6 Best Apps for Gut Health

OSbiome best gut health app

So, you’ve decided to take the reins of your gut health. Working towards improving your gut microbiome can be one of the most worthwhile investments you can make in your health. A healthy gut supports your overall health, not just your digestive tract. 

As powerful as gut health can be, it can be hard to know where or how to begin. There is an abundance of apps, websites, and information out there on what’s best for your gut, so it’s hard to know who to trust. Below, we’ve compiled the 6 best apps for gut health so you can get a head start on your gut-healing journey.  

Best Overall: OSbiome 

  • Apple Store Rating: 5.0 stars
  • Price: Free 

OSbiome is a gut health technology company based in Singapore. This is the best overall app for gut health as it will help you keep track of your daily gut health habits, show you reports of your progress, and provide helpful insights into your journey. 

The best part is that the OSbiome app will give you different tasks to complete every day based on your progress and goals. OSbiome has screened hundreds of clinical studies and collected thousands of data points to create a list of evidence-based actions that will heal your gut. 

You will earn points for every completed task and enjoy a nice dopamine boost as the colour of the app turns from red to green once you’ve reached 70 points in a single day. What better way to get motivated to improve your gut health? 

If you want to get really serious about your gut health journey, you can also order OSbiome’s proprietary gut health test kit directly from the app. This kit will allow you to get a detailed view of the current status of your gut health and receive personalised recommendations on the best thing you can do to heal your gut

Best for Recipes: Kitchen Stories Recipes

  • Apple App Store Rating: 4.8 stars
  • Google Play Store Rating: 4.7 stars
  • Price: Free with in-app purchases

As you probably already know, the most significant change you will have to make for your gut health is in the kitchen. Consuming more probiotic and prebiotic foods is the best way to reverse gut dysbiosis and foster a healthy gut microbiome. That means you will have to increase your plant intake, as well as introduce fermented food items into your diet like kimchi, sourdough bread, and kefir. 

The Kitchen Stories Recipe is the best app for finding healthy and gut-friendly recipes. With thousands of recipes along with video instructions and cooking tutorials, you’ll be able to easily cook tasty meals that are also good for the gut. Keep your and your family’s gut microbiome balanced and healthy with the gut health meal recipes from Kitchen Stories Recipes.

Best for IBS Symptoms: Bowelle

  • Apple App Store Rating: 4.8 stars
  • Price: free

Many people choose to focus on their gut health as a way to improve overall health. Others do it as a way to heal from gastrointestinal issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If you’re in the latter category, fear not. You can manage your IBS symptoms with the gut microbiome, and we have just the tool for you. 

Bowelle is a wellness app designed specifically for those who suffer from IBS. Its easy and interactive interface will let you quickly record how you feel, what you ate, and if you’ve had any bowel movements. You can track food, drinks, medicines, supplements and vitamins, and anything else you may have consumed that could affect your IBS. 

The best part is that you can quickly and securely share all of your data with a healthcare professional. That way, you and your primary physician can be on the same page regarding your IBS journey. 

Best for FODMAP Lookup: Fast FODMAP Lookup & Learn

  • Apple App Store Rating: 4.7 stars
  • Google Play Store: 4.7 stars
  • Price: Free

The FODMAP food group stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. These are compounds that are tricky to digest for people who suffer from gastrointestinal conditions like IBS. People with IBS are usually required to follow a low-FODMAP diet to manage the symptoms of their IBS.

Fast FODMAP Lookup & Learn makes it extremely easy for you to check the FODMAP level of a certain food. If you’re following a low-FODMAP lifestyle, you’ve probably struggled repeatedly to find accurate information about where a food falls on the FODMAP scale. This app will give you detailed and accurate FODMAP information about any food in a matter of seconds. 

The best part about this app is that it works offline, so you won’t even have to be connected to Wi-Fi or your cellular network to browse the web. Stuck on a plane and need to check if you can eat your meal? Just use Fast FODMAP Lookup & Learn!

Best for Tracking Food Allergies: mySymptoms Food Diary

  • Apple App Store Rating: 4.6 stars
  • Google Play Store Rating: 4.2 stars
  • Price: $3.99

Even if you don’t suffer from any gastrointestinal issues, one of the keys to gut health is keeping track of what foods you eat. This is for two main reasons. 

First, food diversity is the number one indicator of gut health, so you want to make sure you’re eating the widest possible variety of fruits and vegetables. Just increasing your plant intake isn’t enough–you need to eat a wider variety of plants. Keeping track of your diet with an app like mySymptoms Food Diary will help you keep track of what you’ve eaten and how diverse your diet is.

Second, you want to look out for any potential food sensitivities. If you’re sensitive to a particular food type, it means that your digestive system is having trouble breaking it down. This is bad news for your gut microbiome. While healing your gut could reduce food sensitivities, you should avoid any foods you are sensitive to as you’re working on reversing dysbiosis.

mySymptoms Food Diary is an easy-to-use food diary app. Not only can you import your meals manually, but you can also import by scanning the barcode of any products you’ve consumed. This app also lets you generate a detailed PDF report of your diet that you can share with your primary care physician to track your progress and locate any patterns.

Best for Alternative Medicine: Nerva - IBS Hypnotherapy

  • Apple App Store Rating: 4.8 stars
  • Google Play Store: 4.7 stars
  • Price: Free with monthly subscription options

Nerva is a science-backed app that uses hypnotherapy to treat IBS. Before you dismiss it as pseudoscience, you should read up on the gut-brain axis. There is ample evidence showing that there is bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain. This means that our central nervous system has a direct impact on our gut, including gastrointestinal issues like IBS.

Nerva seeks to take advantage of the gut-brain axis by using psychology to heal the gut. With its hypnotherapy sessions, Nerva can change your gut-brain communication to a positive one. All of this can be achieved in as little as six weeks by completing the Nerva hypnotherapy program. This can be a great way to work on your gut health if you are not ready or otherwise unable to make big changes in your diet. 

A self-conducted Nerva study found that 89% of users who completed the six-week hypnotherapy program reported improvements in their gastrointestinal symptom management. Could you be the next Nerva user to report such improvements?