8 best designed Health apps we've seen so far

Health apps have become our essential companions these days, guiding us toward better health and well-being. 

But with countless options available, which ones truly are better than others? 

We've curated a list of the top 8 health apps that do their job correctly and captivate users with their exceptional design. 

Dive in to discover the apps that are setting new standards in Healthtech.

2025 update: best Health app UI, UX, and retention

Health apps have moved from "nice to have" to a daily habit. More than 40% of adults in the United States report using a health or fitness app, and wearable use keeps climbing.

At the same time, keeping people engaged is still difficult. Only about 7% of users are still using a typical health app 30 days after they download it.

That means design is no longer just visual polish. Design is retention, trust, privacy, clarity, and empathy.

We’ve updated this article for 2025 with fresh health app UX examples, real engagement patterns, and very practical lessons for anyone building a healthcare app, wellness product, or digital therapeutics platform. We’ll also show how we evaluated each app, where each app wins, and how you can apply the same ideas in your own Healthtech product.

This update also adds:

• A clear TL;DR for quick scanning.
• Our selection criteria and methodology.
• UX takeaways.
• Mini conclusions for each app.
• Internal links to related reads on Healthtech product design, accessibility, AI in healthcare, and design systems from the Merge blog.

TL;DR – best designed health apps in 2025

If you just need fast answers for "best health app design" or "top Healthtech UX examples":

Best for stress and sleep support:

• Calm – Calm visuals and guided sleep experience set the bar for mental wellness UI.

Best for full-spectrum mental health:

• Headspace – Clear microcopy, playful illustration system, and structured mental health journeys that now include coaching and even an AI companion.

Best for people who want tailored guidance, not generic content:

• Balance – Hyper-personal meditation plans that adapt every day based on user feedback and goals.

Best for habit stickiness and playful accountability:

• Waterllama – Habit building through character-driven hydration tracking, widgets, and Apple Watch logging. The app now lets you collect 100+ animal characters and log 40+ beverages.

Best for sustainable training and rest awareness:

• Gentler Streak – Apple Design Award–winning fitness tracking that protects recovery, not just intensity.

Best for emotional self-regulation and EQ skill building:

• Ahead: Emotions Coach – Emotional intelligence training delivered in small, guided steps with behavior science and progress tracking.

Best for condition education and adherence support:

• Vik by Wefight – Condition-specific AI companion that supports patients with chronic disease or cancer in plain language, 24/7.

Best for long-term weight and health management:

• Noom – Behavior change and daily coaching built around psychology, habit tracking, and optional clinical programs like GLP-1 guidance.

We explain how we scored them in the Methodology section below.

Specifics of Healthtech software design

Healthtech software design is basically the process of creating user-centered and intuitive digital products for healthcare applications. 

As a Healthtech design agency, we strive to make this process as streamlined as possible; however, we also know that the healthcare environment is quite unique in its complexity. 

You need to protect sensitive data and also fulfill the needs of various stakeholders, including patients, providers, and administrators.

You also need to design for different ability levels, different ages, and sometimes different levels of health stress. Older adults are increasingly comfortable with mobile health tools – 71% of adults 50+ use smartphones or tablets and are open to using health and wellness apps – but they still worry about privacy and clarity.

This means accessibility, plain language, readable typography, and transparent consent flows are part of UX, not add-ons.

On top of that, AI is now inside most serious health apps. More than one in three Americans say they already use AI for meal planning, emotional support, or researching symptoms. So Healthtech design in 2025 also means designing safe AI touchpoints that feel supportive, not invasive.

Why good design matters in Healthcare

Good healthcare apps put users first. They focus on keeping patients safe, making the app easy to use, and building trust. 

These apps simplify complex tasks, reducing frustration and mistakes in important healthcare situations. When apps are designed with patients in mind, users feel more confident and loyal.

Easy-to-use menus, simple words, and features that respond to user needs all help make people feel more comfortable. This is especially important in healthcare, where keeping information private and accurate is one of the top priorities.

Poor clarity can lead to skipped medication, missed follow-ups, or wrong self-reporting. Strong UX can do the opposite – it can increase adherence.

For example, apps that send relevant reminders and explain treatment steps in everyday language have shown that patients engage more and track treatment more consistently.

When you add privacy expectations (HIPAA, GDPR, and local data rules), design also becomes your first trust signal. Research into health apps used mainly by older adults found that many of them do not clearly state their compliance with HIPAA or GDPR, and most lack obvious breach protocols.

