Best Free Intermittent Fasting Apps (2026): No Paywalls

Most fasting apps call themselves free, and most of them are, right up to the moment you want to do something useful. You open the app, pick a protocol, start a timer, and then discover that the fasting phase explanation is locked, your history stops at yesterday, the reminder you actually wanted is a paid feature, and a full-screen upsell arrives before you have finished your first fast.

This guide separates the apps that are genuinely usable for free from the ones handing you a feature-locked demo. We compare EasyFasting, Zero, Fastic, BodyFast and Simple on what their free tiers actually include, where the paywall sits, and what each one costs if you decide to pay. If you are still deciding whether fasting suits you at all, start with what intermittent fasting actually is and come back when you want a tracker.

Free vs Freemium Fasting Apps at a Glance

Factor	Genuinely free	Freemium with a catch
The timer itself	Starts, stops and gets corrected without payment	Runs, but you cannot edit a start time you got wrong
Protocol choice	Every schedule unlocked from day one	One or two schedules free, the rest behind a plan
Fasting history	A usable window of past fasts, visible for free	History cut to today, or blurred behind an upgrade screen
Phase and science content	Basic phase model readable by anyone	Phase names shown, explanations locked
Notifications	All alert types, fully adjustable	Only the end-of-fast reminder, extras are paid
Ads and upsells	None, or one clearly marked upgrade screen	Repeated interstitials, upsell push notifications
The catch	Long-term analytics and depth cost money	The daily loop itself costs money

What “Free” Actually Means in a Fasting App

Fasting trackers are cheap to build and expensive to keep. There is no meaningful per-user cost in counting hours, so the money has to come from somewhere else, and the category has settled on four models.

The first is timer-plus-content. The tracking loop stays free and the paywall sits around recipes, courses, challenges and coaching. Fastic and BodyFast both work broadly this way, and it is an honest trade because the free tier still runs your fast.

The second is timer-plus-analytics. Everything you need day to day is free, and the money is charged for looking backwards: charts, trends, averages, long-term history. This is EasyFasting’s model. You can fast forever without paying, but if you want to see six months of patterns you pay for it.

The third is the coaching app that happens to include a timer. Simple is the clearest example, marketing an AI coach and photo nutrition feedback with fasting as one feature among several. The free tier is generous in breadth and thin in depth, because the product being sold is the coaching.

The fourth model is the one to watch for. Some apps free the countdown and paywall the parts that make the countdown trustworthy, particularly editing. If you cannot correct a fast you forgot to end, your history is wrong, your averages are wrong, and the app has manufactured a problem it will sell you the fix for. That is not a free tier, it is a trial with no end date.

There is also the notification question. An app that is technically free but sends you three upsell pushes a week is charging you in attention. Before you commit to any tracker, open its notification settings and see how much of it you are allowed to turn off.

What Makes a Good Free Fasting Tracker?

1. A timer you can correct

You will forget to stop a fast. Everyone does. A free tier that lets you edit the start time of a running fast, and both the start and end of a finished one, keeps your record honest. A free tier that does not is quietly corrupting the data it is about to charge you to analyze.

2. Every protocol unlocked

There is no technical reason for 18:6 to cost money when 16:8 is free. Protocol gating exists purely as a conversion lever. If you are experimenting your way toward the right schedule, and most beginners are, paying to change your mind is a bad deal.

3. Your history stays visible

Streaks are the reason people stick with fasting apps, and a streak you cannot see is not motivating. A free tier should show you at least the past week, plus current and longest streaks. Anything shorter and the app is asking you to pay for memory.

4. Honest phase science

Fasting content online is full of pseudo-precision, especially the claim that autophagy switches on at a specific hour. It does not work like that, as we explain in more detail in our piece on autophagy and fasting. A good free tier tells you what phase you are in and describes it in evidence-graded language rather than promising biological events on a schedule.

5. Quiet by default

Notifications should serve the fast, not the funnel. You want a reminder when your window opens and closes, optional phase alerts if you find them interesting, and nothing else unless you asked for it.

