Our verdictfitvee is the best chair yoga app for a plan that goes somewhere
Getting down to a mat stopped being simple a while ago, and getting back up is worse. You have a kitchen chair, ten free minutes and a back that stiffens by mid-morning. Our pick, fitvee’s chair plan, asks for nothing more.
Our picks at a glance
- Best for chair yoga that builds
fitvee
It moves you from seated to supported standing, at your pace.
- Best inside a very big app
BetterMe
Its Chair yoga plan sits among 4,000+ workouts.
- Best for women over 40
Reverse Health
The whole app is made for that reader.
- Best for the shortest days
Yoga-Go
Days can run as short as 7 minutes.
- Best for trying other styles later
Lasta
Chair yoga sits beside calisthenics and indoor walking.
Day 1 is called Sit tall, and that morning’s reminder promises “No floor, no rush.” You set your chair against a wall, learn the one shape every later move grows from, and finish with a slow scan of your body. By week 4 the same chair is steadying you while you stand like a tree.
It’s built for the chair, not adapted to it.
28 days a round: 25 follow-along sessions and 3 rest-and-stretch days, growing from 10 minutes to 20. Weeks 1 and 2 stay seated. After that, short standing parts keep a hand on the chair or the wall, and nothing is ever done on the floor.
A hard move gets lighter while you’re on it.
Every move has an easier version, and the chair plan adds a Seated tab. Afterwards you say how it went, and your next session follows.
More comes with it than the chair.
The tai chi walking plan sits in your Library, a calorie counter is in the same membership, and Vee, the AI coach, can turn a sore day into a gentler one.
How it scored
- Workouts
- 5/5
- Personalisation
- 5/5
- Coaching
- 4/5
- Food tools
- 4/5
- Progress and motivation
- 5/5
- Value
- 4/5
You pay $36.99 for your first 12 weeks, then $94.85 every 12 weeks. A shorter start is $15.19 for the first 28 days, then $38.95 every 4 weeks (fitvee pricing).
On this page
Our verdictOur picks at a glanceChair yoga app reviewsWhat fitvee's chair plan is likeWhy you'll keep coming backThe other appsWhat the chair plan costsOur recommendationQuestionsHow we compareSourcesChair yoga app reviews: six apps, job by job
Scores run out of 5, and each one says what earned it. What the scores mean.
Workouts and plans
A good seated workout app has to go somewhere. fitvee’s chair plan goes from sitting tall to balancing beside the chair, and it keeps a lighter option open the whole way.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | Sessions that grow from 10 to 20 minutes and move from seated to supported standing, Easier and Seated tabs during the session, and a written second round. You get one chair plan and one walking plan, not a long shelf of programs |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | A 28-workout Chair yoga plan across iPhone, Android and web (BetterMe help), with days of 8 to 21 minutes. Those days unlock one at a time, so you can’t jump ahead |
| Reverse Health | 4/5 | Guided chair yoga beside wall Pilates, somatic flows and tai chi, which makes the chair one style of six |
| Yoga-Go | 4/5 | Chair yoga among wall Pilates, tai chi and somatic yoga, a broad shelf with the chair as one part of it |
Personalisation
The best question in this category is about your shoes, and we explain why further down.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | A quiz that can keep every move seated for good and starts you lower at 70 and over, then a check-in that moves your next session. A level change rewrites each move’s instructions, not the session’s length, so a 20-minute day stays 20 minutes |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | Low, Medium or High, plus Special Programs such as Sensitive Knees. Each intensity is its own 28-day plan, so the choice lasts the month |
Progress and motivation
Chair yoga won’t leave you out of breath, so the proof has to come from somewhere else. This is fitvee’s best job on this page.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | A flower that grows with your sessions, a week that counts at three session days, a chair-stand check on day 1 and day 28, and a printable grid |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | Charts for weight, steps and sleep in the iPhone app. The web member area doesn’t carry them |
Food tools
Nobody buys a chair yoga app for its calorie counter. It’s still good to find one in the same place, and two rivals match fitvee here.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 4/5 | A goal worked out from your quiz, then search, barcode scan with macros, portions and undo. You won’t find a week-by-week chart of your food |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | Food search everywhere, with meal photos and barcode scanning on iOS alone (BetterMe help) |
| Reverse Health | 4/5 | Photograph your plate or log by hand, with calories and macros (Reverse Health help) |
Coaching
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 4/5 | Vee, included. It can take today a level easier, switch it to all seated, give you a rest day and read your food log. It can ease a chair session or seat it, but it can’t shorten one |
| BetterMe | 3/5 | A human coach by chat around the clock, while personal 1-on-1 coaching is a paid add-on |
Value
fitvee gets 4/5. One price covers the chair plan, the walking plan, the Library, the calorie counter, the trackers and Vee. Premium Workouts and other add-ons are separate subscriptions named in the terms. A month at renewal is $34.25 on 12-week billing or $42.20 on 4-week billing, so it won’t be the cheapest way to sit in a chair. The rivals sell through store lists and quiz checkouts, and their figures are in the price section.