A confusing privacy experience can quietly push users away or trigger churn in onboarding.

Benefits of design in Healthcare

Did you know that easy-to-use apps with clear layouts tend to keep users longer? Here’s what you can expect if your app has a good design:

1. Better user engagement. A user-friendly app design keeps people coming back. In healthcare, regular use can improve health outcomes and build customer loyalty. 

Engagement is not automatic. Most apps lose almost everyone within the first month. Only about 7% of users still open a typical mobile health app after 30 days, which means retention features like check-ins, reminders, streaks, and gentle coaching are not “nice to have.”

2. Stronger brand reputation. A well-designed app looks professional and trustworthy. This is key in healthcare, where data privacy is crucial. When users trust an app, they're more likely to recommend it, helping the brand grow and become a leader in user-friendly healthcare tech.

Your brand and your compliance posture are linked. Simple privacy language, WCAG-friendly contrast, and predictable navigation signal that you respect users’ mental load. This matters in care settings where people are tired, anxious, or in pain.

3. Competitor advantage. Apps that focus on patient needs and look good are more likely to be chosen over those that only care about features.

Most “feature rich” products lose people because the interface is heavy. The winning Healthtech products in this list are usually the ones that hide complexity until the user is actually ready for it – progressive disclosure instead of dumping every metric upfront.

4. Lower support costs. When an app is easy to use, users make fewer mistakes and need less help. This means fewer customer support calls, which saves money. 

You also cut the clinical support load. If people can self-report symptoms correctly and follow instructions without calling, your care team gets time back.

5. Faster updates and compliance. A well-designed health app is often easier and quicker to update. Quick updates help avoid delays or fines. Good design practices also make it easier to make changes without disrupting the user experience.

Reusable design systems and clear component libraries matter here. If you document UI patterns, your legal and compliance reviews also get faster, because the core flows repeat instead of changing every release.

We break this down in more detail in our post on why consistent UI design systems matter for digital products, including healthcare: Consistent UI design systems build trust and reduce UX drift.

6. Better business insights. A good health app encourages users to interact, like tracking symptoms or checking in regularly. This creates valuable data about how people use the app. You can use this information to make smart decisions about improving the app and keeping users engaged.

If you’re working with AI copilots or digital coaches, better data also makes personalization safer and less annoying, which is important when users are sharing health information, mental health notes, or medication logs.

7. More revenue opportunities. When users enjoy an app, they use it more often. This can lead to more sales of premium features or subscriptions. Also, healthcare providers are more likely to partner with or use an app that patients like and trust.

Paid coaching tiers, condition-specific education modules, and premium analytics dashboards are now standard in wellness and chronic care management apps. You can already see this in mental health coaching (Headspace), AI companions in chronic care (Vik), and medically supported weight programs with optional GLP-1 plans (Noom).

If you plan to monetize through paywalled care, design has to justify that upgrade by looking reliable and medically aligned before you ever mention price.

Healthtech web design vs. Healthtech product design

Healthtech websites are online platforms that provide health information, support, and services. 

They often include features like booking appointments, offering health resources, and allowing patients to view their medical records or bills. These websites are designed to work well on different devices, with easy-to-use layouts and navigation.

When designing health websites, the focus is on making it easy for users to find what they need. This includes using clear buttons for actions like "Book an Appointment". The goal is to help users quickly access information with as few clicks as possible.

Health websites are often the first place people go for health information. That's why it's important to make them easy to find through search engines. A well-designed website can attract more visitors and encourage them to use the health services offered.

We cover Healthtech site UX, information architecture, and conversion paths for care delivery in more depth in our healthcare-focused AI article – including how AI assistants and symptom checkers show up on public sites. AI in healthcare: benefits, limits, and design challenges.

Health apps for smartphones are different from websites. 

They provide tools that patients and doctors can use regularly. These might include features for tracking health data, talking directly with healthcare providers, and getting personalized health advice. These apps are designed for frequent use and have easy-to-follow steps for users.

Health apps often offer personalized features like reminders to take medicine, custom health tips, and ways to track your health progress. Because these apps handle sensitive health information, keeping data secure is very important. This means using strong protection measures to keep user information safe.

Unlike websites, health apps often need to pass strict safety tests, especially if they're used for diagnosing or treating health conditions. Developers use special testing methods to make sure these apps are safe, reliable, and easy to use while meeting all necessary health standards.