EasyFasting — Best Free Fasting Tracker for iPhone (2026)

EasyFasting is our app, so treat the section heading as editorial opinion rather than a neutral verdict. What follows is the specific list of what you get without paying, which you can check against the App Store listing yourself.

The free tier includes all five protocols: 14:10, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4 and OMAD. Nothing about the schedule is gated. You start a fast with one tap on a circular timer, and if you got the start time wrong you edit it while the fast is still running. Finished fasts can be edited on both ends. If you miss a day, you can skip that fast or log a rest day so the streak bridges instead of breaking, and skipped fasts still count toward your totals and averages. The skip is reversible, and any log can be deleted outright.

The parts most apps treat as premium are free here. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets are interactive, so you can start and stop a fast without opening the app, which we cover in more depth in our guide to fasting widgets on iPhone. The Apple Watch app is complete rather than a companion stub: start and stop, switch protocol, read your live phase, all working with your phone left at home. Phase-colored circular and corner complications and a Smart Stack card come with it. Every watch surface is free, with no upsell attached.

Notifications are all free and all adjustable, including phase-milestone alerts. The Learn tab carries structured fasting courses at no cost. Awards are all earnable and shareable, with 3D animation, and you get current and longest streaks with milestones at 3, 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 and 90 days. There is no account to create, the app works offline, and if you use iCloud your data syncs privately between your own devices. The app UI ships in 15 languages.

What’s free, with no asterisk:

• All five protocols: 14:10, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4, OMAD
• One-tap circular timer, with editable start time mid-fast
• Editable start and end times on any completed fast, plus delete
• Skip a fast or log a rest day so the streak bridges, reversible
• Interactive Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
• The full Apple Watch app, complications and Smart Stack card
• Every notification type, including phase milestones, fully adjustable
• Learn tab courses, all awards, streak milestones to 90 days
• Last 7 days of history and a “This Week” stats snapshot
• The six-phase model with basic phase information
• No account, offline capable, private iCloud sync

Download EasyFasting free on the App Store

What’s behind the paywall. History stops at the last 7 days on free. Charts, trends, averages and insights are premium, as are the detailed phase education cards, the live awards progress view, extra accent colors and 30-day weight trends. So the honest summary is this: you can run every fast you want, forever, without paying, but if you want to study your own patterns over months you will need premium. Pricing is $7.99 monthly, $39.99 yearly, or $79.99 once for lifetime access. Monthly and yearly include a 7-day free trial. Billing runs through StoreKit, so you cancel in two taps in iOS Settings and refunds are handled by Apple, not by us.

Other Fasting Apps Worth Knowing

Zero: Fasting & Food Tracker

Zero, from Zero Longevity Science, is the best-known name in the category, rated 4.8 stars from roughly 445,000 ratings on the US App Store. It is free with in-app purchases, and the free tier covers the basic timer, streaks and insights, which is enough to run a straightforward 16:8 schedule.

Zero Plus is where the depth sits: photo-based meal logging with macro analysis, a protein score, advanced hydration tracking, habit tracking, challenges and detailed trend analytics. New users get three free meal logs to sample it. Plans run $9.99, $69.99 and $89.99, with no lifetime tier. The listing also states the app requires an internet connection.

Best for: people who want the most established fasting brand and plan to log food alongside their fasts.

Limitation: no lifetime option, it needs a connection to work, and the analytics that make it interesting are the paid part.

Fastic Weight Loss & Fasting

Fastic, from HealthVida GmbH, is rated 4.8 stars from around 246,000 ratings. Its free tier is unusually broad: the fasting timer, a food and calorie tracker, body-status phases, a step counter, a water tracker, Apple Health sync and an AI chat. If you want one app covering fasting and general nutrition without paying, this is a strong free tier.

Fastic Plus adds 4,500 or more recipes, the Fastic Academy, challenges, a fasting buddy and coaching. Pricing is $14.99 for one month, $27.99 for three and $39.99 for twelve, with other tiers listed at $12.99, $19.99, $29.99 and $79.99.

Best for: anyone who wants fasting plus calorie and step tracking in a single free app.

Limitation: the paid tiers are among the most expensive monthly options here, and the breadth means more screens between you and the timer.

