mypacing vs. Visible vs. blue-ME: Comparing Pacing Apps

Anyone looking for a pacing app for Long COVID, ME/CFS or POTS quickly runs into several names: mypacing, the English-language Visible, the German blue-ME, and newer offerings such as Fimo Health, Long COVID Pacer and Beat Watcher. All follow a similar core idea – making exertion, symptoms and recovery visible in order to avoid crashes caused by post-exertional malaise (PEM). The execution, however, differs considerably. This article puts the tools side by side, as honestly and verifiably as possible – including the areas where other apps offer more than mypacing does.

Quick overview

mypacing in detail

mypacing is a free, ad-free project built by two people directly affected – funded exclusively through voluntary contributions, with no data sales and no advertising. The app imports raw data from common wearables and CPAP devices (Garmin, Apple Health, ResMed, Whoop, Visible; Fitbit, Oura, Withings and Polar so far only with a review by hand) and analyses it alongside crash diary entries. Anonymous data donation is possible without an account – an approach neither Visible nor blue-ME offer in this form. mypacing also recently added its own FUNCAP calculator with all 55 validated items across 8 domains, a radar-chart breakdown, and optional history tracking – no account, and your individual answers never leave the browser.

Visible in detail

Visible is the internationally best-known pacing app in this space and is recommended by, among others, the UK's ME Association. The app measures heart rate variability and resting heart rate via smartphone camera, tracks symptoms, medication and exertion, and generates reports for clinicians. The "Visible Band 2.0" (worn on the wrist since the second version, rather than the upper arm) provides all-day data and real-time pacing cues; a Polar Verity Sense works with the membership as an alternative. Important outside those markets: membership and band are available in the US and the UK only, and shipping goes to those countries only. The free app itself has since been extended to further countries, Germany among them — which leaves the morning camera measurement, without all-day data and without real-time cues (as of August 2026). Visible itself states explicitly that it is not a medical device. According to its app store listing, the app collects personal usage data for analytics and personalization. The interface is primarily in English, which can be a hurdle for German-speaking users.

blue-ME in detail

blue-ME is a direct German competitor and stands out with a built-in FUNCAP severity test, PDF reports for doctor visits, and an anonymized, AI-readable data export. After a 14-day trial period, usage requires a paid subscription (managed via RevenueCat, cancellable monthly, semi-annually or annually). The provider states that personal details remain optional and are not shared with third parties. For anyone who wants to stay free long-term, the subscription model is the key difference versus mypacing.

Other alternatives worth knowing: Fimo Health, Long COVID Pacer, Beat Watcher & HelpingHero

Beyond Visible and blue-ME, there are other apps relevant to people with Long COVID, ME/CFS or POTS. Here's a brief, equally source-based overview (as of July 2026; the Visible details re-checked in August 2026).

Fimo Health

Fimo Health is currently arguably the strongest German competitor in the pacing space. The app is positioned as a certified medical device and is available for free through many statutory German health insurers (including cooperations with BKK VerbundPlus and others) via a six-month activation code. Fimo offers its own pacing/energy-management module. The key difference from mypacing: free access is tied to membership in a participating health insurer and an activation code — without that code, or outside participating insurers, the app is paid or unavailable. mypacing has no such barrier: it works without proof of insurance, without a code, and without any insurer affiliation.

Long COVID Pacer

Long COVID Pacer is a newly released 2026 iOS app featuring a visual "Energy Tide" representation of your energy budget and a 48-hour crash-cause analysis. Via Apple Watch, it can also alert you when you exceed your anaerobic threshold. The app uses tiered pricing (Free, Plus at $7.99/month or $59/year, Pro at $14.99/month or $99/year, Lifetime at $179) and is iOS-only. According to the provider, no data is sent to a server; storage is local or optionally in iCloud. That's a reasonable privacy promise — but without a German-language interface and without the platform openness mypacing offers as a pure web app.

Beat Watcher

Beat Watcher isn't a full pacing or tracking app, but a lightweight, Apple-Watch-only alert tool: it warns you as soon as your heart rate crosses a threshold you set. For anyone looking purely for a real-time wrist alert, that can be useful — but the app offers no symptom diary, crash-pattern analysis, or doctor-report export.

HelpingHero

HelpingHero (Health4Future GmbH, Pullach near Munich) is a web-based "digital health companion" built around pacing, aimed at people with "fatigue, burnout, Long Covid, ME/CFS". Its approach differs fundamentally from every other app in this comparison: it is a guided programme based on questionnaires and self-assessment — the product page contains no information about wearable integration, objective measurements or the methodology behind its analyses, and the application is not listed in the German DiGA directory (as of August 2026). After a free starter tier, use costs €9.99 to €14.99 per month depending on the term. Worth knowing for your own assessment: the investigative journalism outlet MedWatch reported critically on the provider in 2023 — including paid, questionnaire-based "diagnosis suggestions", a federal research ministry funding logo for which the ministry denied any funding, and undisclosed conflicts of interest (source below).

Why we do not consider HelpingHero a direct competitor despite the similar-sounding pitch: it is simply a different product category. mypacing answers the question "how is your body doing today?" from measured data — resting heart rate, HRV, sleep, time above your personal heart-rate limit — free of charge and with fully disclosed methodology: every metric of our analysis is published with its confidence interval on the Technology page, even when it is inconvenient. A subscription questionnaire programme answers a different question with different means — anyone who wants to try it should know the reporting mentioned above and measure their expectations against what a questionnaire can and cannot do.

Which one fits you?

There's no universally "best" app – the right choice depends on your priorities:

• If you want to stay free long-term and prefer not needing an account for data analysis, mypacing covers that.
• If you're comfortable in English and value an established, widely-recommended ecosystem, Visible is a strong fit — though the hardware and the real-time alerts require a US or UK address.
• If you want the FUNCAP score built into your ongoing tracking and are fine with a subscription, blue-ME offers that.
• If you want free access through your statutory health insurer and prefer a certified medical device, Fimo Health offers that — tied to insurer membership and an activation code.
• If you want a modern, visual energy-budget display with Apple Watch integration and accept a subscription or one-time payment, Long COVID Pacer (iOS only) covers that.
• If you just want a simple heart-rate alert on your wrist, without a diary or analysis, Beat Watcher is worth a look.
• If you are looking for a guided self-assessment programme with a coaching character and accept a subscription, you can look at HelpingHero — but you should know that the provider offers no wearable integration and no information about its methodology (as of August 2026), and be aware of the 2023 MedWatch investigation.

None of these tools are medical devices in the way mypacing uses that term — Fimo Health is the exception, where medical-device certification is part of the offering. In the end, it's worth trying more than one – most offer some form of free trial.

Note: mypacing is not a medical device and does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment. All information about other providers is based on publicly available sources (as of July 2026) and may change – please check the respective official site for current, binding details.