Apps also need to keep people coming back every day, which is much harder than getting a pageview. This is where UX patterns for streaks, emotional support, “gentle nudge” reminders, and personalization start paying off. See Gentler Streak, Waterllama, and Balance below for good real-world examples of daily stickiness without shame or pressure.

If you’re building a Healthtech app that needs recurring engagement – telehealth, symptom tracking, mental health support, medication adherence – study these retention loops first.

For more on how clinical tools and AI assistants can be introduced safely in health-facing apps and dashboards, see our breakdown of NLP uses in healthcare interfaces: NLP in healthcare and how it shows up in digital products.

Methodology – how we picked the 8 best designed health apps

We looked at dozens of mobile healthcare, wellness, and behavior change products across iOS and Android.

Then we scored them based on 5 design criteria that matter in 2025 for Healthtech UX and business growth:

1. Clarity and accessibility. Is the interface readable, calm, and predictable for stressed or tired users (including older adults and neurodiverse users)?

2. Personalization that actually adapts. Does the app react to mood, ability, diagnosis, or progress instead of pushing the same routine on everyone?

3. Behavior change support. Does the app help you stick with daily habits over time without guilt or shame, and does it explain “why this matters.”

4. Trust, privacy, and clinical credibility. Is sensitive data handled transparently, and is the medical or psychological guidance presented in a responsible way?

5. Visual and interaction design quality. Do layout, color, animation, and navigation help the experience feel supportive instead of overwhelming?

We also took into account:

• Public recognition, such as Apple Design Awards, App Store Awards, or category leadership on iOS / Android.
• How well each app communicates value to first-time users during onboarding.
• How easily a product team could scale and maintain the design system, which matters a lot in regulated spaces.

This is not medical advice. We’re focusing on UX and product usability.

Best health app design: top 8 applications

Below, you’ll discover our selection of the best health app designs.

Each mini-review includes “Best for” and “Key UX highlights” so you can benchmark quickly.

1. Vik app by WeFight

Vik is an AI-powered virtual assistant created by Wefight to support patients with chronic diseases and cancer. The app offers clear, scientifically backed information to help users navigate their healthcare journey. Its design is user-friendly and interactive, and it has a simple interface that answers questions any time, day or night. 

The app includes features like personalized reminders and interactive quizzes, making it engaging and easy to use.

The app's availability in multiple languages and countries makes it accessible to a wide range of users, making it a top choice among healthcare apps.

Best for:

• Patients managing long-term conditions such as cancer or other chronic illnesses who need reliable, always-on guidance without medical jargon.

Key UX highlights:

• 24/7 conversational support that feels human instead of clinical.
• Medication reminders and symptom tracking presented as “support,” not alerts.
• Content co-created with patient groups and medical teams, which builds trust.

Mini-conclusion:

Vik shows how AI companions in healthcare can be empathetic, simple, and clinically aligned. This is important in 2025, when more than one in three people now say they already use AI tools to manage parts of their health.

Related read:

If you’re thinking about AI assistants in care workflows, we cover AI’s role in patient support and provider load in our article on AI in healthcare and its challenges: AI in healthcare: benefits, limits, and design challenges.

2. Calm

Calm is a meditation and relaxation app designed to help users manage stress, improve sleep quality, and enhance overall well-being. It offers guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing exercises, and soothing music. 

The app has a serene user interface with soothing sounds and natural landscapes like birds chirping and rain falling, all to create a tranquil environment. 

The guided meditations, sleep stories, and relaxation music are accessible through an intuitive navigation system. Users can also customize their experience by selecting themes and adjusting settings.

Best for:

• People who mainly want better sleep, less stress, and “press play” relief without needing to build their own routine.

Key UX highlights:

• Strong audio-first storytelling with Sleep Stories voiced by recognizable narrators.
• Calm visual system and nature soundscapes that set user expectations the second the app opens.
• A growing “lifestyle” hub with daily rituals, commute meditations, and travel soundscapes, which makes Calm feel present throughout the day, not only at bedtime.

Mini-conclusion:

Calm treats stress and sleep support like a media experience, not a medical dashboard. That’s why it still leads the sleep-and-stress space.

3. Headspace

Headspace is a mindfulness and meditation app that provides guided sessions to improve mental health. It also offers courses on stress management, sleep improvement, focus enhancement, and physical health. The app also includes sleep casts, music, and mindful movement exercises.

Headspace has a playful and minimalist design and uses vibrant colors and simple animations to make meditation more approachable. The app’s interface allows easy access to various meditation programs, sleep aids, and movement exercises.