BodyFast: Intermittent Fasting

BodyFast, from BodyFast GmbH, is rated 4.7 stars from about 145,000 ratings. Its free tier is the most generous on schedules: 10 or more customizable fasting plans, a timer with reminders, weight and body measurement logging, fasting stage information, water tracking and educational content. If you like changing your plan often, that flexibility is worth a look.

The Coach subscription is the upsell: personalized weekly plans, daily coaching, 100 or more recipes, nutrition facts, weekly challenges, achievements and priority support. Pricing varies by plan, from $11.99 to $16.99 for one month, $17.49 to $34.99 for three, $54.99 for six and $34.99 to $69.99 for twelve.

Best for: people who want plan variety and body measurement tracking without paying.

Limitation: the pricing structure has a lot of variants, which makes it hard to know what you will actually be charged.

Simple: AI Weight Loss Coach

Simple, from AM APPS, is rated 4.7 stars from roughly 391,000 ratings and markets itself as “the Duolingo of health.” Its free tier includes the AI coach “Avo”, photo nutrition feedback, beginner workouts, food, water, activity and weight logging, a Success Score, a Home Screen widget and Apple Health integration.

Simple Pro costs $14.99 or $29.99, Simple Premium $29.99 or $59.99, and a Workbooks Bundle is $29.99. The paid tiers add personalized plans and on-demand coaching. Fasting here is one component of a broader weight-loss product rather than the center of the app.

Best for: people who want conversational coaching and photo-based food feedback more than a precise fasting tracker.

Limitation: if what you want is a fasting timer, most of the interface is about something else.

Free Tier Compared: EasyFasting vs Zero vs Fastic vs BodyFast vs Simple

Feature on the free tier	EasyFasting	Zero	Fastic	BodyFast	Simple
Free protocols	All 5 (14:10, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4, OMAD)	Basic timer	Fasting timer	10+ customizable plans	Not specified in listing
Fasting history on free	Last 7 days + “This Week” snapshot	Streaks and basic insights	Not specified in listing	Weight and measurement logs	Success Score, logging
Phase / science content	Six-phase model, basic info, Learn courses	Not specified in listing	Body-status phases	Fasting stage info	Not specified in listing
Widgets	Home Screen + Lock Screen, interactive	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Home Screen widget
Apple Watch	Full app, complications, Smart Stack	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing
Notifications	All types, incl. phase milestones, adjustable	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Timer with reminders	Not specified in listing
Account required	No account, works offline	Requires internet connection	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing
One-time purchase option	Lifetime $79.99	No lifetime tier	Not specified in listing	Not specified in listing	Workbooks Bundle $29.99 (add-on)
Paid plan pricing	$7.99/mo, $39.99/yr, $79.99 lifetime	$9.99 / $69.99 / $89.99	$14.99 1mo, $27.99 3mo, $39.99 12mo	$11.99–$16.99 1mo, $34.99–$69.99 12mo	Pro $14.99/$29.99, Premium $29.99/$59.99

“Not specified in listing” means the App Store listing does not state it either way, not that the feature is missing. Prices are US App Store, verified July 2026, and can change.

“Is It Free?” — Straight Answers, App by App

Most people do not search for the best fasting app. They search for one app by name and ask whether it costs anything. Those are different questions, and a roundup that only ranks apps answers neither. Here are the direct answers.

Is EasyFasting free?

Yes, with a paid tier on top. The free tier is not a trial and does not expire. All five protocols, the editable timer, Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, the full Apple Watch app, every notification type and the last seven days of history cost nothing, with no account and no email capture. Premium adds long-term history, charts and trends. The pricing model is a subscription with a 7-day free trial, or a one-time lifetime purchase — so you can pay once and never see a renewal.

Is Easy Fast the same app as EasyFasting?

No, and the names collide badly in search. Several fasting apps use some arrangement of the words easy and fast — “Fast Easy”, “EasyFast”, “Easy Fasting” — and they are separate products from separate developers with separate prices. This page is written by the team behind EasyFasting, an iPhone and Apple Watch fasting tracker. If you are checking the price of a different app with a similar name, check the price directly on its own App Store listing rather than trusting any roundup, including this one. App Store prices are set per country and change without notice.

