Research-Based

Aaptiv Review – A Fitness App With Audio Focused Workouts

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By Ryan Brennan

Reviewed by Juliana Tamayo, MS, RDN - Last Updated

Aaptiv-Review

Whether you’re trying to meet your fitness goals during your home quarantine or looking for a long-term solution for at-home workouts, fitness apps are becoming more and more popular for people of all ages. 

If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve likely seen the advertisements and celebrity endorsements for a wide range of apps. There are wearable fitness trackers that push your exercise data to an app, like LETSCOM and Motiv Ring, workout video apps, and then there are straight-up fitness apps that don’t require a physical tracker and focus more on the audio aspect — one of those being Aaptiv. It’s an audio fitness app that doesn’t feature any videos. They will provide short visuals of how to do the exercise, but it’ll largely focus on audio.

If you’re looking for an app with a catchy and clever name, this one’s for you! Combining the words app and active, they’ve officially created an idea we all wish we thought of first. 

The name of the app is cool, but that’s far from the only thing we’re looking for out of a fitness app. Aaptiv checks off the first box, but let’s see if they check off the boxes that really matter. 

In this article, we’ll go through everything you need to know about Aaptiv — starting with how to get set up on this app. By the end of this review, you’ll know whether or not this is the right fitness app for you.

Aaptiv Review: Key Facts
🙂 Benefits Personalized Fitness Plans, Exercise Tracking, Variety of Workout Options
💊 Features Coaching, Exercise Library, Teams, Stats, Challenges, and more
💰 Pricing $14.99/month
Trial 7-Day Free Trial
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Getting Started With Aaptiv

Aaptiv is available to download on their official website as well as both the App Store and Play Store. After downloading, you’ll be asked to either log-in or “Try It Out Now.” If this is your first time using the app, you’ll select the latter option. 

In terms of getting started, you’ll have to enter some information and answer a few questions as a fitness assessment — much like most fitness apps. Here’s what you’ll be asked:

  • First Name, Last Name, Email, Password
  • What is your primary health goal?
  • How do you identify?
  • When is your birthday?
  • What’s your current level of fitness?
  • On average, how many days are you currently working out per week?
  • Which days of the week do you want to work out?
  • When you work out, how many minutes do you like to work out?
  • Do you like exercising alone or with others?
  • In a typical month, how many weeks do you exercise at least once?
  • What types of workouts would you like to do?
  • What equipment do you have available?
  • What is one healthy habit we can help you build?

Once you complete the survey, you’ll be given an option to either sign up for a monthly membership or continue browsing the app. Unfortunately, you will have to pay a monthly fee if you want access to workouts and programs. 

The good news is they offer a 7-day free trial, so you can give it a go before committing to it. In addition to that, the monthly membership will only cost $14.99. If you’re serious about using Aaptiv, you’ll get a lot of use out of those $14.99. 

If you accept the 7-day free trial, you’ll gain access to all the goodies they have to offer — which we’ll dive into below!

Aaptiv Features

After confirming your membership, you’ll be asked where you would like to start. You’ll have three options: Get a personalized fitness plan, pick a workout from a curated list, or join a multi-week team challenge. 

As you can see, the fun’s already beginning!

If you choose to get a personalized fitness plan, you’ll be directed to “Coach.” You’ll be asked to complete your first workout before receiving a customized program based on your results and goals. You can also jump straight to looking at different workouts by selecting the second option you were given. 

Now that you’ve completed your first workout, you’ll finally gain access to the many features available with Aaptiv. Let’s take a look at what they have for you. 

Coach

Aaptiv Coach

If you have a personalized plan, this is where your schedule will be with the workouts tailored for that specific day. You can view two weeks ahead so you can properly work your routines into your busy schedule. 

Browse 

Aaptiv Browse

In this tab, you’ll have access to all the different workouts and exercises available. They’ll be grouped by workouts you can do at home, new releases, getting inspired, and what’s popular. They’ll also break the workouts down into the following categories: treadmill, strength training, outdoor running, sleep, stretching, elliptical, indoor cycling, yoga, meditation, stair climber, and pilates.

Team 

This is where you can join smaller groups of like-minded individuals working towards similar goals. When a team challenge begins, you’ll be broken down into smaller groups. There will be two teams and you will go head-to-head. There’s a social aspect to this, allowing you to post your status and connect with others!

Programs

Aaptiv Programs

If you’re more interested in doing challenges alone, programs are the perfect fit! They have various different programs to choose from, including an upcoming challenge, weight loss program, strength training program, staying fit program, speed program, and stress relief program.

Invite 

Of course, Aaptiv would love for all their users to share their app with any friends that might be interested. They give you an easy way of doing so by email or text. They also have a guest pass feature that allows you to give friends and family a 30-day pass!

Profile

Much like social media, you’ll be able to add a profile picture, update your status, and view the various badges you’ve collected since joining.

Stats 

Aaptiv Stats

Your stats will break down your activity inside the app since joining. You can get a quick look at how many days you were active, workouts completed, minutes you’ve spent working out, calories burned, and miles ran. You can even break it down by the week, month, or all-time.

Saved Workouts

You’ll have the ability to save workouts that you’ve enjoyed. This makes it easier to find your favorite exercises and trainers at a later time. You can create different lists to organize them further.

Workout History

Don’t worry if you forgot to save a workout you completed recently, your workout history will list any past workouts for easy access. Simply go back to the workout, save it, and go about your day!

