2023 Fabulous App Review: Does It Work?
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Keeping up with healthy habits consistently is known to improve your mental health, but sometimes you need an extra push.
According to research from 2019 , it can take between 18 and 254 days for a person to form a new habit. But often, people switch habits and behaviors too quickly, only to burn out after a few days. That’s where Fabulous comes in.
In the U.S., healthcare spending accounts for 17.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or the total value of goods and services produced by the entire nation for the entire year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Fabulous is a daily planner and self-care habit tracking app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app works like a “coach” and uses behavioral science to help people make smart changes and build healthy habits.
Keep reading to see how the Fabulous app works and whether it’s right for you.
All mental health apps reviewed on Austra Health have been thoroughly vetted and approved by a team of mental health professionals, which consists of clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and licensed therapists.
During the vetting process, our team evaluates apps based on factors, such as medical credibility, business practices, and social impact, to ensure that they meet Austra Health’s strict standards.
Fabulous is a daily self-care app available for users of Android and iOS devices under the health and fitness category.
The app helps you build routines over time by breaking habits down into small, attainable steps and “journeys.” For example, your initial journey may revolve around creating a healthy morning routine to set yourself up for a successful day.
During the first 3 days, your only goal will be to drink a glass of water right when you wake up. The app will send you a notification each morning at the time you specify.
Over time, you’re able to add more habits to your journey, also known as “habit stacking.” This is a common technique used to sustain long-term routines.
Pros
- The sessions are science-backed and created in collaboration with researchers.
- It uses a “gamified” experience that can make goal setting and staying consistent enjoyable.
- It has an easy-to-navigate interface with pleasing designs and graphics.
- There’s a large collection of exercises and meditations.
- All the routines show how long each task is going to take.
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Cons
- The notifications can be easy to ignore.
- There’s no warning that your free trial is going to end.
- There’s not a lot of options or customization.
- You’re unable to set nondaily habits.
- The healthy eating portion centers on losing weight, which might not fit everyone’s goal and can be triggering for some.
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Signing up
Fabulous has an easy-to-navigate interface and a comforting aesthetic. It also has a built-in soundtrack, ambient sounds, and beautifully designed background templates.
When you hop on the app, it will ask you a series of questions, such as “How often do you focus on the future?” and “What single change would improve your life right now?” It will also ask how you identify, how many hours of sleep you get per night, and how your energy levels are throughout the day.
After answering a few more basic questions, Fabulous will ask what areas of your life you’re most interested in improving. Some of the choices are productivity, better sleep, financial habits, purpose and motivation, anxiety and stress, and emotional wellness. You can choose as many options as you’d like.
From there, Fabulous configures a “journey” for you based on your answers and will ask you to sign a “contract” that says:
“I, [your name], will make the most of tomorrow. I will always remember that I will not live forever. Every fear and irritation that threatens to distract me will become fuel for building my best life one day at a time.”
Journeys
The first journey on the app centers on adding one positive step to your routine each day, like drinking water as soon as you wake up.
After you get in the habit of drinking water, you get to continue building your morning routine by adding a new habit, such as eating a nutritious breakfast or exercising after waking up. It takes 3 days to “unlock” the next task.
The app will notify you before each habit with a reminder alert at the time you specify.
This is the preliminary routine-building journey. Once you lock that one down, you will be prompted to move on to the next of several journeys, each of which is based on your answers to the initial questions. Each journey takes several weeks to complete, and you can only do one at a time.
Challenges
Challenges can be accessed using the “discover” icon on the bottom of the app. Each challenge is focused on a specific goal, and most require less time than a journey.
Weekly live challenges are also available, which allow you to work toward your goals alongside other members of the community.
Some examples of specific challenges that you can choose from include:
- 7-Day Intermittent Fasting Challenge
- 3-Day Group Study Challenge
- 7-Day Social Media Detox Challenge
- 5-Day No Smoking Challenge
- 30-Day Clean Eating Challenge
You can also pick between several “super powers” when beginning your challenge to help hold you accountable, such as sharing on Instagram, placing sticky notes around your house, or developing a mindful ritual.
Keep in mind that you can only participate in one journey or challenge at a time, so you may need to pause your current journey or challenge to begin a new one.
Journaling and mood tracking
Fabulous also has journaling and mood tracking features. You can access these at any time during the process to leave notes about what’s on your mind and/or how you’re feeling.
The journal is split up by time of day — morning, afternoon, and evening — and you can leave multiple entries in each block. At the end of the day, you can view all your notes to see how your day went.
The mood tracker is designed to help you monitor ups and downs in how you feel. You’ll be asked how you feel each day, and you respond by choosing “I feel good,” “I feel OK”, or “I feel bad.” Fabulous will compile a weekly mood chart based on your answers so you can see a holistic view of how your week went mood-wise.
