Your Apple Watch collects a whole lot of helpful information about you throughout each day, including your heartbeat, blood pressure, and even stress levels. And while it works for many people, the Health Program on your iPhone can be considered fairly elementary.

In order to create a fully rounded health program, it’s well worth looking at third-party heart rate monitors, and that’s exactly what we’ve done here.

We’ve tried and tested the most popular heart rate apps, and come up with our best 5 heart rate monitors.


01. HeartWatch Heart & Activity

The HeartWatch program is a very simple but intuitive heartbeat monitoring program that permits you to check your pulse in four distinct ways. It records your heartbeat separately as you walk, exercise, sleep, and relax.

The program interface is straightforward and provides you with a speedometer-style appearance. A simple tap displays your present heart rate, a summary for the entire day, or whatever else you wish to know about your heart rate. You can also navigate a 12-week long data stream, assessing your heart rate over a longer time frame.

If your heart rate changes to a large degree, the program will automatically send you a notification, allowing you to decide what to do.


02. Heart Analyzer

The Heart Analyzer uses a simple interface for its three-window program. These windows display your current heart rate, the daily average together with the lowest and highest rates, and your exercise stats. This app will alert you if your heart rate rises or falls excessively, and shows graphs expressing your data, including sleep patterns, and energy levels. There’s a lot to like about this jam-packed app – give it a go.


03. Heart Graph

Heart Graph, as its name implies, provides you with a graphical representation of your heart rate response at different levels. You can view individual charts demonstrating workout or background rates, or select the snapshots recorded during the day.

The program can be simply individualized to suit your individual needs and offers a huge range of readout criteria, from stir climbing to dancing or golf.  The summary screen shows your current heartbeat together with the max and mean of any workout, offering real insight into your heart’s health.


04. FITIV Pulse Heart Rate Monitor

FITIV Pulse Heart Rate Monitor is one of the best heart rate monitors we’ve seen.

The multiple visual responses of your heartbeat can assist you to train better and more efficiently. FITIV provides you with a very clear, easy to read the breakdown of your heart rate data, allowing the detection of any heart issues. The program is cross-platform and supports additional Android apparatus too, making it easy to carry across your smart devices.

Aside from the simplicity of this comprehensive program, you can also take classes and enjoy fitness challenges along with other people. This is a great idea and encourages you to push your levels of fitness just a bit further – we love it!


05. Cardiogram For Apple Watch

You have to log in to the Cardiogram program with Facebook or via e-mail to fully utilize the program. The dash on the Apple Watch display indicates an easy real-time readout of your heart rate.

Even though Cardiogram for Apple Watch is a standalone program and is completely operational without the iPhone, there are certain features that are only available on an iPhone. These features mainly relate to exercises and workouts, but you have full access to all your heart rate data, sleep readouts, anxiety relief exercise plans, and much more.


For other great apple watch apps, we urge you to check out our favorite apple watch games and apple watch sleep trackers.