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Best Apps to Follow Your Health Coach's Plan Between Sessions (2026)
Compare apps for following a health coach's plan between sessions: Practice Better, Healthie, ABC Trainerize, and BodyBuddy. Who each fits and what it costs.
Disclosure: The creators of BodyBuddy published this guide. We used each product's own website, help center, and App Store listing, and named where the other products are stronger. Features, prices, and availability were checked on November 11, 2026.
The short answer: If your health coach already runs their practice on Practice Better, Healthie, or ABC Trainerize, use that app first. It is free for you, it holds the plan your coach wrote, and your coach can see what you log. Choose BodyBuddy when the plan is fine and the six days between sessions are the problem: it takes the plan from any coach, in any format, and texts you every day until the next session.
A session with a health coach usually ends the same way. You agree on a few things to do this week, you feel good about it, and by Thursday the plan is a PDF you have not opened since Monday.
"Follow my coach's plan" can mean a few different jobs:
- See the plan your coach wrote without digging through email
- Log meals, workouts, or habits so your coach can review them
- Message your coach when something comes up
- Get reminded on the days you would otherwise skip
- Bring an accurate week to the next session
Most apps in this category are bought by the coach, not by you. That one fact decides which of them you can use at all, so this guide sorts them that way.
Quick picks
Best for | Pick | Why |
A plan from a coach or dietitian who uses it | Practice Better | Your coach's recommendations, programs, journals, and messages in one free client app. |
A wellness provider who invites you to it | Healthie | Goals, meal and mood logging, programs, and chat with your provider. |
A trainer or fitness-first coach | ABC Trainerize | Assigned workouts, habits with streaks, meal logging, and messaging. |
Daily follow-through on any coach's plan | BodyBuddy | You upload the plan yourself and a coach texts you first, every day. |
Comparison table
Features and pricing checked November 11, 2026. App Store offers can change.
Product | Who sets it up | What you do in it | What your coach sees | Platform | Cost to you |
BodyBuddy | You. Upload a photo or PDF of the plan, or record the session with permission | Reply to daily texts, send meal photos, ask what the plan says | Nothing, unless you send it to them | iPhone app, iMessage, and web | 7-day trial, then $29 per month |
Practice Better | Your practitioner | Read recommendations, log mood, food, and lifestyle entries, upload meal photos, complete programs, message your practitioner | Your journal entries and messages | Web, iPhone, and Android | Free. The practitioner pays, from $35 per month |
Healthie | Your provider, who sends an invitation | Log meals and mood, complete wellness goals, enroll in programs, sync a wearable, message your provider | The data you share through the app | Web, iPhone, and Android | Free. The provider pays |
ABC Trainerize | Your trainer or coach, who gives you a login | Follow assigned workouts, build habits, log meals by photo, barcode, or search, message your coach | Your workouts, habits, and meal logs | Web, iPhone, Android, and Apple Watch | Free. The coach pays |
What makes a between-sessions app useful?
A plan is easy to agree to in the session. It gets hard on an ordinary Wednesday, so that is where we would judge these apps.
It should hold the real plan
The version your coach wrote is the source of truth. An app that keeps that version, with updates when your coach changes it, saves you from following last month's targets.
It should make logging cheap
If logging a meal takes two minutes, you will stop by week two. A photo, a quick text, or a wearable sync is about the limit of what most of us keep up.
It should reach you on the days you go quiet
This is where the coach-bought apps are thinnest. Their notifications mostly fire when your coach does something. Nobody is paid to notice that you have not opened the app since Sunday.
It should make the next session better
The point of the week is to walk into the next session with a true record of it. Your coach can only adjust a plan they can see.
1. Practice Better: best when your coach or dietitian already uses it
Practice Better is practice management software that health coaches, dietitians, and nutritionists buy to run their business. The client portal is the part you see, and the company says it is included in every plan at no additional cost.
The App Store listing describes the client side as:
- Access to your provider's recommendations, programs, resources, and journals
- Mood, food, and lifestyle entries, with meal photos
- Secure messaging and video sessions with your practitioner
- Booking appointments
The portal page adds wearable sync from Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, and Oura, and meal logging from a food database of more than 600,000 items. You can use it in a browser without installing anything.
Its strength is that a human reads your week. Your coach wrote the plan there, sees the journal there, and answers there. No independent app can offer that.
The limit is that you cannot choose it. Practitioner plans start at $35 per month, and the portal exists for you only if your coach is a customer and has added you.
Choose Practice Better when:
- Your coach or dietitian already uses it
- You want your coach to see your food and lifestyle journal
- You use Android
Look beyond it when:
- Your coach uses something else, or nothing
- You log for a week and then drift
- You want something that speaks first
For a closer look at how the two fit together, read BodyBuddy vs Practice Better.
2. Healthie: best when your wellness provider invites you
Healthie works the same way from your side. Its App Store listing says that when you work with a wellness provider that uses Healthie, you receive an invitation to create an account.
Once you are in, the listing and Healthie's client help center describe:
- Logging meals and noting mood or progress
- Completing wellness goals
- Messaging your provider
- Enrolling in and completing online programs
- Syncing a wearable or Apple Health
- Appointments, forms, and video calls
The app is free and runs on iPhone, Android, and the web. One caveat from the help center: your provider can customize which features you see, and some are only available in a browser by default. So two Healthie clients may not have the same app.
