[Sportsandrec] Accessible workout and nutritional apps (

[Kelly Thornbury]

I haven't been following this thread, so my apologies if this has already been mentioned. 

I've just started playing with an app called "Fitness Buddy" by Azumio Inc. This app has a "free" and a "pro" version, and I've been looking at the former. This app seems pretty accessible so far and has some decent features especially for beginner exercisers. The app has descriptions for over 300 exercises with HD pictures and illustrations if you wish to download them...being completely blind I liked the fact that I did not have to do this. I am having some difficulty with the descriptions as I can only get what I assume is the first step of the descriptions, but I have contacted their customer support and am hoping to hear back soon. 

The app also has a number of built-in workouts for beginner and intermediate levels, also based on the equipment available (including resistance bands and body weight workouts), or you can create your own customized workouts. 

Finally, the app allows you to log and chart your workouts. The app description does mention the feature of logging body measurements, but I think this may be only in the pro version as I could not find this feature in the free version. 

The biggest advantage to this app...It's free. You can check it you, and if you like it you can use it or even upgrade to the pro version. If it's not your thing, delete it and nothing lost. 

Another app I tried was called "Volt Fitness," hated it! Not very user friendly and the accessibility was poor. When I contacted customer support on this app the response was "Our apologies" and instructions on how I could request a refund from the Apple store for the app. My suggestion is to put this one on the "never mind" list. 

A third app is called "Instant Heart Rate," which uses your phone's camera to check your heart rate. This app has it's quirks, but overall I can get out of it what I want, i.e., my heart rate. Again, this app has both a "free" and "not free" versions, with the paid version logging more heart rate measurements than the free version (which only logs your last 5 measurements). The app also allows you to note what you were doing when you took the measurement (like "wake up," "before, during, or after exercise," etc). 

Finally for now, I'm using a food tracker called "Carb Master." Again, a few quirks, some of which I think have nothing to do with VoiceOver or accessibility, but certainly useable. Thousands of foods in the database, but sometimes it takes some real digging to find what you are looking for. Many foods are listed by brand name, which really helps. Also, you can put in custom foods (your favorite recipes, or foods you can't find in the listing). This app will let you know how many carbs, fats, and proteins you have left for the day depending on how you have set up your settings; keeps track of your daily consumption; will keep track of your exercise; water intake (although I haven't been able to get this feature to log properly), and you can log diabetes information (amount and type of insulin, blood sugar levels). 

Okay, that's enough for now. 
Kelly