The ketogenic, or keto, diet can sometimes sound too good to be true, though many people swear by it.
The basic idea is to eat more fats and fewer carbs to move your body into a state known as ketosis.
During ketosis, your body converts fat into compounds known as ketones and begins using them as its main source of energy.
The challenge in following a keto diet often comes in finding the proper balance of foods. But the right technology can make all the difference.
We gathered the best apps for those following a keto diet, based on:
- excellent content
- overall reliability
- high user ratings
Interested in giving keto a try? Ask your doctor first, then check out these apps for guidance.
iPhone rating: 4.8 stars
Android rating: 4.7 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
The Carb Manager is a comprehensive and straightforward app that counts net and total carbs, but that’s not all. Keep a daily log of nutrition and fitness, use the calculator to set your net macros and weight loss goals, and get detailed nutrition information about your logged data when you need it. Use the app to visualize your macros every day to stay on track.
iPhone rating: 4.6 stars
Android rating: 4.3 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Personalize your macro goals and get suggestions to hit your daily targets with Keto.app. Track meals with the barcode scanner, create grocery lists, and sort logged data by macro count so you know exactly where you stand.
iPhone rating: 4.7 stars
Android rating: 4.3 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Total Keto Diet is exactly what it sounds like: a keto diet app that gives you the tools to track everything — your macros, your calories, your favorite recipes — and a keto calculator to make sure you’re staying on track with your ketosis. It also features a beginner’s guide to keto in case you want to learn more and better optimize your keto journey.
iPhone rating: 4.4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
KetoDiet is an all-encompassing app. It’s meant to help you keep track of all aspects of a keto diet. This includes your favorite recipes, your diet plan along with how closely you’re staying on track with your diet, measurements of all your health and body stats, and numerous scientific references that can help you better understand how keto works and what you can realistically expect from a keto diet.
iPhone rating: 4.8 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Knowing what food you eat at home, when you’re eating out, and when you’re shopping can seem impossible because of all the factors that contribute to consistent and successful ketosis. The Senza app is an ultra-optimized app for logging and understanding the food that’s a part of your keto diet, from home-cooked meals to restaurant food and grocery store snacks. It even syncs with the BioSense ketone monitor that uses your breath to determine whether your body’s in ketosis or not.
iPhone rating: 4.6 stars
Android rating: 4.5 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Lifesum is well known as an app that can help you with almost any kind of diet plan you can imagine, and keto is no exception. Lifesum lets you set goals, as well as track calories and nutrients. It uses an algorithm to calculate how “balanced” your diet is based on your diet plan and personal goals. Using a colorful meter, it shows you how well you’re keeping up with your diet goals.
Android rating: 4.6 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
You like tracking your keto diet data? Cronometer’s purpose-built for those of us who really want in-depth, complex data. It breaks down your intake of nutrients, your macros, your micronutrients, your supplements, your exercise, your metabolism and much more. This app also pairs with the BioSense breath monitor and a wide range of activity trackers, such as Fitbit and Garmin, so you can keep all your data in one place.
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Don’t want to settle for just keto 101? Drama Labs provides advanced keto diet information. You can go beyond simply managing your carbs. You’ll get information to better understand what it takes to live the keto lifestyle, including info about standard vs. targeted vs. cyclical keto. You’ll also have access to a big database of keto-friendly recipes, including zero-carb foods that can help trigger ketosis more quickly.
Android rating: 4.3 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Stupid Simple Keto wants to make tracking your keto diet and your progress throughout your diet as easy as possible. It uses visual tracking imagery to make it easy to log your foods and see how you’re doing along your keto journey. The Stupid Simple Keto app simplifies the process of adjusting your diet to get the most out of keto in relation to your desired lifestyle and health goals.
Android rating: 4.6 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
A successful keto diet may sound difficult to achieve at first, but you just have to find the keto plan that works for you. Lazy Keto wants to make that possible for you whether you have all the time in the world to plan out every detail of your diet or you just have a few minutes a day to check in and track your progress. There are tons of recipes to try and customized plans that can help ensure that you see results from the keto diet, even if you just use the app to help get a leg up before you get into more advanced keto dieting.
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Tracking your macronutrients (“macros”) is one of the easiest ways to start understanding how the keto diet works and what you can do to achieve ketosis without getting into the messy details. MacroTracker gives you simple tools to track your macros from the foods you eat every day. A big database of foods, a barcode scanner, and goal tracking tools can help you quickly adjust your diet based on how the foods you eat help you achieve your keto diet goals.
If you want to nominate an app for this list, email us at nominations@healthline.com.
