We Tested the Simple App to See How It Helps With Intermittent Fasting

If you believe that intermittent fasting may work for you and are thinking about trying it, a popular fasting app called Simple can, well, simplify the process. It combines food tracking with support and coaching powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to help you stay on track.

I’m a registered dietitian, and I tested Simple to see how effective the app is as a tool for people who are new to intermittent fasting. This review covers the holistic app's details, including how it works, its features, pros and cons, and more to help you decide if Simple is right for you.

The Simple app is an intermittent fasting and weight loss app designed to help users understand their habits and teach them how to build healthier ones. The app is useful for both novices and experienced fasters. The clean design and user-friendly features helped me create a fasting schedule that worked for me, and the schedule could be adjusted as needed.

“Two key features stand out to me as a practitioner,” says Bergtholdt. “First, clients have an all-encompassing app where they can track their fitness and nutrition, as well as access fasting timers. Second, Simple offers users the flexibility to change their fasting windows during the week to correlate with the natural fluctuations in their schedules and lives.”

Someone may find the Simple app to be beneficial for a variety of reasons:

• They’re curious about fasting.
• They’re an experienced faster who wants to stay on track.
• They’re looking for an app that is easy to use.
• They want to improve their diet but don’t want to track calories.
• They want instant feedback on their meals and support from a coach.
• They want to improve their relationship with food.
• They want one app for everything — tracking, meal and workout ideas, and guidance.

The app says it’s customized for women, but many men say they’ve used it successfully, and the features appear to be applicable to all users.

After downloading the Simple app, there are a few easy steps to get set up and started.

Step 1: Sign Up To help the app identify my best plan and intermittent fasting schedule, I started with a brief questionnaire that asked about these characteristics:

• Health goals
• Age
• Height and weight
• Current activity level
• Typical meal schedule
• Motivation

The app also asked more specific questions about areas such as brain health and focus, gut health, stress management, and mindful eating.

Step 2: Customized Fasting Plan Based on my answers, a customized path was generated with an estimated timeline to reach my goal. The app stressed that I should keep in mind that this timeline is just a projection based on average users, and my individual results could vary.

Step 3: Walk-Through Once my plan was created, Simple walked through the main goals and expectations of using the app in a three-step process:

• Accountability This step emphasized the importance of a daily log for accountability and knowledge of the habits holding me back.
• Understanding This step educated me on the power of accountability and keeping track of unhealthy diet and exercise patterns so I’d have a starting point.
• Learning This step reminded me to use all the app's educational features and log in regularly for instant feedback.

Once I completed these three steps, I was ready to start using the app.

The app’s navigation is really easy and intuitive, with four icons along the bottom:

• Home My homepage to log food, hydration, movement, and weight also showed my daily goals and fasting schedule.
• Coach Coach Avo is the AI-powered feature that answers questions, supplies meal and snack ideas, and offers instant feedback.
• Explore The app’s educational hub includes workout plans, videos, recipes, and educational content.
• Progress This bird’s-eye view of my progress showed previously logged meals, hydration, and workouts. This is also where I could view my starting and current weight, and where I was in meeting my goals.

Customizing Settings

I particularly liked that I was able to customize the app's settings, including its appearance, notifications, and other fitness and health app integrations.

By default, all notifications are turned on to remind you when it’s time to start and stop eating or to hydrate. It also has other reminders to weigh yourself and be notified of weight changes. You can turn off any of these or keep some activated, such as the fasting reminders, as you adjust to a new schedule. I chose to keep them on.

Intermittent Fasting Schedules

“The most commonly studied type of intermittent fasting is 16:8, meaning an individual will fast overnight for 16 hours and eat in an 8-hour window,” explains Bergtholdt. “However, many of my clients are women and mothers, and this eating window does not work for their schedules.”

Olzewski emphasizes the importance of finding the right schedule. “Overall, it is essential for individuals to find a fasting schedule that supports their lifestyle, goals, preferences, and any preexisting conditions. Consult with your healthcare provider to find support for a schedule that aligns with your needs,” she says.

Based on the fasting schedule, Simple sends alerts when it’s time to stop eating, and Coach Avo provides suggestions on when to eat based on your eating window.

Throughout the testing periods, four features of the Simple app stood out.

User-Friendly Interface

Many health apps can be cumbersome to use, which makes it challenging to stay consistent. This app has a clear tutorial for each feature, and it took only a few minutes to understand how it works. This made it easy to stay on track and continue using it long term to reap the benefits. I really liked that the app allowed me to see where I was in my journey. I know from experience that clients who track their progress this way tend to be more motivated because they can see how far they’ve come.

Coach Avo

Simple is completely transparent about its AI chat feature, Avo, and the bot states that it is “trained by health experts but can’t replace medical guidance.”

I found the Coach Avo feature to be extremely helpful. Not only did it answer my questions about navigating the app but it also suggested ways to boost the nutrition profile of my logged meals so I could make improvements next time. For example, I logged a salad with chicken, and it suggested adding more fiber to make the meal more filling.

Photo or Voice Food Tracking

In addition to tracking food by typing, you can use photo or voice tracking. The app, which combines AI technology and expert insights, can estimate the nutrition facts of a meal from a photo or voice explanation.

When I used this feature, the photo was translated to text so I could check the accuracy of the entry before submitting it for review. This feature was very convenient, especially when I was on the go.

Nutrition Scores

The app assigns meals and foods a nutrition score ranging from 1 (low quality) to 4 (optimal) based on its nutritional profile. The criteria for scoring is based on the meal’s protein, fiber, saturated fat, sodium, and calcium content.

“I’ve had a few clients use Simple. The app reduces stress for my busiest clients who don’t want to think about meal plans or what to eat. They also like the accountability of using the app, and it helps keep them on track,” says Lisa Andrews, RD.

Brooke Baird, RDN, likes that “this app incorporates the why — i.e., the biggest driver — of your weight loss journey,” she says. “This can help keep you motivated and disciplined in practicing healthy habits.”

While the Simple app is user-friendly, it does have some downsides. Its smart use of AI can’t always overcome that it lacks human interaction. I also found it frustrating that past nutrition scores are sometimes lost, and it didn’t always accurately rate snacks as much as meals.

“The AI health coach technology is an exciting development, but I wonder how AI will adapt or manage the nuance that many individuals need to make health advice practical for their lives,” says Bergtholdt.

I’d love to see a human coaching feature for enhanced personalization and guidance, as well as the ability to see past nutrition scores and meals to help users make better decisions in the future.

Although the Simple app can be a useful tool in an intermittent fasting journey, it is not intended to replace personalized guidance. For best results, I recommend using this app under the supervision of a qualified nutrition professional such as a registered dietitian.

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Four subject matter experts shared their knowledge, opinions, and advice about this product. They do not have any financial conflicts of interest and have expertise in the products at hand.

I am also a registered dietitian and brought that professional experience and knowledge to this review.

My time testing the Simple app was beneficial, and I believe it can be helpful to new or experienced fasters who want to lose weight and improve their diets without calorie counting. I would recommend this app to my clients who want to incorporate fasting into their routines and those who want to lose weight and improve their overall health.

If you’re curious about fasting, consult a healthcare professional to see what may work best for you and what kind of tools — like this app — can support your journey.