What fitvee’s chair plan is like
The sessions: from sitting tall to standing on one foot
Setting up takes two minutes, once. You want a sturdy chair with no wheels, its back against a wall, and it stays there the whole time. If your feet don’t reach the floor, a firm cushion or a book goes under them.
Then the weeks do the work, and each one has a name:
- Week 1, Settle: Spine waves moves your back in a small wave, lifting on the breath in and rounding on the breath out.
- Week 2, Lengthen: Eagle arms opens the front of your chest, then wraps across your upper back.
- Week 3, Strengthen: Stand up strong practises getting out of a chair, slowly, with the seat right behind you. The hinge teaches the bend you use for a bag on the floor or a low shelf, with both hands on the wall.
- Week 4, Flow: Tree at the chair trains your balance with one hand on the chair back, and Your favorites lets you pick 3 moves from the month.
That’s the part we like most. It’s yoga pointed at ordinary life: standing up, bending down, not wobbling. And the plan has a rule we’d like to see everywhere: “Balance moves get harder by time, never by letting go.”
Day 28 lets you step on or stay where you are, and your check-ins shape what it suggests. Round 2, Stronger seat, adds 6 new moves such as a seated towel row and a wall push-up, in sessions of 15 to 22 minutes. Past that, a step on repeats those sessions a level harder.
There’s only ever one thing to do. Belly breathing says “Easy breaths to settle.” Tap Easier and it says “Skip the counting. Just breathe in and out at a pace that feels natural, with one hand on your belly.” On Sit to stand, the Seated tab keeps you down: “Lean forward from the hips, press your feet down so your hips lighten, then sit back.”
Once you’re a member, the Library holds both plans. Filter it by Seated, by Under 10 min, or by Hips, Shoulders or Back, and nothing you do there moves your place in the plan. Anyone can read every move in the free exercise library first.
The research is on your side here. In 33 trials of people 65 and over, yoga, most often Iyengar or chair-based, improved walking speed and leg strength against doing nothing, though it may not beat other exercise.
BetterMe’s chair plan is the closest thing to fitvee’s, and it’s well made. We bought it. The Plan tab is calm: a strip of 28 days above a single card, Hip Mobility Flow, 9 min, Chair. Press play in its web app and the controls are Prev, Skip and Next. That’s a fair way to run a session. fitvee’s difference is that the way past a hard move is an easier move, not a skip.
Chair yoga for seniors: one question about your shoes
The chair quiz asks something we wish more apps would: do you put your shoes on standing up? Answer “No, I sit to put them on” and the plan stops asking you to stand. Every move is shown and done seated from day 1 to day 28, and you can change the setting later in your account.
Other answers set where you begin. Say you’re 70 or over, never exercise, or that exercise has got harder with age, and you start on the easier level. Mention a sensitive back or knees and your moves carry Take-care tips for them.
After that, you do the steering. Two questions follow each session: did you do it, and how did it feel? “Some of it” still counts, and the app says so: “Some is better than none.” Too hard brings your next session a step easier, Too easy a step harder, and “Not today” leaves your day number where it was.
A review of 8 qualitative studies found older adults want this from an activity app: clear instructions, a plan that suits them and difficulty that rises at their pace.
Vee: help on a sore day
Vee, the AI coach, is for the days the plan didn’t see coming. Tell it your hip is sore and it asks where and when, then offers a gentler or seated version for today. Say yes and a card in the chat confirms it: “Day 18 is all seated now.” Mention your knee and it can save that, so your moves show their knee tips from then on.
The calorie counter, if you want one
Food is there when you want it and out of sight when you don’t. Search a food or scan a package, macros included, set the portion and the number left for the day drops. Your usual breakfast comes back ready to add. Log a food and you’re offered a food row for Today: calories left, scan and + under your session.
How a week fits together
Your reminder lands about 30 minutes before you usually sit down: “Day 3: Neck and shoulders.” That’s ten minutes of slow tips and rolls. You call it too hard, so Spine waves comes a step easier. You scan a yogurt at lunch. On Thursday your hip complains and Vee seats the day. Day 7 is rest and stretch: “A slow, easy day.”
Why you’ll keep coming back
It counts the thing you came for.
Standing up from a chair is the skill under this whole plan, so the can-do check measures it: how many times you stand in 30 seconds on day 1, the same again on day 28, and how long you hold your balance. Researchers use that chair stand too: pooled across 25 studies, chair routines in adults 50 and over added about two stands. The printable grid ends with a table for your two sets of results.
A sore week doesn’t set you back.
