Five yoga apps to help you practice better

Practice on the move or in the comfort of your own home

Yoga purists may frown at them but for those of us who don’t have access to a yoga class, a handy app may be a great solution. We crawled app stores and found that there are more than just a few options. While there is no replacing a great yoga guru, some yoga maybe better than no yoga. White Swan Foundation’s Priyanka Mantripragada tried out five apps across mobile platforms to see what’s good and what’s not. These have been picked and tested based on user interface and popularity.

1- Daily Yoga (iOS)

This app is available on all the three major mobile platforms (iOS, Windows, Android) and is fairly popular with users. Daily Yoga has a simulated yogi demonstrating asanas. The app contains the following sections: Start Training, Pose Library, Community, Yoga Music, More Info and More Apps. The app has a free version but update to the pro version for the complete experience.

What's good?

  • You can make your own routine for specific body goals.

  • Videos are in HD quality.

  • The pose library in the app gives a detailed description of each pose along with the benefits of each pose

  • The simulated classes work offline after you download them.

What's not?

  • If you're using the app online and pause an ongoing session, there are pop-up ads, which don’t disappear when you resume.

2- Simply Yoga (Android)

This yoga app has two levels of workouts, with a duration of 20, 40 and 60 minutes each. The levels vary in the intensity of the yogic poses. The app has a free version with an option to update to the pro version.

What's good?

  • The programmed workouts are in video format and load easily.

  • The app is beginner-friendly.

What's not?

  • Videos cannot be downloaded, so the app can’t be used if you don’t have access to the internet.

  • You can’t customize your workouts.

  • The free version allows access to only the first level of asanas.

3- Yoga Studio (iOS)

This is a very popular app with both beginners and pros. Yoga Studio is a paid yoga app. It has simulated classes with a soothing voice-over and allows you to customize your session according to the time available to you. The price of the app is Rs 250 with only a pro version available.

What's good?

  • The recorded classes, which are divided into various levels of beginner, intermediate and expert, can be downloaded and accessed without internet usage.

  • The app has frequent updates with news postures.

  • It has customized classes to suit your timing and intensity of the workouts.

What's not?

  • It wouldn't hurt to have a free version to experience the app.

  • The music can’t be muted.

4-Yoga Cure (Windows)

Another comprehensive app that is available on the Windows platform is Yoga Cure. It has three sections: My Body, My Health, Yoga Centres (gives the location of yoga centres across the country). My Body focuses on specific asanas that will show effects on the body parts such as brain, shoulders, thyroid, abdomen, etc. My Health showcases asanas that are particularly useful for controlling particular health issues such as hypertension, back pain and diabetes. Animated videos can be replayed.

What's good?

  • Flash videos are in low resolution and are easy on data consumption.

  • Body-specific asanas help in customizing the exercises.

What's not?

  • Too. Many. Ads.

  • The videos are on Flash without an option to pause and play.

Yoga.com (Android)

With a repertoire of 289 poses and breathing exercises and 37 yoga programs, the Yoga.com app gives extensive workout options. For example, for each pose you can opt for a picture-information option or a video format, .

What's good?

  • For a free version, it has several poses available.

  • The videos are in HD quality, with a 3D pictorial representation of the muscles in the body that would get stimulated with each asana.

  • Simple to use.

What's not?

  • The video keeps disappearing and a small cross sign shows up, which when pressed, closes the video. This needs to be fixed.

  • Videos could be made available offline.

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