Choose Healthie when:
- Your provider sent you a Healthie invitation
- Goals and meal logging are what your coach reviews
Look beyond it when:
- You have no invitation, because there is no way to join on your own
- Your coach turned off the feature you wanted
3. ABC Trainerize: best when the plan is mostly training
ABC Trainerize is built for trainers and fitness coaches, and a lot of health coaches who program workouts use it too. You get your login from your coach. The pricing page says there is no cost for clients, and coaches can start on a free plan that covers one client.
According to its features page, clients can:
- Complete assigned workouts, including on an Apple Watch
- Work on daily habits and earn streaks and badges
- Log meals with a photo, barcode scan, or food search
- Send 1-1, group, and voice messages, and join video calls
- Sync Apple Watch, Withings, Garmin, Fitbit, and MyFitnessPal data
If your coach's plan is four training days and a protein target, this is the most complete of the coach-bought apps. It is less of a fit for a plan built around sleep, stress, or a food protocol with a lot of detail.
Choose ABC Trainerize when:
- Your coach or trainer gave you a login
- Workouts are the center of the plan
- Streaks and badges help you
Look beyond it when:
- Your plan is mostly nutrition or lifestyle changes
- A streak has never kept you going past the first missed day
4. BodyBuddy: best for the days between sessions
BodyBuddy is the one app here that you buy yourself, so it works with whatever your coach handed you. That might be a protocol exported from a portal, a Google Doc, or a photo of a handout.
You upload the plan in the BodyBuddy app, review what it pulled out, and it becomes the plan your coach, BodyBuddy, texts you about over iMessage. The health coach page shows what that looks like:
- A text on training days saying what is on the plan, and a check-in afterward
- Meal photos or quick texts counted against your coach's protein target
- A chart of your weight trend or workouts when you ask for one
- With everyone's okay, a recording of your session, so new targets from your coach become this week's plan
The difference is who starts the conversation. The coach-bought apps wait for you to open them. BodyBuddy texts first, and it checks in when you go quiet.
We should be clear about what it is not. BodyBuddy is an AI coach with no humans behind the chat. Your coach does not see anything in it unless you send it to them, and a changed plan means a new upload. It does not run on Android. It costs $29 per month after a 7-day trial, while the other three are free for clients.
Choose BodyBuddy when:
- Your coach does not use a client app, or you ignore the one they use
- The plan is clear and consistency is the problem
- You want texts instead of another dashboard
- You use an iPhone
Choose something else when:
- You use Android
- Your coach needs to review your logs inside their own system
- You want a free tool
What about apps that come with their own coach?
Noom and similar programs pair you with their own curriculum and coaching. That is a different purchase. If you already have a health coach, a second program gives you two plans to reconcile. We compared the two approaches in BodyBuddy vs Noom.
What app helps me follow my health coach's plan between sessions?
The short answer: Start with the app your coach uses, whether that is Practice Better, Healthie, or ABC Trainerize, because it is free and your coach can see your week. If your coach has no client app, or you want daily texts on top of it, BodyBuddy takes the plan you were given and follows up every day.
Use this order:
- Ask your coach which app they use. If they have a client portal, your plan is probably already in it.
- Name where the week breaks. Is it not knowing the plan, not logging, or not doing it?
- Pick for that. A portal fixes access and review. Daily texts fix the doing.
- Keep your coach's version. Whatever you use, the plan your coach wrote stays the source of truth.
- Bring the record to the session. Even a rough one beats telling your coach the week went "pretty well."
Privacy and recording
All of these hold health information. Before you log anything, check who can see it. In a coach-bought app, your coach can see what you enter. In BodyBuddy, nobody but you can, unless you share it.
If you record a session to turn it into a plan, ask your coach first. Recording rules differ by state and country, and your coach should agree either way.
None of these apps replaces your coach, and none is medical care. For anything clinical, ask the professional who gave you the plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app for following a health coach's plan?
The one your coach already uses, if they use one. Practice Better, Healthie, and ABC Trainerize are free for clients and keep your coach in the loop. If the problem is follow-through between sessions, BodyBuddy adds proactive daily texts on any coach's plan.
What if my health coach does not use an app?
Then you cannot join Practice Better, Healthie, or ABC Trainerize as a client, because each needs an invitation or login from a provider. BodyBuddy works from a photo or PDF of whatever your coach gave you.
Are these apps free?
Practice Better, Healthie, and ABC Trainerize are free for clients because the coach pays. BodyBuddy has a 7-day trial and then costs $29 per month.
Which of these work on Android?
Practice Better, Healthie, and ABC Trainerize all have Android apps. BodyBuddy needs an iPhone.
Will my coach see what I log?
In Practice Better, Healthie, and ABC Trainerize, yes. That is the point of them. In BodyBuddy, no, unless you send it yourself.
Can I use my coach's portal and BodyBuddy together?
Yes. The portal stays the record your coach reads. BodyBuddy is the daily reminder to do what is in it. If your coach updates the plan, upload the new version.
Primary sources
Sources checked November 11, 2026:
Next steps
Related BodyBuddy guides
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- Best Apps to Import Your Own Workout Plan and Stick to It (2026)
- Best Apps to Turn Saved Workout Videos Into Workouts You Actually Do (2026)
- Can You Use Granola for Doctor Appointments? 7 Better Alternatives
- BodyBuddy vs Kin Health (2026): Doctor Visit Apps Compared
Everyone gives you a plan.BodyBuddy texts you until it happens.
BodyBuddy keeps you on track—from meals to doctor's appointments and everything in between.