How much does EasyFasting cost?

There are three ways to pay and one way not to. Monthly and yearly subscriptions both start with a 7-day free trial. Lifetime is a single purchase with no renewal. And the free tier is a real product rather than a countdown to a paywall — you can run 16:8 indefinitely, on your wrist and from your Lock Screen, without paying. Exact prices are localised per App Store storefront, so read the figure Apple shows you rather than one quoted on a website.

Is Fastic free?

Fastic has a free tier and a paid tier called Fastic Plus. The free tier includes a fasting timer; the recipe library, coaching content and the fuller analytics sit behind the subscription. It is a subscription-only model — there is no one-time purchase — so the cost continues for as long as you use the paid features.

Is Zero free?

Zero has a free tier and a subscription called Zero Plus, with no lifetime or one-time option, so paying for Zero means paying on a recurring basis indefinitely. Zero’s own App Store listing also states that it requires an internet connection, which matters if you want a tracker that keeps working on a plane or in a dead zone.

What is the difference between Fastic, Zero and BodyFast for a first-time faster?

For someone fasting for the first time, the three differ less in their timers than in what they are trying to sell you afterwards. Zero is the minimalist of the three: a fasting timer with streaks and basic insights, built around a cloud account, and its listing states it needs an internet connection. Fastic is a fasting app wrapped around a food and habit product — recipes, coaching content, body-status phases — so more of the screen is dedicated to things that are not your fast. BodyFast sits between them, leading with a large library of customizable plans and weight logging.

The practical advice for a first fast is the opposite of what most roundups say: the plan library does not matter yet. You will run 16:8. What matters in week one is whether you can correct a fast you forgot to stop, whether the schedule you picked is unlocked, and whether the app nags you. Pick on those three, and revisit coaching and recipes in month two, if you still want them.

Is DoFasting the same as a free fasting app?

No — DoFasting is a separate product from a separate developer, and “do fasting app” is a search that means two different things depending on who typed it. Some people mean the app by that name; others are literally asking which app to use to do fasting. This page answers the second question. For the first, read DoFasting’s own App Store listing, because it is not one of the apps compared here and we do not track its pricing.

Which fasting apps have no subscription at all?

Almost none are free with no paid tier whatsoever, and you should be suspicious of any that claim to be — servers, support and App Store review all cost something. The realistic goal is not “no paid tier” but “no subscription required for the part I actually use”. Judge that by three tests: can you start, stop and correct a fast for free; are all the schedules unlocked; and is there a one-time purchase option if you would rather not rent the app forever. For a longer treatment, see fasting apps without a subscription.

Which Fasting Apps Are Actually Worth Paying For?

Short answer: pay for the thing you cannot do yourself, not for the timer. A countdown and a notification are not worth a recurring fee — every app in this comparison gives you those for nothing, and the ones that do not are making a pricing decision, not a technical one. What a subscription can legitimately buy you falls into three groups.

Worth paying for, if you want it. Recipe libraries, structured coaching, food logging and body-composition tracking are real products with real cost behind them. Fastic, BodyFast and Simple are built around this. If you want a nutrition programme with a fasting timer attached, that is a fair trade and you should buy the subscription rather than resenting it.

Worth paying for, quietly. Long-term history and trend analysis. Nobody wants this in week one and most people want it by month four, when the question stops being “can I do this” and becomes “is this working”. Judge it by how far back the free tier lets you look, not by the chart screenshots.

Not worth paying for, ever. The ability to edit a fast you forgot to stop. Access to the schedule you already chose. Seeing yesterday. If an app charges for any of these, it is not selling you a feature, it is selling you back your own data — and that is the clearest signal to look elsewhere, whatever else the app does well.

One structural point that outlives any price change: fasting is usually a habit measured in years, not a six-week project. A subscription priced for a short-term tool is priced wrong for a long-term one, which is why the presence or absence of a one-time purchase option matters more here than in most app categories. Of the apps on this page, EasyFasting has a lifetime tier and Zero explicitly does not.