Your day number counts sessions, not dates, so when your hip flares and a week goes, you return to the day you left. Stay away three days or more and a banner tells you your weeks of sessions are safe, with one button to take you back. You’re still billed while you’re away, and your place stays yours.
It’s a kind thing to open.
Day 1 ends on “Day 1 of 28, done. Proud of you.” After that, each session adds a petal to a flower on your Progress page and each week a bloom. Keep every move seated and you skip the can-do check, so the flower becomes your proof instead.
The other apps, one by one
BetterMe
- Suits
- You want a chair plan inside a very big app, with native iOS and Android versions.
- Main strength
- Scale and goodwill: 4,000+ workouts (BetterMe help) and 714,447 US App Store ratings averaging 4.7.
- Drawback
- Your price appears at checkout, once the quiz is done (BetterMe help).
Full review: BetterMe review. Head to head: fitvee vs BetterMe.
Reverse Health
- Suits
- You’re a woman over 40 and want an app made for exactly that.
- Main strength
- That focus, with a fasting tracker and meal plans next to the sessions.
Yoga-Go
- Suits
- You want your shortest days to be very short.
- Main strength
- “7 to 30 minutes a day”, on iPhone and Android.
Lasta
- Suits
- You want chair yoga now and calisthenics or indoor walking later.
- Main strength
- The spread of programs on bodyweight and minimal equipment.
MadMuscles
- Suits
- Chair yoga is your easy day in a harder week of calisthenics.
- Main strength
- Calisthenics, military workouts, tai chi and personalised meal plans in one product.
- Drawback
- Chair yoga is the side dish: its listing offers it “if you prefer something more relaxed”. In June 2026 the FTC sued a network of app operators, naming MadMuscles among their products, over how subscriptions were sold and cancelled. Those are allegations, not findings (FTC press release).
What the chair plan costs
| Plan | First payment | Then | A month at renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 weeks, chair | $36.99 for 84 days | $94.85 every 12 weeks | $34.25 |
That’s the lowest rate on this plan. Paying every 4 weeks starts at $15.19, then $38.95, which comes to $42.20 a month at renewal (all prices).
So do you have to pay for chair yoga at all? Not to find out whether it suits you. fitvee’s free chair session needs no sign-up, and neither do its printable 28-day plan and 12-exercise chart. The membership adds what a printout can’t do: a session chosen for you each day, a check-in that moves the next one, the walking plan in your Library, the calorie counter with macros and Vee. A gentle plan is easy to drift away from, and most of that list is there to stop you.
Elsewhere you’re reading store lists, which give a range, not a price. On the App Store, Yoga-Go shows $14.99 to $149.99, with 12 months at $52.99 or $69.99. MadMuscles goes from $15.99 a month to $119.99 for life, the Reverse Health program from $4.99 to $76.99, Lasta Premium from $14.99 to $34.99 and BetterMe from $6.99 to $41.99. The chair plan we bought from BetterMe, priced in kronor, was kr24,99 for a week, then kr535,70 every 4 weeks.
With fitvee you see the renewal date at checkout, and 4 and 12-week starts get a reminder email a week ahead of the first full-price charge (renewals). You can cancel online whenever you like, and payments are final.
Our recommendation
Choose fitvee if you want the chair to lead somewhere: seated in week 1, balancing beside it by week 4, with a lighter way through every move and a count of your chair stands at the end.
BetterMe runs it closest. What tips it for us is the Easier tab under a hard move, one quiz answer that can keep you seated for the whole plan, and a price you can read before the quiz.
Women who want an app built around being over 40 should look at Reverse Health, and anyone after 7-minute days at Yoga-Go. More on our pick: fitvee review.
“The easier option on a few moves made the difference. I stopped dreading the session.”
“I log my food too. A normal week is breakfast and dinner at home and a sandwich out. It is simple enough that I keep doing it.”
Questions
What is the best chair yoga app for seniors?
For most people, fitvee: sessions start at 10 minutes, the floor never comes into it, and being 70 or over starts you on the easier level. With a health condition or a recent fall, ask your doctor before you begin.
Is there a free chair yoga app without a subscription?
fitvee has no free tier, but its free chair session is a full one, with no sign-up and no card.
How much does a chair yoga app cost?
fitvee is $36.99 for 12 weeks, then $94.85 every 12 weeks. The others sell through store lists, which we set out above.
Does chair yoga work?
For strength, balance and mood, the evidence is encouraging. Across 22 trials in adults averaging 60 or older, yoga of varied styles beat no activity on balance, leg strength, depression and sleep quality.
Can you lose weight with chair yoga?
No app can promise that, and fitvee’s own start guide calls moving more “one part of a weight-loss plan”. Food does most of the early work: across 8 trials, mostly of women, adding exercise to diet showed no extra loss at 3 to 6 months and about 1.7 kg more at a year. That’s the case for having the calorie counter nearby.