Badges 

Aaptiv Badges

This is a cool feature with Aaptiv that shows how active you’ve been with the app. Each workout category will have 12 levels to complete: bronze (1 workout), silver (5 workouts), gold (10 workouts), onyx (25 workouts), jade (50 workouts), amber (75 workouts), amethyst (100 workouts), topaz (150 workouts), sapphire (200 workouts), emerald (300 workouts), ruby (400 workouts), and diamond (500 workouts).

Notifications 

This is just a simple notifications tab that will alert you of any announcements you should know about. It will also send you reminders and let you know when someone has interacted with you. 

Settings

In the settings tab, you’ll be able to view your member information, rate the app, restore a purchase, manage storage and battery settings, contact support, and learn more about Aaptiv.

There’s a lot to view in the Aaptiv app, but they make it extremely easy for you to stay connected to what matters to you. With easy navigation, the ability to save what you enjoy, and track everything you’ve done makes Aaptiv a highly effective fitness app.

Breaking Down The Aaptiv Workouts

Now that you’ve seen what Aaptiv provides, let’s take a closer look at the workouts available. 

Aaptiv is a fun fitness app that anyone can enjoy, whether you like working out alone or with others. When sorting through the various workouts they have, you’ll get a good sense of what you’re getting yourself into by the description. 

After selecting a workout, you’ll be able to view the following:

  • Workout Name & Trainer Name
  • Time to Complete
  • Music
  • Level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
  • Rating (by other users)
  • Overview (brief description)
  • Calories You’ll Burn (estimate)
  • Equipment Needed
  • Exercises Involved (with quick visuals so you can prepare)
Aaptiv Strength Training

You’ll also have the ability to add the workout to your calendar, save the workout and add it to a list, download for offline use, and share with your friends and family. Once you start the workout, you’ll still have access to the visuals, but you’ll mostly be listening to the trainer. 

If you choose a program, you’ll be able to read a quick overview, discover what’s required to join (how many workouts per week), and what your schedule will look like. You can also view how many other members are included in that program. 

Aaptiv Workouts

There are literally hundreds of workouts per category, so you’ll never get sick of your routine and will always have new exercises to try out!

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Is The Aaptiv Subscription Worth It?

The $14.99 monthly subscription might seem like a lot compared to some other fitness apps on the market, but you’ll have to weigh that against the experience you’ll be getting. 

Most apps will be more niche than anything, only providing certain types of workouts or limiting the advice to just one or two trainers. On top of that, many apps on the market won’t combine music, social hour, and that personal touch you receive from having a real trainer.

With Aaptiv, you get all of that. Focusing more on the audio will make you more focused on your workout — and your trainer will be helping you along the way. If you do get stuck, you can easily pause your workout and view the cheat sheet (visuals) of each exercise. 

What you’ll essentially be getting for that $14.99 every month is a list of hundreds of workouts that will only continue to grow, an entire community ready to keep you motivated on a daily basis, and various tools to help you stay organized throughout the week. 

Comparison To Alternatives

When trying to find the right fitness app for you, it’s important to look at all the options available to you. Aaptiv is just one of many fitness apps on the market today, and you can expect even more to be created. 

Due to Aaptiv’s focus on audio, this app will be most effective for those that learn with their ears. The visuals they provide are a step in the right direction, but you’ll have to pause your workout to view them and keep up. 

With that being said, Aaptiv being more of an all-in-one fitness app (with the exception of nutrition tracking) gives it a leg-up on most fitness apps

For example, Sworkit is designed for those that need a quick workout randomly throughout the day. HeadSpace is designed for those that want to meditate. The 7 Minute Workout is another app that gives you super quick exercises. 

Even the higher-quality apps like Nike Training Club might be more intense than Aaptiv, but many people complain that it gets repetitive. MyFitnessPal is another highly-rated fitness app that gives you the full experience, but can be a little too complicated to navigate. 

Aaptiv Alternatives

Looking at Aaptiv, they solve a lot of that with a sleek and modern interface design, a variety of trainers pumping out hundreds of videos (and counting!), adding in important categories like meditation or sleep, and giving users a social platform to connect with each other.

Final Thoughts For Aaptiv

If you’re looking for a quality fitness app, Aaptiv has received a lot of positive attention recently — and for good reason! They not only make working out fun, but they appeal to all the different kinds of exercise-enthusiasts out there. 

Aaptiv makes it easy to meet other like-minded individuals, as well as keeping you organized with an easy-to-follow workout schedule. If you know what you’re doing, finding new exercises will be easy. For beginners, “Coach” will help you along the way. 

With Aaptiv, you’ll eventually work your way up to the Advanced level and feel more confident with yourself when you step into a real gym — if you ever need to! Keep in mind, Aaptiv is designed to work both at home and in the gym. 

Overall, I would rate this app a 4.0 out of 5.0. They have quality trainers that keep you motivated throughout the workout and provide a sleek interface to satisfy the users. They get creative with workout categories to help you meditate, fall asleep, and learn pilates. 

If you haven’t given Aaptiv a try yet, claim your 7-day free trial today! You won’t regret it.

Overall Rating:
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Ryan Brennan

Ryan Brennan is a health and fitness writer with both personal and professional experience in the field. His passion for nutrition stems from personal experiences dealing with malnutrition, low energy, and other health complications. Through research and experimentation, Ryan was able to overcome these issues and take control of his health. He now aims to help others do the same. Ryan has been writing about nutrition, fitness, and supplementation for the past 7 years. He also has experience in the field, serving as the manager of a high-end fitness facility in Las Vegas, NV where he currently resides.