Best Heart Rate Monitor App for iPhone: Free and Paid
Cardiio and Instant Heart Rate are free to download and read a fingertip on the camera. Cardiograph is $1.99 once. An Apple Watch needs no extra app.
An iPhone has nothing in it that can feel a pulse, so every heart rate app on the App Store borrows a sensor from somewhere. Some ask you to hold a fingertip against the camera with the flash on, and count the small colour changes as blood moves through it. The others show what a wearable measures: an Apple Watch, a chest strap or a pair of AirPods Pro 3.
We went through the App Store listings of the ten apps this article named in 2019, and of the apps a search turns up now. Seven of the ten are still listed. One caution before the list: a phone app is not a medical device, and it is no substitute for a doctor or a proper monitor. Most of the listings say so themselves, and Apple says the same about the iPhone and the Apple Watch.
What the iPhone can and cannot do
Apple’s spec pages for the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 18 Pro list the sensors inside: Face ID, a barometer, a gyro, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and ambient light sensors, with a LiDAR scanner added on the Pro. A heart rate sensor is not among them.
The Health app is a store for readings. Left alone, it records what the phone can sense, and Apple’s guide names steps, flights of stairs climbed, walking data and headphone audio levels. Heart rate shows up once something else supplies it.
- Apple Watch. Apple says that once a watch is paired, periodic heart rate measurements are sent to Health automatically. The watch has its own Heart Rate app. Apple’s support page explains that its sensor flashes green LEDs against the wrist hundreds of times a second and reads how much light the blood absorbs.
- AirPods Pro 3. These have in-ear heart rate sensors. Apple’s page on them says they track heart rate during workouts, and that you can see it in the Fitness app, in Health and in supported third-party workout apps on the iPhone.
- Other apps and devices. Apps from the App Store can write to Health if you allow it. Bluetooth devices can too, once they are paired with the iPhone.
To see what has been saved, open Health, tap Search at the bottom right, then Heart, then Heart Rate. It shows only what a watch, a pair of earbuds or an app has put there.
Heart rate apps for iPhone compared
Prices are from the US App Store and differ by country.
| App | Maker | Reads your pulse from | On the App Store |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiio | Cardiio, Inc. | A fingertip on the camera | Free, in-app purchases |
| Instant Heart Rate | Bodymatter, Inc. | A fingertip on the camera | Free, in-app purchases |
| Cardiograph | MacroPinch Ltd. | A fingertip on the camera | $1.99, one in-app purchase |
| Welltory | Welltory Inc | The camera or an Apple Watch | Free, in-app purchases |
| HRV4Training | A.S.M.A. B.V. | The camera, an Apple Watch, an Oura ring or a Bluetooth strap | $9.99 |
| Heart Analyzer | Helix Apps Ltd | Apple Watch readings saved in Health | Free, in-app purchases |
| FITIV Pulse | MotiFIT Fitness Inc. | An Apple Watch, a Bluetooth strap or AirPods Pro 3 | Free, in-app purchases |
| Polar Beat | Polar Electro Oy | A Polar heart rate sensor | Free |
| Elite HRV | Elite HRV Inc | A separate HRV sensor, which is required | Free, in-app purchases |
| BlueHeart | Ubiquitly LLC | An Apple Watch, passed on to gym equipment | Free, in-app purchases |
Apps that read a fingertip on the camera
Cardiio is the one whose listing is clearest about what you get for nothing: unlimited heart rate readings, with daily, weekly and monthly trends, an export, and sync with Apple Health. You place a finger on the camera and wait a few seconds.
Cardiio Pro adds extras such as pulse waveform analysis and a calorie-burn estimator. The listing sells it by the week at $6.99 or by the year at $39.99. Fifty-two weeks at the weekly price comes to $363.48, so if you want Pro at all, take the yearly one. The Pro list also mentions blood pressure estimates and oxygen tracking. We would not pay for those. Apple lists no sensor in the iPhone for either, and Welltory’s listing says outright that it cannot measure blood pressure or other vital signs through a phone camera.
Instant Heart Rate works the same way. Its listing tells you to rest the tip of your index finger on the camera, and says the app detects the colour change in the fingertip each time the heart beats. It is free to download, with a Premium subscription at $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year. The listing does not spell out which features stay free. Its advice for a clean reading is worth copying whichever app you use: cover the lens completely, press gently, and warm your hands first.