Today, Headspace positions itself as an everyday mental health companion. That includes breathing exercises, CBT-style techniques, mental health coaching, affordable therapy access, and even an AI assistant called Ebb for on-demand support.

Best for:

• Users who want more than meditation – they want emotional support, sleep help, coaching, and structure without navigating the healthcare system on their own.

Key UX highlights:

• Playful illustration and approachable microcopy that lower the barrier for anxious first-time users.
• Simple card-style navigation that slices mental health into small, doable steps instead of medical-sounding protocols.
• Built-in progress tracking and reminders, which help users stay consistent across sleep, movement, and stress work.

Mini-conclusion:

Headspace shows how mental health apps are moving toward “360° support” – sleep, therapy, and daily check-ins – while keeping the tone friendly instead of clinical.

4. Balance

Balance is a personalized meditation app that adapts to individual user preferences and goals. It asks daily questions about the meditation experience and objectives to later create customized meditation plans. 

The intuitive design of the app adapts to individual user feedback and progress. Balance also personalizes meditation sessions based on daily inputs. Both interface and content are designed in a way that best enhances user engagement and effectiveness.

Balance treats meditation like coaching. Each day, you’re asked how you feel and what you need, then you get a tailored session assembled from thousands of audio building blocks.

Best for:

• People who never really “clicked” with generic meditation libraries and want a coach that talks to them, not at them.

Key UX highlights:

• Daily check-in questions drive personalization and make the app feel alive, which directly supports long-term habit building.
• Calm visual pacing and short sessions that reduce friction for busy or stressed users.
• Gentle streak mentality that rewards consistency without punishing you for missing a day.

Mini-conclusion:

Balance is a great pattern for Healthtech teams that want to integrate dynamic guidance without hiring full-time human coaches for every user.

5. Waterllama

Waterllama is a hydration-tracking app designed to help users maintain optimal water intake. It has all the essentials of a very engaging app - the entertaining type of visuals, including cute animal characters, and offers challenges to motivate users.

Waterllama utilizes a clear and intuitive design with engaging visuals, including 45 cute animal characters, to motivate users to maintain healthy hydration habits. 

As of 2025, Waterllama leans fully into playful accountability. You collect and “fill up” more than 100 animal characters, track 40+ drink types, and get smart reminders only when you’re actually falling behind on your hydration goal.

The Apple Watch app and iOS widgets let you log drinks without even opening the main app.

Best for:

• Anyone trying to build one small health habit (hydration) and actually stick to it in a friendly way, not a guilt-based way.

Key UX highlights:

• Charming character system and streaks that feel fun instead of “you failed.”
• Quick logging from watch and widgets, which removes friction and supports daily use.
• Light education cards that explain why hydration matters, not just “drink more.”

Mini-conclusion:

Waterllama is a retention clinic in disguise. It proves that playful UI can drive real behavior change when you pair it with reminders that respect user attention.

6. Gentler Streak Fitness Tracker

Gentler Streak is a fitness-tracking app that promotes a balanced approach to exercise and emphasizes the importance of rest and recovery alongside physical activity. It offers real-time training feedback and heart rate monitoring and supports over 100 workout types. 

The app's design includes real-time training effects, heart rate training zones, and metric charts for various activities. Its Apple Watch integration offers on-the-go fitness tracking, which makes it a very useful tool for monitoring workouts.

Gentler Streak is different from most fitness trackers because it tells you when to slow down, not just when to “push harder.” The app visualizes your current training load and surfaces recovery, mobility, and light movement as valid wins instead of failure.

Best for:

• Active people who keep burning out or getting injured because every other tracker only celebrates intensity.

Key UX highlights:

• “Activity Path” view that shows when you’re close to overreaching so you can back off before you strain or get hurt.
• Built-in Apple Watch experience that works in real time during workouts, not just after.
• Award-winning execution. Gentler Streak was Apple Watch App of the Year and later picked up an Apple Design Award for Social Impact.

Mini-conclusion:

Gentler Streak is what sustainable fitness UX looks like in 2025 – you get informed coaching that keeps you active long term, not just a dashboard shouting for more reps.

7. Ahead: Emotions Coach

Ahead is an emotional intelligence coaching app with a very clean and calming interface. It helps users understand and manage their emotions through personalized journeys, science-based techniques, and progress tracking. 

The app offers personalized journeys to help users manage emotions, understand behavioral patterns, and track progress. Its design focuses on accessibility and user engagement through science-proven techniques.

