Looking for a Zero App Alternative? Here's How to Choose One

Quick answer: Zero is a well-built, well-funded fasting and nutrition app with an Apple Watch app, Apple Health sync, and a huge user base. Most people who leave it are not leaving because it is bad — they are leaving because it grew into a food-logging product and they only ever wanted a timer. Decide which of those two things you want first, then pick. Fasted is our own app, and it is the timer-shaped option.

Disclosure: Fasted is made by us. Everything below about competing apps was checked against their own App Store listings and websites on 5 August 2026 and is cited at the end. Prices and features move; check the store before you decide.

People search for a Zero alternative for two very different reasons, and the right answer depends entirely on which one you are.

The first group hit a paywall. The second group opened the app to start a 16:8 fast and found a nutrition tracker asking them to photograph lunch. Those are opposite problems, and an app that solves one usually makes the other worse.

What Zero Is Now

Worth being accurate about, because Zero has changed.

The App Store listing is titled "Zero: Fasting & Food Tracker" with the subtitle "Protein & Calorie Calculator," published by Zero Longevity Science, Inc. Its own description opens with the pitch: "Most fasting and weight loss apps stop at simply tracking fasts or calories. Zero connects the full picture — fasting, protein, meals, hydration, and habits." Zero's site puts the same idea more directly: it is built to "help you lose fat, protect muscle, and build healthy habits."

That is not the app a lot of people downloaded in 2019. It is a broader product, and for people who want the broader product it is a good one.

The store facts, checked 5 August 2026:

We are not going to pretend the ratings row favors us. Zero has 445,000 ratings and years of iteration behind it. That is real, and it is the strongest single argument for staying.

Six Things Worth Checking Before You Switch

Skip the feature-count comparisons. These are the questions that actually decide whether a fasting app survives month two.

1. Do you want a timer, or a food log?

This is the whole decision. A fasting timer asks one thing of you: press start. A nutrition tracker asks you to describe every meal. Both are legitimate; they just require different amounts of you on a bad Tuesday.

If you have abandoned three food-logging apps, that is data. Pick a timer. If a timer alone has never changed anything for you, the food log may be the missing part, and Zero already has it.

2. Does it run on the device you actually check?

If you wear an Apple Watch and glance at it forty times a day, an app with a watch app is a genuinely different product from one without. Zero has one and lists a "completely redesigned Apple Watch experience" in its update notes. Fasted does not have a watch app — it puts an iOS and Android home screen widget on your phone instead. We have written up what fasting on an Apple Watch actually requires, including which apps ship one, because it is the single most common reason to rule an app out.

3. What sits behind the paywall?

Not "is there a paywall" — every one of these apps has one. The useful question is whether the thing you use daily is on the free side of it. Check that before you import your history, not after. Our breakdown of what premium fasting features are actually worth paying for walks through which ones tend to matter.

4. Subscription, or something you can own?

Some people are done renting apps. Zero's paid tier is a subscription. Fasted Pro lists a $49.99 lifetime purchase alongside its monthly and yearly options. Neither model is virtuous; they just suit different people. If you are firmly in the buy-it-once camp, the roundups of fasting apps with no subscription and free apps without a subscription requirement are the places to start.

5. Does it demand an account?

Some apps want an email before they will show you a timer. Fasted's listing says "No account required to start." If handing over an address to time a 16-hour fast bothers you, fasting apps that require no account covers the field.

6. Which schedules does it support out of the box?

If you follow 16:8 you have no problem — everything supports 16:8. If you run OMAD, 14:10, or an occasional 36-hour fast, check that the app has your protocol as a preset rather than making you build it every time. Fasted ships six: 16:8, 18:6, 20:4, 14:10, OMAD, and a 36-hour extended fast. If you have not settled on one yet, the fasting schedule quiz will narrow it down in about a minute.