Cardiograph is for people who would sooner pay once. It costs $1.99, its listing shows a single $0.99 in-app purchase, and there is no subscription. It keeps a history of every measurement, exports one as a PDF and syncs with Apple Health. The older Cardiograph Classic is still sold at $0.99.
Two more camera apps go a step further and measure heart rate variability, or HRV. Apple’s support page describes it as how the time between heartbeats varies, and says it can be an indicator of stress and recovery.
HRV4Training costs $9.99 with nothing further to buy. It takes the reading with the camera and can also use an Apple Watch, an Oura ring or a Bluetooth chest strap. The listing names the iPhones its camera method supports, and that list stops at the iPhone 16 range, so owners of newer phones should check before paying. iPads need a strap, and you have to register with an email address.
Welltory measures HRV too. It is free to download and sells a Premium upgrade. The US listing shows it at $12.99 a month, with yearly plans from $79.99 to $119.99 and a lifetime option at $299.99.
Apps for a watch or a strap
With an Apple Watch you already have a heart rate app, on the watch itself, and its readings land in Health on the phone. Extra apps are for charting those numbers or sending them somewhere else.
Heart Analyzer charts heart rate, resting heart rate and HRV from the Apple Watch data in Health. Its listing says no data leaves your device, and that you need an iPhone with a paired Apple Watch. It is free, with a Premium tier at $3.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $49.99 once.
FITIV Pulse is a workout tracker built around heart rate zones. Its listing names the Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3, Powerbeats Pro 2 and Bluetooth heart rate monitors from brands such as Polar, Scosche and COOSPO as sources, and says it can broadcast your heart rate to Peloton and Zwift. FITIV Pro is $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year.
Polar Beat is Polar’s free training app, and its listing shows nothing to buy. Live heart rate needs a Polar heart rate sensor. Without one it is a GPS workout log with voice guidance.
Elite HRV is free for personal use, according to its listing, but it measures nothing with the phone alone. A sensor that can report HRV is required, and the listing recommends a Bluetooth one.
BlueHeart works the other way round. It makes the Apple Watch and iPhone appear as a standard Bluetooth heart rate monitor, so a Peloton or a gym treadmill shows the watch’s reading as it would a chest strap’s. It is free with ads, and $9.99 removes them.
Kardia, from AliveCor, sits apart from all of these. It is the companion to the company’s KardiaMobile and KardiaBand devices, which its listing describes as FDA-cleared, and the listing says the app requires that hardware to record an EKG.
Which one to pick
- You want a quick reading and own no wearable: Cardiio, because its listing promises unlimited readings in the free version. Instant Heart Rate is the alternative.
- You would sooner pay once than be offered upgrades: Cardiograph at $1.99.
- You have an Apple Watch: its own Heart Rate app. Add Heart Analyzer if you want charts on the phone.
- You train with a chest strap: Polar Beat with a Polar strap, FITIV Pulse with any other.
- You want HRV for training: HRV4Training. One payment of $9.99 is less than a single month of Welltory Premium.
- You wear AirPods Pro 3: Apple’s Fitness app shows your heart rate during a workout with nothing else installed.
On an Android phone the choices are different, and Google has a camera reading built into its own app. We cover that in heart rate monitor apps for Android.
What happened to the old list
Six of the 2019 picks are covered above: Instant Heart Rate, Cardiograph, HRV4Training, Elite HRV, Polar Beat and FITIV Pulse. A seventh, Sleeptracker, is still on the App Store, but its listing says it will not function without a Beautyrest or Tomorrow Sleeptracker monitor fitted to the bed. It is a mattress accessory’s app and has no place here.
Runtastic Heart Rate, Qardio and MotionX 24/7 no longer turn up when you search the App Store.
Quick answers
Does the iPhone have a heart rate monitor?
No. Apple’s spec pages for the current iPhones list no heart rate sensor. The Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 3 have one, and camera apps estimate your pulse from a fingertip.
How do I check my heart rate in the Health app on iPhone?
Open Health, tap Search, then Heart, then Heart Rate. You will only find readings there if an Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3 or an app has saved some.
What is the best free heart rate app for iPhone?
Cardiio, going by its listing, which promises unlimited readings without paying. Instant Heart Rate is also free to download.
Do I need an app to see my heart rate on an Apple Watch?
No. The watch comes with a Heart Rate app, and it sends its readings to Health on the iPhone by itself.
Can AirPods measure heart rate?
AirPods Pro 3 can. Apple says they measure it continuously during a workout in the Fitness app or a supported third-party app, with at least one AirPod in your ear.
