Fasted vs Simple: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Quick Answer: Simple is no longer a fasting app. Its App Store listing is now "Simple: AI Weight Loss Coach", built around a coach called Avo and photo-based food feedback, with fasting as one habit inside it. Fasted is a fasting timer with metabolic phases around it, a free tier you can live in, no account to start, and a one-time price. If you liked Simple for the timer, these are not comparable products and the swap is straightforward. If you liked it for the coach, nothing here replaces it.

Disclosure: Fasted is our app. Every claim about Simple below comes from its own App Store listing, Google Play listing or website, checked 5 August 2026 and cited at the end. Store facts change; verify before you pay.

Simple (simple.life) has become one of the most visible apps in this space through heavy advertising. You have probably seen the ads. What the ads do not make obvious is how far the product has travelled from the fasting timer people downloaded a few years ago.

What Simple Is Now

The App Store listing reads "Simple: AI Weight Loss Coach", subtitle "Build a Healthy Body for Life", published by AM APPS LTD. The word "fasting" is not in the title any more.

The description sets out the pitch in its own words: "Simple helps you lose weight with personalized plans, real-time nutrition analysis, on-demand coaching, and tailored workouts — without calorie counting or extreme restrictions." It describes an in-app coach, "Avo", and a camera feature, Avo Vision, that reads a photo of a meal or a menu and gives feedback. Simple's own site adds Pilates, yoga and walking plans, and Nutrition Scores for the meals you log.

Fasting has not disappeared. Simple's site still talks about helping people safely intermittent fast and about logging fasting hours. It is just no longer the centre of the app. That is not a scandal — products are allowed to grow — but it does mean that if you opened Simple recently and found a coach asking about your Pilates preferences, you were not imagining it.

Feature Comparison

Compatibility rows come from each app's App Store listing, read 5 August 2026. Simple's listing showed seven separate in-app purchases across two tier names that day, plus a workbooks bundle; its own site says prices vary by subscription length, so read the listing in your own store rather than a table.

AI Coaching vs Data-Driven Self-Tracking

Simple's headline feature is its AI coach. The app asks detailed questions during a lengthy onboarding quiz, then generates personalized recommendations for fasting schedules, eating habits, and weight loss targets. The AI can answer questions, provide encouragement, and adjust its recommendations over time — the same coaching-first bet Noom makes against fasting apps. That bet has since become the whole product: Simple's listing is now titled "AI Weight Loss Coach", which is why the switching questions further down start by asking which half of the app you were actually using.

This is genuinely useful for people who want a conversational guide. Ask the AI whether you should extend your fast, and it gives you a tailored answer. Ask about what to eat during your window, and it provides suggestions. For beginners who feel overwhelmed by choices, this hand-holding approach reduces friction.

Fasted does not include AI coaching. Instead, it provides comprehensive tracking tools, detailed stats, and streak tracking that help you see patterns and make your own decisions. The philosophy is that your own data, consistently tracked, is a better long-term guide than any AI recommendation.

Both approaches have merit. AI coaching can accelerate the learning curve for beginners. Data-driven self-tracking builds deeper understanding over time. The question is what kind of support you need right now.

The Onboarding Experience

Simple has one of the longest onboarding flows in the fasting app market. The quiz asks about your age, weight, goals, activity level, eating habits, sleep patterns, and more. This data feeds the AI coach's personalization. It can take five to ten minutes to complete. The free fasting schedule quiz on this site asks eight questions and takes about a minute.

The onboarding then leads into a paywall. Simple's free tier is extremely limited, and the app pushes hard toward a subscription before you can meaningfully use it. This is the trade-off of their marketing-heavy approach: the acquisition cost is high, so the monetization needs to be aggressive.

Fasted gets you to a working fasting timer in under a minute. You choose your schedule, start your fast, and begin tracking. The app earns your trust through use, not through a quiz.

If you enjoy personalized onboarding and do not mind the subscription push, Simple's approach feels thorough. If you prefer to start using an app immediately and decide later whether to pay, Fasted respects your time.

Tracking Features

Food logging is where Simple has the clear advantage, and it is worth saying so plainly. Avo Vision reads a photo of a plate or a menu and gives feedback, which is a lower-friction way to log than typing into a database. Fasted does not log food at all, at any tier. If a food record is what you want, this comparison is already over — though a free macro calculator will give you the daily targets without any logging at all.

