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Vida Health Coach (for iPhone)

 & Jill Duffy Contributor

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For $15 per week, the Vida Health Coach app puts you in touch with a specialist who reviews your health and wellness, swaps messages with you, and becomes a support member in your health plan. It's an interesting service, but the app itself could use some work. - iPhone Apps
3.0 Average

The Bottom Line

For $15 per week, the Vida Health Coach app puts you in touch with a specialist who reviews your health and wellness, swaps messages with you, and becomes a support member in your health plan. It's an interesting service, but the app itself could use some work.

Pros & Cons

    • Convenient, human-driven health-coaching app.
    • Simple, clean interface.
    • Connects with MyFitnessPal.
    • Priced well.
    • iPhone only.
    • App is glitchy.
    • Can't switch coaches without asking current coach.
    • Can't filter or delete messages.
    • User doesn't have control over which health metrics to track.
    • Integration with MyFitnessPal requires roundabout setup.

Preventative medicine relies on patients having frequent communication with healthcare professionals. The two parties need to be in contact before patients become very ill and even when they're well. Vida Health Coach is an iPhone app that, for $15 per week, sets up the user with a health coach. The coach's area of expertise and certifications depend on what conditions the user wants to address and manage, from weight loss to diabetes to stress. The health coaches review their clients' information and swap in-app messages whenever they need advice or motivation. Coaches send additional resources and materials, too, and will meet with users for a video conference or phone call once a week. Vida Health Coach shouldn't be confused with a full-fledged telehealth platform, but it's a neat app and a great resource for certain kinds of users.

Final Thoughts

For $15 per week, the Vida Health Coach app puts you in touch with a specialist who reviews your health and wellness, swaps messages with you, and becomes a support member in your health plan. It's an interesting service, but the app itself could use some work. - iPhone Apps

Vida Health Coach (for iPhone)

3.0 Average

For $15 per week, the Vida Health Coach app puts you in touch with a specialist who reviews your health and wellness, swaps messages with you, and becomes a support member in your health plan. It's an interesting service, but the app itself could use some work.

About Our Expert

Jill Duffy

Jill Duffy

Contributor

My Experience

I'm an expert in software and work-related issues, and I have been contributing to PCMag since 2011. I launched the column Get Organized in 2012 and ran it through 2024, offering advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel overwhelmed. That column turned into the book Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life. I was also the first product reviewer at PCMag to test fitness gadgets, including everything from early Fitbits to smart bras.

Currently, I'm passionate about the meaning of work and work culture, and I enjoy writing about how managers and employees can communicate better, with or without software. My most recent book is The Everything Guide to Remote Work. I also love a good workplace drama. 

In addition to writing about work, I cover online education, focusing on learning for personal enrichment and skills development. I have a soft spot for really good language-learning software. Although I grew up speaking only English, some twists and turns in life led me to learn Spanish, Romanian, and a bit of American Sign Language. I've studied at the university level, as well as at the Foreign Service Institute, where US diplomats and ambassadors learn languages.

My writing has also appeared in WIRED, the BBC, Gloria, Refinery29, and Popular Science, among other publications.

Follow me on Mastodon.

The Technology I Use

Squeezing every last bit of usage out of the devices I already own is the only way I can tolerate my personal consumption. In other words, I do not own the latest cutting-edge technology. I buy things that will last and try to take care of them.

My life is organized by Todoist, and my notes live in Joplin. Where would I be without Dashlane as my password manager? Probably locked out of all my many online accounts—I have more than 1,000 of them.

When I share my contact information, it's an excruciatingly long list of phone numbers, messaging apps, and email addresses, because it's essential to stay flexible while also remaining somewhat mysterious.

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