Where Zero Is Genuinely Stronger

Credit where it is owed. Zero does several things we do not:

• A real Apple Watch app. Start and end a fast from your wrist. Fasted has no watch app at all.
• Apple Health sync. Zero's listing says it syncs with Apple Health; ours does not mention it, because it does not do it.
• Food and protein logging built in. Zero's Protein Score and meal logging are core product, not an afterthought.
• Scale and track record. 445,000 App Store ratings at 4.8 stars is a decade of feedback that a newer app has not been through.
• Hydration and habit tracking alongside the fasting timer, in one place.

If any of those five is the reason you opened Zero this morning, switching will cost you something.

Where Fasted Is Built Differently

Not better — differently, and the differences are architectural rather than a longer feature list.

It is a timer first. The home screen is a circular timer that fills as you move through five metabolic phases — Fed State, Catabolic, Fat Burning, Ketosis, Deep Ketosis. There is nothing to log to make it work. If you want the same idea in a browser before installing anything, the fasting timer on this site runs the same phase model.

It starts without an account. The listing says so, and it means the first run is: open, pick a protocol, press start.

Fast Buddy. You can pair with one other person and see their live timer, send reactions, and leave comments. It is deliberately one person, not a feed — accountability without a social network attached.

Hunger Map. You log hunger spikes during a fast and it shows you when your cravings actually peak. Most people are wrong about this until they see it plotted.

A lifetime price exists. $49.99 once, instead of a subscription, if that is how you prefer to buy software.

Widgets, not a watch. An iOS and Android home screen widget keeps the timer visible without opening anything. That is the honest ceiling of what Fasted does outside the app today.

Other Alternatives Worth Knowing About

Zero and Fasted are not the only two. If you want the wider field before committing, the best intermittent fasting app roundup covers more of it, and Fasted vs Zero head to head goes feature by feature. If you have decided the paywall itself is the problem, start with the no-subscription list instead — it will save you a download.

You Will Not Lose Your History By Switching

The practical worry with any fasting app move is the streak. Two things help.

First, most fasting apps let you log a past fast manually, so a few evenings of backfill will reconstruct the pattern that matters.

Second, and more usefully: your fasting streak is a fact about your last few months, not a number stored on a server. Nobody takes it from you by uninstalling an app. If your app change costs you a 90-day counter and you keep fasting, you are still someone who has fasted for 90 days.

If you are early enough that there is not much history to move, the beginner's guide is a better use of the next ten minutes than app shopping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Zero still worth using?

For a lot of people, yes. It has an Apple Watch app, Apple Health sync, food and protein logging, and 445,000 App Store ratings averaging 4.8 stars as of 5 August 2026. The people it stops suiting are usually the ones who wanted a fasting timer and nothing else.

What does Zero cost?

Zero is free to download with in-app purchases. Its App Store listing shows three Zero Plus subscription purchases at $9.99, $69.99 and $89.99. Zero's own site invites you to "start your free trial today." Check the listing for current pricing before you subscribe — App Store prices change more often than articles do.

Does Fasted have an Apple Watch app?

No. Fasted's App Store compatibility section lists iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision — no Apple Watch. What it offers instead is a home screen widget on iOS and Android. If a watch app is a requirement for you, Zero has one and Fasted does not.

Is there a free version of Fasted?

Yes. Fasted is free to download and the free tier includes the timer and the built-in protocols. Fasted Pro is the paid tier, listed at $6.99 monthly, $29.99 yearly, or $49.99 once for lifetime access. There is no free trial — the free tier is how you try it.

Can I use both for a while?

Yes, and it is the cheapest way to decide. Run both free tiers for a week against the same fasts. The one you open without thinking about it is the answer, and no article can tell you which that will be.

Which app is better for someone who also wants to track food?

Zero, without much argument. Meal logging, a Protein Score, and hydration tracking are core to what Zero is now. Fasted logs weight, water, and body measurements, but it is not a food tracker and does not try to be. What fasting app features actually matter breaks down where that line usually falls.

What to Read Next

• Fasted vs Zero: Which Fasting App Is Better?
• Fasting App Features That Actually Matter
• Free vs Paid Fasting Apps: Is Premium Worth It?
• Best Fasting App for Apple Watch