The counter-argument is not that Fasted's food tracking is better. It is that every food-logging feature ever built has the same failure mode: the week you stop logging is the week the app stops being useful, and for most people that week arrives. An app that never asks you to log cannot fail that way. It also cannot tell you anything about what you ate. Pick your trade.

Weight tracking is available in both apps, on Fasted's Pro tier and in Simple. Both show trends over time.

Metabolic phases are unique to Fasted here. The timer fills through fed state, catabolic, fat burning, ketosis and deep ketosis, so the question "what is happening right now?" has an answer on the home screen.

Streak tracking is also unique to Fasted in this comparison. Maintaining a visible streak adds daily accountability. Simple does not offer an equivalent feature.

Stats and insights are available in both apps at the premium level. Simple's insights are filtered through its AI coaching lens. Fasted's insights are more data-forward, showing trends and patterns directly.

For more on how meal tracking works across apps, see our best fasting apps with meal tracking guide.

Free Tier Reality

This is where the comparison gets stark.

Simple's free tier is among the most limited in the market. The extensive onboarding collects your data and generates a plan, but accessing most features requires a subscription. Many users report feeling that the free tier is essentially a demo designed to convert you to paid.

Fasted's free tier includes the fasting timer, multiple schedules, and basic tracking. You can use the app productively for weeks or months without paying and make an informed decision about whether premium features would add value.

The difference in free tier generosity reflects different business models. Simple spends heavily on user acquisition through advertising and needs high conversion rates to premium. Fasted relies more on organic growth and word-of-mouth, so the free tier needs to be good enough that users recommend it.

For a thorough analysis of free versus paid value across all major apps, read our free vs paid fasting apps guide.

Pricing

Simple's listing carries seven separate in-app purchases across two tier names, plus a workbooks bundle, and its own site says prices vary by the subscription length you pick. That is a lot of shapes, and it is worth two minutes on the listing to see which one you would actually land on.

Fasted Pro is $6.99 monthly, $29.99 yearly, or $49.99 once for permanent access. The lifetime option is the row that matters if recurring billing is what you are trying to escape — Simple does not offer one.

Simple justifies its price with AI coaching, which is genuinely expensive to build and run. Whether that is worth the premium depends on how much you use it, and on whether the coach's guidance adds something beyond what a fortnight of your own data would have told you.

Design and Daily Use

Simple has a polished, modern design with a weight-loss-forward aesthetic. The interface is clean but oriented around the AI coach and its recommendations. Navigation can involve more taps to reach basic features because the app prioritizes guided experiences.

Fasted is minimal and function-first. The timer, stats, and tracking tools are immediately accessible. Daily check-ins are fast.

For an app you use multiple times per day, speed matters. Fasted gets you in and out faster. Simple provides a richer experience per session but takes more time.

Where Simple Wins

These are real advantages, not throat-clearing:

• An AI coach that answers questions. Nothing in a plain fasting timer replaces being able to ask something and get an answer back.
• Photo food analysis. Avo Vision reading a plate or a menu is a genuinely lower-friction way to log than typing.
• An Apple Watch app. Simple lists one at watchOS 10.0 or later. Fasted has none.
• Apple Health integration, listed on its store page.
• Workout and movement plans — Pilates, yoga, walking — that a fasting app does not attempt.
• Scale and polish. A large user base and a design that looks expensive because it was.

If three or more of those describe why you opened it this morning, an alternative will feel like a downgrade whichever one you pick.

Where Fasted Is Built Differently

Different architecture, not a longer list.

• One job. A circular timer moving through five metabolic phases, with nothing to log to make it work. The fasting timer on this site runs the same phase model in a browser if you want to see it first.
• No account to start. Open, pick a protocol, press start. No quiz, no email.
• Streak tracking. A daily accountability mechanism Simple does not have.
• Fast Buddy. Pair with one named person and see their live timer. One partner, not a feed.
• Hunger Map. Log hunger spikes during a fast and see when your cravings actually peak — a question a coach would otherwise have to guess at.
• A price you can pay once. $49.99 lifetime.
• No AI and no server-side coach. Whether that reads as a feature or a gap depends entirely on which half of Simple you were using.

Who Should Choose Which?