Paid offerings
You have to pay to access the Fabulous app, but there’s also a premium version that unlocks additional features. These include:
- personal one-on-one coaching to keep you motivated and focused
- integrated fitness programming, such as yoga, stretching, and meditation
- sleep coaching
- assistance in creating a morning ritual
- targeted health advice
| Pricing | Free trial? | Features | Why we like it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabulous | $39.99 per year | Yes, 1 week | habit trackers, to-do lists, motivational quotes, journal, mood tracker, access to coaches (for an extra fee) | Fabulous makes changing your habits more sustainable by using the concept of habit stacking; it doesn’t try to introduce too many major changes right away. |
| Way of Life | $4.99 to $9.99 per month to access premium features | access to three habits for free | habit trackers, charts to visually identify trends, flexible scheduling and habit mapping | Way of Life allows you to skip a day and explain why; you can also set up a series for habits you’re trying to break, like drinking soda or smoking. |
| HabitMinder | $4.99 to $9.49 per year; or $39.99 one-time purchase; $1.99 per year for 1-5 habits | no, lower price for limited habit tracking | multiple habit tracking, customizable widgets, session tracking | You can track multiple habits at once and view your progress with visual aids like charts and bar graphs; you can also customize your homepage with relevant widgets. |
| Tangerine | $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year | yes, 1 week | habit tracking, mood tracking, gratitude journal, data charts and visual aids | Tangerine combines habit tracking with mood tracking and gives you an outlet for your emotions via an in-app gratitude journal. |
Fabulous is an app for anyone looking to improve their daily life. The app may help if you experience chronic fatigue, want to increase your energy levels, can’t sleep at night, can’t concentrate, live with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or have anxiety.
The app can help you build healthy habits and routines, which in turn can help increase your focus, creativity, energy levels, and sleep quality.
According to a 2015 review , reliance on motivational processes is reduced as habits are formed. Additionally, habits persist even when motivation decreases over time.
Still, even after new habits have been learned, old memory traces are not necessarily replaced, which is why an app like Fabulous is helpful with daily notifications and repetitive tasks that help build healthy habits.
The journeys are free. For the paid premium version with additional offerings, the app offers a 7-day free trial. After that, it’s $3.33 per month, billed yearly at $39.99.
Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off. The app doesn’t currently take insurance.
The app has more than 500,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.3 stars out of 5 on the Google Play Store. It has just over 70,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.6 stars on the Apple App Store. The majority of the reviews on both are 5 stars.
Overall, people enjoy the app and say that it’s helped them make lasting change. However, some people say the journeys are not particularly flexible or customizable, making it difficult to complete the daily tasks.
Getting started with Fabulous is really straightforward. You download the app — either from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, depending on which device you’re using — and then answer some questions and prompts about your current habits and future goals.
When you’re done answering questions, the app will ask for your name and email, and then have you commit to a virtual contract by holding down a button on the screen. After this step, the app will develop a plan for you.
At this stage, you have to sign up for the free 1-week trial to see your plan. This requires you to enter your credit card information, and commit to a yearly charge of $39.99 when your trial ends (unless you cancel). You can’t see your plan without committing to the free trial, at least.
If you do sign up, you’ll be asked a few more questions about your current habits, and then you’ll be given a “first step” based on your answers. You have to complete 3 days of your first habit before the next step of your journey unlocks (and so on), but while you wait, you can access the “discover” tab.
This tab gives you access to other journeys, challenges and premium features like coaching. The premium features are not included in the main subscription price. For example, coaching costs an extra $67 for your first month and $87 each month after that.
Once you’re all set up, all you have to do is complete each of your daily tasks, mark them done, and then wait for a notification for the next day’s task.
Is a Fabulous subscription worth it?
If you have trouble incorporating new habits and sticking to them, the Fabulous app may be worth it for you. It breaks down to $3.33 per month and relies on science-backed behavioral changes to help you improve certain areas of your life.
Can I use Fabulous for free?
No, the Fabulous app is a paid service. You pay an annual subscription fee of $39.99 upfront. When signing up, you do get a 1-week free trial, but you have to enter payment information and will be automatically charged when the free trial is over if you don’t cancel in advance.
What does the Fabulous app do?
The Fabulous app helps you build habits. It relies on a behavioral approach called habit stacking, where you introduce one small daily habit over time.
After you get used to that small habit, you slowly add others to build the routine you want. Fabulous keeps you on track by recommending specific habits, and sending you notifications when it’s time to do them. Basically, it serves as a motivator and an accountability buddy to lead you into the direction of your goals.
Fabulous is an app that’s focused on building healthy habits, such as feeling more energized, getting in shape, sleeping more, and focusing.
By using data and the science of habit, this app makes pacing and goal setting easy. As with everything, the app is only helpful if used consistently.
Iman Balagam is a writer based in Houston, Texas. When she’s not laughing at her own jokes or buying overpriced chia pudding, she can be found reading fiction novels, catching a spin class, doomscrolling through TikTok, or waiting for her delayed Spirit flight to board. You can see more of her work on her website.
Get started with Fabulous
Interested in trying Fabulous? We can help!
Check out their app to start your 7-day free trial today.
Last medically reviewed on March 27, 2023