Is there a chair workout app for men over 50?
Yes. Any adult can take fitvee’s chair plan, though it’s made for women after 40 and a woman leads it on screen. As a chair yoga app for men it does the job, and men who can stand may prefer our list for men over 40.
Is chair yoga or walking better?
You don’t have to choose. A chair membership includes the tai chi walking plan too: 7 minutes on your feet, with a wall or counter in reach.
Are 10-minute sessions enough?
They count. US guidance says any amount of activity has some health benefits, while still aiming for 150 minutes a week. Even light activity went with lower death rates in 8 cohorts averaging 62.6 years old, though that study shows a link, not a cause.
What kind of chair do I need?
A sturdy one with no wheels, its back against a wall. Arms are fine but not needed.
Do I need to download anything?
No. fitvee opens in your browser, and a shortcut on your home screen opens it full screen. It’s sold in the United States (terms).
How we compare
Every fact here comes from an app’s own pricing, help or store page as it stood on 6 November 2026. We also bought BetterMe’s chair yoga plan on 2 November 2026, filmed its iPhone app and played a session in its web app. fitvee’s shots show a preview of the app, filled with a test member’s sample history, on the chair and walking plans. Full method: How we compare.
The scale. Each job gets a mark out of 5. Five means the whole job and something extra that stands out. Four means the main job is covered. Three means a real catch, usually something key that costs more. Two is part of the job, and one is little or nothing. Rivals get a mark only where their own pages or our shots back it, so an app with too little on record for a job stays out of that table. We give no overall mark: a calorie counter may mean nothing to you, and everything to the next reader.
Who wrote and checked this page:
Tom Becker
Training writer
Writes about home workouts, walking and strength for beginners. Does his own sessions at home with no equipment and writes down what was hard.
Ben Okafor
Plan reviewer
Reads the workout plans and the coach’s changes and checks that the easier options are easy to find. Started training late and still uses the easier versions on bad days.
Sources
- fitveechair plan, pricing, terms, refunds, exercise library. Help: easier moves, missed days, which plan, printable grid, renewals, cancel, doctor first.
- What we useda preview of fitvee with a test member on the chair and walking plans, 6 November 2026. BetterMe’s chair yoga plan, bought on the web, with an iPhone screen recording and our notes from its web member area and billing page, 2 November 2026.
- BetterMethe App Store listing, plus help pages on Chair Yoga, features, calorie tracker and cost.
- Reverse HealthApp Store listing and getting started help.
- Yoga-GoApp Store and Google Play listings.
- Lastahome page and App Store listing.
- MadMusclesApp Store listing; FTC press release, 17 June 2026.
- ResearchLoewenthal et al., 2023; Klempel et al., 2021; Sivaramakrishnan et al., 2019; Peng et al., 2024; Ekelund et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2014; US Physical Activity Guidelines, top 10 things to know.
38 sources, numbered as they appear on this page
fitvee
- 1A test member on a preview of fitveeread 6 November 2026
- 2fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 3fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 4fitvee help: easier movesfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 5fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 12fitvee help: printable gridfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 15fitvee help: termsfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 16fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 17fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 19fitvee help: missed dayfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 27fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 30fitvee help: cancelfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 31fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 34fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 35fitvee help: which planfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 38fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
BetterMe
- 6BetterMe help: which features are includedbettermesupport.zendesk.com, read 6 November 2026
- 10Our walk through BetterMe's web member arearead 2 November 2026
- 11Our iPhone recording of BetterMeread 2 November 2026
- 13Our walk through BetterMe's web member arearead 2 November 2026
- 14BetterMe App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 22BetterMe help: how to find and set up chair yoga planbettermesupport.zendesk.com, read 6 November 2026
- 23BetterMe App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 29Our billing tab on the BetterMe plan we boughtread 2 November 2026
Reverse Health
- 7Reverse Health App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Yoga-Go
- 8Yoga-Go App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 24Yoga-Go Google Play listingplay.google.com, read 6 November 2026
- 28Yoga-Go App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Lasta
- 9Lasta product pagelasta.app, read 6 November 2026
- 25Lasta App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Annals of Internal Medicine
- 18Annals of Internal Medicine research reviewpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, read 6 November 2026
Geriatric Nursing
- 20Geriatric Nursing research reviewpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, read 6 November 2026
Klempel et al.
- 21Klempel et al. research reviewdoi.org, read 6 November 2026
MadMuscles
- 26MadMuscles App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act
- 32Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act research reviewpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, read 6 November 2026
Johns et al.
- 33Johns et al. research reviewdoi.org, read 6 November 2026
US Department of Health and Human Services (ODPHP)
- 36US Department of Health and Human Services (ODPHP) public guidelineodphp.health.gov, read 6 November 2026
BMJ
- 37BMJ research reviewpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, read 6 November 2026