Meditation and Breathing
   Another recommendation from TFL is Oak – Meditation and Breathing. This app for iOS promises to help you decompress with both guided and nonguided meditation sessions. It also has exercises to improve sleep with relaxing sounds like a crackling fire or pouring rain and includes breathing exercises to help relax your mind. João says after few days, spending not more than 10 minutes, he notices a difference in his mood and patience.

5. Calm
   TfL Volunteer David Drummond recommends Calm, an iOS and Android app for sleep, meditation and relaxation. Calm comes with a selection of free resources including mindful living calendars and mental fitness training guides. David says that at £28.99 for a whole year, the paid for subscription option is pretty good value. It includes access to narrated stories, poetry, music, meditation sessions, relaxing sounds to help you wind down and relax and the timer function is perfect so you can just drift off to sleep.