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Since launching in 2018, FitOn has quickly become one of the top-rated workout apps and is often mentioned as one of the best fitness apps, period. Its coaches have become fitness celebrities in their own right, often appearing on daytime TV shows to announce their new classes.
Unlike many of the best personal training apps, FitOn doesn't just tell you what exercises to do. It strives to replicate the energy and coach interaction of a group class. It has even partnered with the most popular group fitness brands, like Orangetheory Fitness, CrossFit, StretchLab, Zumba, Club Pilates, and YogaSix, to create exclusive programs.
Sounds like a dream come true? Or maybe you're afraid that you'll get lost in the vast offerings of this app. Here's what you need to know before you download.
A Quick Look at the FitOn App
SPECS
- Features: Video workouts, workout programs, and interactive communities built around specific goals and interests
- Price: Free to follow workouts and programs. FitOn Pro costs $24.99 for six months or $29.99 for a year. In-depth expert-taught courses range from $29.99 to $79.99 apiece.
What Is FitOn?
FitOn is a video fitness app that features workouts in a wide range of styles, including weight training, stretching and yoga, kickboxing, high-intensity interval cardio (HIIT), dance, barre, meditation, and far more. Its workouts are all follow-along videos, with new ones published every day. When you log in, you can see the upcoming workouts and browse through a vast library of existing ones by time, intensity, style, equipment, and instructors.
None of that makes FitOn unique, but there are additional features that make it stand out. To start with, nearly all of FitOn’s workouts are free! Without ever having to give a credit card number, you can access hundreds of follow-along workouts, ranging from a 5-minute Nightly Unwind to a 49-minute high-intensity Full Body Party. Like a workout? You can "heart" it and find it easily in your Favorites, anytime.
Another thing that makes FitOn unique is that you can invite your friends to join a workout party with you. Similar to kids playing video games together, you and your friends or family members can have multiple cameras on screen while you laugh and struggle your way through a shared sweat-sesh.
What We Like
- Enough workouts to keep you busy for a lifetime
- Well-taught non-workout classes like yoga and meditation
- Situational videos and workouts; for example, at work, before bed, low-impact, with kids
- Free portion of the app is generous
- Pro version is quite inexpensive compared to competitors
- Easy to save and find favorite workouts
What We Don't Like
- If you're not a fan of sweaty, fast-moving group fitness-style workouts, this isn't for you
- If you don't upgrade to Pro, expect to get relentlessly nudged to do so
- Much of what you get with Pro comes free on other apps
- Workouts don't include details or experience level, so you're going into each one somewhat blind
- The difference between workout programs and “courses” in different membership tiers is unclear
FitOn App: Features
FitOn is a workout app first and foremost. You could try a new workout, yoga flow, or meditation every day for years and never reach the bottom. The teachers are capable, friendly, and well-versed in movement notifications for beginners. The overall vibe is a well-run group fitness studio packed with like-minded clients, as well as teachers that you like and who are excited to help you.
FitOn also features nutritional content like recipes and meal plans, but these are only available in the Pro version. The recipes are wide-ranging and packed with healthy ingredients, but a number of reviewers have noted that they can sometimes be over complicated and demanding. Even so, they're also beautifully photographed and expertly titled to tantalize your post-workout hunger, so don't be surprised if you find yourself considering an upgrade simply to access them.
Another large component of the free version of FitOn is the Friends tab. Here, you can invite your friends to join the app as well as subscribe to activity feeds in a wide range of groups based on nutritional interests (e.g., Intermittent Fasting Club), special needs (Newbies, Shed 100+), lifestyle (Single and Crushing it), and activities (Walkers United). Many of the groups have tens of thousands of members. The dialog is friendly and supportive and is largely focused on sharing histories, struggles, and workouts completed. FitOn "ambassadors" also pop up in the groups to share tips and respond to comments.
FitOn App: Price
FitOn is often marketed as a free app, and it's true that there’s enough free content in the workout portion to keep you sweating for years. But the moment you sign up, you'll learn about the FitOn Pro option, and you’ll be reminded of it over and over again via pop-up videos, emails, and blocked content. At times, it feels like all roads lead to Pro.
What comes with FitOn Pro? For the price of $24.99 for six months or $29.99 for a year, you'll get access to all the nutritional content, including recipes, customizable meal plans, and video guides. Pro also opens the ability to cast workouts and videos to your TV (something many other apps offer for free), and download workouts for internet-free watching. You'll also get access to music playlists and the ability to pair devices like heart rate monitors to your workouts.
Within the app there are also a dozen or so courses that are offered a la carte. They are taught by experts in specific subjects and cost between $29.99 and $79.99 apiece.
FitOn Workouts
FitOn's workout library features videos in 36 different categories covering a wide range of styles and also serves specific situations such as before bed, at work, with kids, for beginners, small spaces, and low-impact workouts. Its meditation and stretching classes are also categorized by theme and goal and easily searchable in the workout Browse tab.
Overall, the interface is pretty intuitive and easy to drive, but there are a few inconveniences.