How to Choose

Just starting out

Pick the app with the fewest decisions and the fewest locked doors. You want to try 16:8 for a couple of weeks, see how it feels, and switch schedules without a purchase screen. Any app that gates protocols will slow that down.

Anti-subscription

Look for a lifetime tier, and then check what the free tier does before you buy it. Of the apps here, EasyFasting is the one with a lifetime option, at $79.99, and Zero explicitly has none. Also check whether the app needs an account and a connection, because a tracker that stops working offline is a tracker you do not fully control.

Wants coaching and recipes

Buy a subscription, and buy the right one. Fastic and BodyFast both put recipe libraries and coaching behind their paid plans, and Simple is built around coaching from the start. A minimalist tracker will not satisfy you no matter how free it is.

Getting Started Today

If you already know your schedule, you can be fasting in under a minute: install, pick a protocol, tap start. If you do not, our beginner’s guide to intermittent fasting walks through choosing a window that fits your day, and the features page lists exactly what sits on which side of the paywall.

The practical test for any free tier is week two, not day one. That is when history limits, notification behavior and edit restrictions start to matter. Run whichever app you choose for a fortnight before you decide it is worth paying for.

Download EasyFasting free on the App Store

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a completely free intermittent fasting app?

There are apps where everything you need to run a fast is free, but almost none are free in the sense of having no paid tier at all. The realistic question is what the free tier covers. A good free tier gives you the timer, every protocol, editable start and end times, notifications and at least some history. A weak one gives you a countdown and locks the rest. EasyFasting keeps all five protocols, widgets, the Apple Watch app and notifications free, and charges only for long-term history and analytics.

Do free fasting apps paywall the timer?

Very few lock the countdown itself, because a timer nobody can start looks broken in App Store screenshots. What gets locked is everything around the timer. Common paywalls include history beyond a few days, charts and averages, detailed phase explanations, custom reminder rules and the ability to correct a fast you forgot to stop. That last one matters more than people expect. If you cannot edit a start time, one forgotten tap ruins the record, and the app quietly pushes you toward paying to fix your own data.

What is the best free fasting app for iPhone?

It depends on what you want the app to do. If you want a tracker that runs your fast properly without asking for money on day one, EasyFasting gives you all five protocols, editable fasts, full notifications, Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets and a complete Apple Watch app at no cost. If you want recipes, coaching or food logging built into the same app, Fastic, BodyFast and Simple are stronger, but those features sit behind their subscriptions. Try the free tiers before you judge the paid ones.

Do I need a subscription to track 16:8?

No. A 16:8 fast is a start time, an end time and a notification, and any competent app can do that for free. If an app asks you to subscribe before it will let you pick 16:8, that is a pricing decision, not a technical limit. Where subscriptions start to earn their price is in long-term analysis, coaching, recipe libraries and food logging. Check whether the app charges for the schedule itself or for the extras on top, because those are very different products.

Is a one-time purchase better than a fasting app subscription?

It depends how long you plan to fast. Fasting is usually a multi-year habit rather than a six-week project, so recurring fees add up in a way they do not for short-term tools. A lifetime option removes the renewal decision entirely, which some people value more than the raw math. Zero has no lifetime tier. EasyFasting offers lifetime access at $79.99 alongside $7.99 monthly and $39.99 yearly. Compare the lifetime price against roughly two years of the yearly plan and decide from there.

Can I use a free fasting app without an account or internet?

Some, but not all. Several popular fasting apps are built around cloud accounts and coaching, and Zero’s App Store listing states it requires an internet connection. EasyFasting takes the other approach. There is no account, no sign-up screen and no email capture, and it works offline because the timer and your logs live on the device. If you use iCloud, your data syncs privately across your own devices. If you do not, everything still works, it just stays on the one phone.

Further Reading

• What breaks a fast, and what does not
• What you can drink while fasting
• Electrolytes and fasting: why you feel flat on day three
• Building an intermittent fasting schedule around your week
• Surviving your first week of intermittent fasting
• What intermittent fasting results actually look like

Comparing fasting apps

• The best fasting tracker apps for iPhone
• Fasting apps without a subscription
• EasyFasting vs Zero, compared honestly
• Tracking a fast from your Apple Watch