Most days I read a headline about how we all spend too much time sitting and too little time moving. I try really hard to walk, exercise and move throughout the day – often relying on my Apple Watch to force me to get up. But Wakeout combines similar reminders with lots of things to do when you finally get up.
The Wakeout app (officially called Wakeout! Defeat Sedentary Life on the App Store, but it’s so clunky) uses information from Apple Health to work out how much you sit—I’m 14% sedentary, which is surprising as a freelance writer, but shows that my exercise worth it because I expected worse.
The app works by asking you questions about your day so it can find the best time to get you moving. It will then serve up thousands of different movements, stretches and interval exercises throughout the day, which is ideal if the advice to just stand still never works for you. It works on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, but I think it’s most effective on the Apple Watch because there’s no ignoring it – or at least that’s how it works best for me.
If you’re already wearing one of the best fitness trackers or an Apple Watch, you may already have access to features that let you set alerts and alarms, which means an additional app might be too much of a hassle. But if you don’t have or want a dedicated app, then Wakeout is a good option. You can see if it works for you with a 7 day free trial, after that it costs $11.49/£11.49 per month which seems very expensive so if you want to keep it be sure to go for the $52.99/52 option £.99 per year, which works out to $4.42/£4.42 per month instead.
What makes the Wakeout app better than your fitness tracker?
The best thing about Wakeout is the recently added feature called AI Health Reminders. I know the term artificial intelligence is all over the place right now, but what it means in this context is that the Wakeout app will learn more about your habits and schedule so it can make better weather recommendations.
For example, it’s not helpful to be in the middle of watching a movie and then you’re told it’s time to get up and go, is it? Yet that’s what many activity apps, fitness trackers, and smartwatches do—we’re looking at you, Apple Watch.
The idea behind Wakeout’s AI Health Reminders is that exercise reminders will come at more convenient times, and so far, in my experience testing the app, that’s really true. It’s hard to overstate how important this is to an app that promotes behavior change. If I feel like an app is bullying me or just another inconvenience, I’ll probably stop using it very quickly.
Honestly, this was one of my initial concerns with Wakeout, given that it uses fear tactics when you first sign up, citing all the health issues of not getting up regularly – valid, but I personally don’t think fear works as a motivator. Thankfully, it didn’t stick around and became a positive app in my toolbox for moving more and creating healthier habits.