Ahead calls itself a “pocket therapist,” built around 5-minute lessons, behavior change techniques, mood tracking, and specific tracks like anger, anxiety, or procrastination.

Best for:

• People working on emotional regulation, stress reactions, or communication who want support without jumping straight into live therapy.

Key UX highlights:

• Bite-size daily lessons that feel achievable, which supports habit building even on bad days.
• Progress tracking and reflection prompts that help you see patterns behind triggers, not just the symptoms.
• Friendly tone and emotional labeling guidance that make tough topics feel safe to explore.

Mini-conclusion:

Ahead shows how “mental health” UX is expanding beyond meditation and into emotional skill training, which can also support workplace performance, relationships, and conflict management.

8. Noom

Noom is a weight loss and health management app that combines psychology, technology, and human coaching to help users achieve sustainable weight loss. 

The app offers personalized plans, expert coaching, and tools to track progress. Its design emphasizes behavior change and sustainable habits, providing users with educational content and interactive features to support their weight loss journey.

In 2025, Noom has expanded from weight tracking into a full habit-change platform. You log meals, track steps, and get daily short lessons that explain why you’re making certain food choices.

It now also offers optional programs like GLP-1 coaching and lower-dose GLP-1 plans with 1:1 support, plus AI body scanning for instant health insights.

Best for:

• People who want structured behavior change with continual feedback and the option to layer in clinical support later, not first thing.

Key UX highlights:

• Short, psychology-based lessons that build health literacy and self-awareness instead of strict diet rules.
• Color-coded meal logging and habit tracking that help users notice patterns without shame.
• Optional paid tiers with coaching, hormone support, or GLP-1 guidance that sit on top of the same familiar interface, which keeps the experience consistent as needs get more medical.

Mini-conclusion:

Noom is a good example of how to scale from wellness to more clinical territory. The UI stays approachable even when the product crosses into medical weight management.

FAQ – best Health app design, engagement, compliance

How do you design a Healthtech app that people actually keep using?

Start with one repeatable, high-value action per day. Give users feedback on that action right away. Reduce shame. Give helpful reminders only when they fall behind. This formula shows up in Waterllama (hydration), Gentler Streak (activity and recovery), and Balance (meditation).

How important is accessibility and plain language in healthcare UX?

Critical. Many people using a health app are stressed, tired, distracted, older, or in pain. If they cannot read the screen, they will churn or mis-report a symptom. Older adults are open to digital health and wellness apps, but they need clarity and trust.

Why does privacy design matter so much in health apps?

People are sharing medication history, mental health notes, body scans, or weight data. If privacy controls feel hidden or unclear, users will not engage. Studies of health apps for older adults found that many still fail to clearly describe compliance with HIPAA or GDPR or what happens in a breach.

Are AI companions in health apps safe for UX?

AI companions can improve perceived support and reduce drop-off, especially for chronic care, mental health, and habit coaching.

The risk is tone and safety. You need escalation paths, clear disclaimers, and content approved by clinicians or behavioral experts.

Where does AR/VR fit into Healthtech UX design right now?

Immersive and spatial experiences are already used for pain distraction, rehab, guided physical therapy, and clinician training. We’ve seen this in mental health, recovery, and medical training scenarios. We’ve covered how VR/AR UX should balance realism with comfort in patient-facing healthcare experiences here: VR/AR UX design for healthcare and wellness.

What to do if you want to have the best Health app design?

If you want to create a health app that meets your functional requirements but also provides a supreme user experience, our Merge team is here to help. 

Not to pat ourselves on the back, but we do have the necessary expertise in designing healthcare apps and websites that users feel good about using and coming back to. 

So, if it’s something you strive for, don’t hesitate and reach out to us to start your journey toward a top-tier health app design.

To see how we actually work with complex health products – including AI-powered assistants, clinical dashboards, and regulated data flows – check our case studies and guides:

• Our UX and interface work for complex life science and biotech tooling: Owkin K case study – AI interface for biologists and drug discovery
• Why consistent UI systems matter for long-term trust in regulated products: Design systems for consistent, reliable healthcare UX
• SaaS product design guide, including onboarding patterns you can reuse in Healthtech apps: SaaS product design: a comprehensive guide
• How VR/AR experiences are already being used in care, rehab, and medical training: VR/AR UX design for healthcare and wellness

If you’re planning a patient-facing app or a clinician-facing dashboard and you want high retention, regulatory awareness, and a design system that can actually scale, talk to us.