The 17 best health and fitness apps for Apple Watch

You already know your Apple Watch can do a lot. From monitoring your heart rate to sending "take a break" reminders, Apple Watch is arguably one of the best and most comprehensive health-tech devices on the market.

But with the right apps, your wrist-borne personal health assistant can do so much more than you ever imagined. Try these 17 wellness apps for Apple Watch to up your health and fitness game. 

Price: Free trial, then $14.99 per month or $69.99 per year

One of the most comprehensive meditation apps for Apple Watch, Calm offers guided meditations, breathing exercises, mindful movement sessions, guided stretching and more all just a tap away on your wrist. 

You can start the day with the 10-minute Daily Calm session, complete an Emergency Calm when you feel anxious, take a quick Mindful Walk after lunch, and play a Sleep Story before bed. The walks and stretching sessions count toward your daily activity rings on your watch too.

Price: Free

If you ever feel like you could use a random positive reminder (couldn't we all?), Happier is the app for you. 

Intended as a sort of on-the-go gratitude journal, you can tell the app how you're feeling -- great, "meh," or down -- and it'll respond with uplifting quotes or an option to tell the Happier community about something good. 

Price: Free or $12.99 per month or $94.99 per year

On a phone, tablet or computer, Headspace teaches you how to meditate and breathe deeply across a range of categories, including anxiety management, stress relief, happiness and focus. 

On Apple Watch, though, you can only choose from two exercises: SOS and Touch. Both modes intend to quickly bring you to a place of relaxation and focus when everything seems like too much. 

Price: Free or $59.99 per year

Primarily a running app, Strava tracks essential stats like distance, pace, speed, elevation gained, your average heart rate, and calories burned. 

You can also use Strava for swimming, surfing, yoga, rock climbing and weightlifting. To access customizable training plans and live feedback, upgrade to Strava Premium for $59.99 per year.

Price: Free or $5.99 per month

MapMyRun is best for avid runners because it offers detailed breakdowns that include mile split times and how many miles you can go before it's time to replace your running shoes. 

With the premium version, you can get heart rate zone analysis, specialized training plans and Live Tracking, a safety feature that allows others to see where you are on your run. 

Price: Free or $49.99 per year

On the iPhone version of Lifesum, you can count calories, track your meals, discover recipes and log progress towards your goals. 

If you also download it on your Apple Watch, you'll notice that it aggregates data from both iPhone and Apple Watch for a more comprehensive picture. On your watch, Lifesum shows your progress via a cartoon character, which is a nice added visual touch. 

Price: $4.99

You probably know that one of the keys to a healthy life is to set small, timely, attainable goals -- not a lofty goal that sets you up for disappointment. Streaks works to that end, helping you to implement small changes you can actually stick to. 

You can track up to 12 habits at a time and categorize them as negative or positive. For example, you can track exercise as a positive goal and smoking as a negative goal. Streaks sends reminders to keep you on track.  

Price: Free or $31.99 per month

Gymaholic is best for experienced gym-goers. You can track nearly 400 different exercises in the app, but you need to know the names of them before you can log them. 

If that's no problem for you, Gymaholic offers easy and effective workout tracking that allows you to see progress over time and keep track of how much weight you lift. 

Price: Free or $1 per month

Period trackers aren't perfect, but they can definitely be handy. Clue syncs between your iPhone and Apple Watch to make sure you can conveniently check your cycle information anywhere, anytime. 

Clue's primary function is to track your cycle, but it also analyzes patterns to alert you of any potential health issues. The premium version can predict when you might experience cramps, bloating, cravings and other PMS symptoms.

Price: $3

Need a quick stretch? Trick question -- we all do. Pocket Yoga is the perfect companion for getting your yoga on, complete with guided audio and visual instructions. Choose from nearly 20 different flows and log your yoga workouts to track progress.

Price: Free or $9.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly

Most people are familiar with MyFitnessPal and its massive food database. The iPhone app is incredible complex and comprehensive, but the Apple Watch is a simple and useful companion. 

On your Apple Watch, MyFitnessPal shows you a running total of remaining calories for the day, as well as a macronutrient breakdown. It also tallies up the step total from your Apple Watch, along with activity and calories burned. 

Price: Free

This pre-installed Apple Watch app could potentially save lives: Just place your finger on the Digital Crown and let the app analyze the electrical impulses in your body for 30 seconds. 

The app can detect atrial fibrillation, which could alert you if something is askew. But the app isn't a substitute for a doctor — if something seems really off, find a physician right away. 

Price: Free

Speaking of heart health, Cardiogram is another very valuable app that can show you how well your heart is working over time. 

Cardiogram uses the heart rate data that your Apple Watch collects, and offers insights as to how your heart reacts to certain foods, exercises and more. 

Price: Free

Ever find yourself in a pinch for workout ideas? Nike Training Club offers a massive collection of at-home and gym workouts organized by body area and intensity. 

Next time you struggle to write your own workout, try Nike Training Club for quick inspiration. 

Price: Free

Whether it's vitamins, birth control or prescription medication, you've probably experienced that quick "did I take my pill?!" moment of panic before. 

No big deal if it's just a multi (you'll survive), but those with prescription medications could run into serious problems if they forget to take them. Round Health solves that problem with organized and persistent reminders, even for those who take multiple medications.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Ditch the spiral notebook: Smart Gym lets you log workouts down to every last detail, including the workout goal, sets, reps, weight, a rest timer and extra notes. 

The best way to use Smart Gym is to write your workouts in the iPhone app and then use your Apple Watch to actually track and log the workout. You can also track body measurements such as BMI, body fat percentage and waist circumference with Smart Gym. 

Price: Free

We're here to tell you yet again: Drink more water! That seems to be the easiest health advice to give, but the hardest to take. 

Waterminder can help keep you hydrated by sending you reminders to drink more water, along with cautionary alerts if you haven't consumed enough water throughout the day.