Choose Simple if:

• You want an AI coach and photo-based food feedback
• Weight loss is your primary and specific goal, not fasting itself
• You wear an Apple Watch and want the timer on it
• You want workout plans in the same app
• You are a beginner who wants hand-holding through the process

Choose Fasted if:

• You want a timer and nothing you have to feed
• Streak tracking or a named partner is what keeps you honest
• You would rather not spend ten minutes in a quiz to reach a paywall
• You want a free tier you can use indefinitely
• You would rather buy the paid tier once than rent it

For a comparison with social-focused alternatives, see Fasted vs Fastic. For the complete market overview, check the best fasting app roundup.

Switching From Simple: Five Questions First

"Simple alternative" is an ambiguous search, because you could be looking for a different AI coach or for the fasting timer Simple used to be. Those lead to opposite recommendations. Five questions sort it out.

Was the coach the point, or the timer? Be honest about which part you actually used last month. If you opened Simple to ask Avo about a meal, an app with no coach will feel empty. If you opened it to press start on a 16:8 window and scrolled past everything else, you have been paying for surface area you never touched.

Do you want to photograph your food? It works for a lot of people, and it requires you to take the photo. Every food-logging feature has the same failure mode, and it is not the feature's fault.

Does the paid tier line up with what you use? Seven purchases across two tier names is worth two minutes of reading before you renew.

Which schedules do you run? Coaching apps tend to treat fasting as one habit among several, which usually means one or two supported windows. If you run OMAD, 14:10 or an occasional 36-hour fast, check the presets. Fasted ships six daily protocols and switching is a tap. The meal window planner will lay the hours against a normal day so you can see whether a window survives contact with your evenings.

Was a general weight-loss app what you meant to buy? This is the fork in the road. Simple, Noom and their neighbours are behaviour-change products with fasting bolted on. A fasting tracker is a single-purpose tool. Neither is better; they are different purchases.

One practical reassurance if you do move. Most fasting apps let you enter past fasts by hand, so a short backfill rebuilds the pattern. And your fasting record is a fact about the last few months of your life, not a number held on somebody's server — uninstalling an app does not undo the fasts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Simple still a fasting app?

Partly. Its App Store title is now "Simple: AI Weight Loss Coach" and the product is built around a coach and food photo analysis. Simple's own site still refers to intermittent fasting and to logging fasting hours, so the feature exists — it is just no longer what the app leads with.

What is a good Simple app alternative?

It depends which half you were using. If it was the coach, the photo food analysis or the workout plans, no fasting tracker replaces those and you should be shopping in the coaching category. If it was the fasting timer, almost any dedicated tracker is a like-for-like swap and several of them are cheaper — Fasted is one, with no account and a lifetime price, but with no coach and no watch app.

Is Simple fasting app worth the price?

Simple's AI coaching is a genuine feature that some users find very valuable, particularly beginners who want personalized guidance. It is also one of the more expensive apps in this space, with several purchase tiers rather than one clear price. Whether it is worth it depends on how much you rely on the coach. If you mainly want the window tracked, you are paying for a lot of app you will not open.

Does Simple have a good free version?

Simple's free tier is very limited. The app collects detailed information during onboarding but gates most features behind the premium subscription. If you want to try a fasting app without committing to a subscription, Fasted's free tier offers significantly more functionality.

Can Simple help me lose weight?

Simple is designed specifically with weight loss as a primary goal. The AI coaching, personalized plans, and weight tracking are all oriented toward weight loss outcomes. However, any consistent fasting practice combined with mindful eating can support weight loss, regardless of which app you use.

Is the AI coach in Simple actually useful?

The AI coach provides personalized recommendations and can answer fasting-related questions. Its usefulness depends on your needs. Beginners who want guidance tend to find it most valuable. Experienced fasters who already know their preferred protocols may not use it enough to justify the cost.

Which app is better for experienced fasters?

Experienced fasters typically value tracking depth and speed over coaching, because they already know the answers the coach is there to give. Fasted's streak tracking, metabolic phases, detailed stats and protocol presets suit people who know what they are doing and want their own data back. Simple's coach is built for guidance rather than optimisation, and its value falls off fast once the guidance is familiar.

Does Fasted work on Apple Watch?

No. Its App Store compatibility section lists iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision — no Apple Watch and no complication. There is a home screen widget on iOS and Android instead. Simple does list an Apple Watch app, at watchOS 10.0 or later. If a wrist timer is a requirement, that settles it in Simple's favour.

What to Read Next

• Best Intermittent Fasting App in 2026
• Best Fasting Apps with Meal Tracking
• Fasted vs Fastic: Which Fasting Tracker Wins?