One is that none of the workouts list details like movements or sets and reps underneath the video. So you don't really know exactly what movements or workout you're signing up for when you press play. Likewise, workouts aren't labeled by experience level but, rather, intensity, which can mean different things to different people.
Want something new? There's always something new. New workouts come out every day, and you can see who is following any particular workout with you in real time. With so many workouts, it can be hard to find something that you've done before, so if you like a workout, definitely favorite it so you can easily pull it up later.
As for the workouts themselves, the vast majority are set in a group fitness style of, "If you're not sweating and gasping, you're not working out." The "strength" workouts, "cardio" workouts, "toning” workouts all tend to feel pretty similar. If you like that style, this app will speak to your sweaty soul. If you want something a little more systematic or goal-focused, you may be better served by an app with more diverse workout options.
Equipment Required
There's nothing worse than starting a workout only to realize that you don't have the equipment necessary to perform it. FitOn combats this all-too-common problem by sticking with a few key pieces of equipment: a mat, light dumbbells, bodyweight movements. If you're looking for barbell, kettlebell, or other equipment options, look elsewhere. There are six or so workouts featuring bands as well, if you search for them specifically.
Who Should Try FitOn?
The FitOn app is a great fit for fitness beginners, because even the free version features hundreds of beginner-friendly workouts, and the groups provide an easy way to find community with people like you.
If you're someone who likes to go down the rabbit hole of new workouts and recipes, there's more than enough here to keep you engaged for as long as you stick around (although you'll need to upgrade to Pro to access the recipes). The meal plans are well-designed, albeit fairly generic, so if you have very specific dietary needs or need much guidance, working with a real nutritional coach is probably a better option. That said, you could still use FitOn for new recipe inspiration.
Our Verdict
If you're a fan of sweaty, interval-style training with minimal equipment needs, FitOn is absolutely worth trying. You may find that it gives you just enough workout options, tracking, and community to be all that you need.
The upgrades to the Pro version aren't game-changing (paying to cast to my TV? Really?), and the marketing drumbeat can be somewhat intense, but the cost is very reasonable if it helps you to stick with your program.
Why Trust Us?
ACTIVE.com's editorial team relies on the knowledge and experience of fitness and wellness experts including competitive athletes, coaches, physical therapists, nutritionists, and certified trainers. This helps us ensure the products we feature are of the highest standard. Collectively, the team has spent countless hours researching equipment, gear, and recovery tools in order to create the most accurate, authentic content for our readers. Customer satisfaction is also a key part of our review process, which is why we only feature products that are highly rated.
FAQs About FitOn
Is FitOn good for beginners?
With its wealth of no-equipment and light-equipment video workouts, FitOn seems to be designed with beginners' needs in mind. Because the workouts are almost all built around timed intervals rather than sets and reps, a more advanced trainee could also make any workout harder simply by, well, working harder.
If you have very specific needs or are looking for low-impact workouts, you'll find plenty here. Even so, beginners may find the number of workouts in the FitOn app intimidating. Filter for low impact, and you'll find hundreds of options, presented in a single long scroll. Which is the right one for you? Honestly, most of them would work just fine, but the more specific your needs, the harder you may find it to locate the best fit for them.
Are courses free on FitOn?
The so-called courses aren't free on FitOn and must be purchased one at a time. Individual workouts and many workout programs (which they call “experiences”) are free on FitOn. If you're someone who simply likes to try new workouts or follow your favorite workouts over and over, that can be enough, but upgrading to the Pro version will enable you to cast those workouts to your TV or download them to your phone. And there are certain other programs, like Six-Pack Attack, Slim Down 1 and 2, and Bodyweight Fit, that are only available in Pro.
What FitOn labels courses are more in-depth, systematic programs that can include either classes or workouts. They run the gamut from full-body workouts (Love My Body Bootcamp with Jeanette Jenkins or Total Shred with Kenta Seki) to nutrition (Heart-Healthy Weight Loss with Dr. Spencer Nadolsky), to physical therapy (Living Pain-Free with Dr. Tim DeFrancesco), to specific needs for demographics (Fall Prevention with David Jack). The courses range from $29.99 to around $79.99 as a one-time purchase.
Who owns FitOn?
FitOn was founded and is still led by Lindsay Cook, a former vice president at FitBit. She has said in interviews that as a busy working mom, she found herself missing the collective energy and coaching guidance of group studio classes and didn't think that most current online fitness apps replicated the experience. FitOn is her attempt to bring an authentic group fitness class experience to home workouts.
What is the best course on FitOn?
There isn’t a Most Popular tab in the FitOn workout app, and many of the hundreds of workouts on the app have well over 100,000 followers. So the best workout is going to be the one that speaks to you. You can filter a workout by time, body part focus, intensity, or equipment, and then see how many people have followed it.
Want to find something similar to your favorite group class? If you scroll down to the Experiences tab under Workouts in the app, you'll see programs that are created by big-name group workout chains like Orangetheory Fitness, CrossFit, StretchLab, Zumba, Club Pilates, and YogaSix.
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