Look, if there’s one thing that I’ve taken away from the pandemic, it’s that you can do almost anything from the comfort of your own home—including fitting in a quick flow before a Zoom meeting thanks to the many, many, (many) yoga apps out there.
Since the much-loved form of exercise is an easy way to de-stress and stretch out sore muscles, I’m not going to let decision fatigue turn you off from becoming your best yoga-loving self. Instead, just peep through this curated list of the best yoga apps that you can download on your iPhone or Android. It’s been made with love thanks to a combo of stellar reviews, overall rankings, aaaand price!
If you’re still feeling meh about hitting up an in-person studio (I get it!), want to graduate from watching YouTube yoga workouts, or just generally like getting sweaty in private (lol, sorry not sorry), these yoga apps were made for you. Happy posing!
Track yoga is great for, well, staying on track with your yoga routine! It offers a wide variety of classes tailored to improve your mental health, de-stress and work on your flexibility. It’s super beginner-friendly and with its point system, you can unlock premium content by frequently using the app and meeting your goals.
You may be familiar with Peloton’s killer spin classes (and influencer instructors), but its yoga courses stand out the most. The classes are streamed live from the New York City studios, so it’s basically like you’re there IRL. Something else we love: The app offers a 30-day free trial before you need to sign up for a membership.
While the highly-rated app is specifically designed to help you with your flexibility, it has SO many other great features. You can set up a yoga plan anywhere from five days to six weeks while also bopping along to some v solid Spotify playlists.
If you’re more into the zen and breathing side of yoga, this app offers a series of exercises that’ll help you with that. The exercises are synced with music (and fun animations) to show you how to breathe properly to relax your mind with meditation. Each session lasts 15 minutes.
5. If you need some zen in your life:
LIBERATE
Free to download and $9.99/month or $71.99/year for a subscription on the App Store and Google Play
If you’re actually looking to begin a daily meditation routine and not just the occasional breath exercise, this app will change your life. Featuring a series of 260+ sessions led by teachers of color, you can tailor your experience to help with anxiety, stress, depression, sleep issues, and more. All sessions are less than 25 minutes so you can fit it in whenever you want!
6. If you need something that’s easy AF to follow:
Sworkit is the fitness app that has just about everything you could imagine for your workout journey that doesn’t require leaving the house OR purchasing a bunch of equipment. Working with a physical therapist? It’s got exercises for that. What about something easy to follow along with your younger siblings or kids? Sworkit launched a Youth Initiative program with a library filled with kids’ workouts that is completely free without a subscription. Like I said, it really thought of everything.
The yoga workouts on this app (led by yoga teacher and writer Jessamyn Stanley) aim to promote both peace of mind and peace of body. Stanley has personally created hours of routines that are suited for a variety of different body types and shapes. Stretching + self-love = the best combo.
8. If you want to close those rings:
APPLE FITNESS+
Free to download and $9.99/month or $79.99/year for a subscription on the App Store.
There’s no better feeling than closing your activity rings on your Apple Watch at the end of a long day. Trust. Apple Fitness+ offers up premium content for you to follow along fully virtually from your phone, your TV, your laptop—just wherever you can stream a video. You can even peep your heart rate in real-time as you’re going through the motions of your yoga sesh.
9. If you’re willing to feel the burn every day:
YOGA WORKOUTS BY DAILY BURN
Free to download and $23.99/year for a subscription on the App Store.
Oof, you might come out feeling sore after the first class with this one. But it’s worth it, trust me. Daily Burn helps customize weekly yoga plans that you can download and just use whenever’s convenient. You set your specific goals, have one-on-one trainer time, do some daily stretching, and push through each day.
If you’ve ever attempted crow pose or a ridiculously hard handstand, you know nailing it takes practice. With Pocket Yoga, you can search through more than 200 postures, pick the one you’re currently struggling with, and watch an animation show you proper alignment. Still not getting it? Check out the detailed written instructions and tips on how to do it yourself.
11. If you’re a newbie who wants to practice regularly:
DAILY YOGA
Free to download or $9/month or $99/lifetime for pro subscription iTunes and Google Play
If you’re looking to take up a new healthy yoga habit, Daily Yoga has one- to two-week programs that will help you get into the flow (get it?) of practicing regularly. Check out the two-week Yoga Basics for Beginners program, which provides users with a daily pre-recorded class to follow. Each day, you’ll get a reminder to get your downward dog on and suggestions for what session or program to take next.
12. If you‘re a bit of a control freak:
YOGA STUDIO: MIND & BODY
Free to download or $8/month for a subscription on iTunes and Google Play
Want to choose your own yogi adventure? This app’s class building feature allows you to customize the moves you do during your practice. Just pick the poses you want from the app’s library, and use the smart-link function that strings the postures together into one cohesive flow you can follow via video.
13. If you get bored easily:
DOWN DOG
Free or $8/month or $50/year with a membership on iTunes and Google Play
With more than 30,000 classes, Down Dog is workout-rut proof. Being uninspired by your workout is no excuse!! To find your perfect practice, choose your yogi level, the type of workout you want (say, a quick flow or sun salutation), what you want to focus on (like hip openers or restorative poses), how much time you have, how fast you want to flow, and a soundtrack. Boom. Repeat as needed.
Hey, cardio junkies, Glo has classes to complement your regularly scheduled sweat sessions. Just search for your sport in the app, and you’ll see an array of sequences made to stretch the muscles you use the most and strengthen the ones you don’t. And with classes ranging from five minutes to two hours, you can choose a practice that works with your schedule.
Yoga pros and Insta-stars like Briohny Smyth and Koya Webb lead you through nearly 1,000 classes from vinyasa to straight-up meditation. If you’re looking to score some likes by posting your own yogi handstands, check out Alo Move’s handstand workshop. You’ll progress through a series of nine classes that help you prep for the handstand and teach you how to crush it. Oh, and you get one month free when you buy any Alo Yoga apparel.
Open the excuse-proof app and press start to kick off the sequence of the day, and you’ll see a photo of the move, a description of how to do it, and a minute-long countdown clock for how long you should hold each pose. After five of them, you’re done, and you get a new set every time you open the app. Bonus: It’s free!
If you’re looking to get your butt kicked yogi style, this app turns up the burn by adding strength exercises, like planks, push-ups, squats, and high-intensity intervals to its classes. Each instructional video is shot in a gorge space, like tropical locales, so you have something pretty to look at while your muscles are crying. Need a breather? Try some of the app’s low-key sequences that focus on slow stretches, easy flows, and balance.
If you work best when you have a community to hold you accountable, you’ll love this app by inspiring yogi, Adriene Mishler. She’ll lead you through more than 100 hours of yoga, which you can download to your phone and watch sans WiFi. After you finish one of her videos, message others in the community who’ve also conquered the class. You might just find your people here.
Set your alarm in the app to wake up and launch into an audio-guided yoga or meditation sesh you can do from BED. Yes, BED. Each one is beginner-friendly and lasts 10 minutes or less. Your morning Instagram scroll can wait a sec.
This article was originally appeared in Cosmopolitan.
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