This open-source fasting app actually helped me hit my fitness goals

I was never an athletic kid, and that continued through most of my 20s. That is, until I decided to change things up, drop some weight, and focus more on my health. Intermittent fasting was a big part of that journey, and I’ve been following it for several years now. In fact, it’s the one constant in my wellness journey that has actually stuck with me. Much as I’ve dabbled with workout plans, picked up the best fitness trackers, tracked macros with obsessive detail, and even experimented with sleep optimization, it’s the 16:8 fasting approach that has been the most sustainable thing I’ve done for my health. Ironically, what hasn’t been sustainable is finding a fasting app that doesn’t eventually go down the usual rabbit hole of ads and subscriptions. Trust me, I’ve tried them all.

While most fasting and fitness apps start out helpful, the core experience very quickly gets buried under microtransactions and basic features locked behind paywalls. Curious about what fasting zone you’re in? You’d better be prepared to pony up some cash. Everything from custom fasting windows to simple insights that used to be free is suddenly a premium feature. And don’t get me started on the notification spam every time I open the app. Look, I just need a glorified stopwatch. I don’t need your app to support a full-fledged wellness program and the accompanying fees. So I did what any self-respecting tech enthusiast would do: I looked at open-source solutions to the problem.

That’s how I found FastTrack, a minimal, open-source, self-hosted, and rather excellent fasting tracker on GitHub. What it lacks in flash, it makes up for in substance. While it might not have dedicated apps on the Play Store or gamification elements to keep you on track, it has all the features you actually need. That simplicity is exactly why I’ve stuck with it all this time, and why you might too.

When I first started intermittent fasting, I was already deep into my fitness journey. Between tracking workouts, counting calories, and trying to lose weight without dropping too much muscle mass, intermittent fasting was a crucial part of the equation. But I needed this done without unnecessary friction. Just a timer and a way to check how long I’d fasted, without being given advice about reaching a zen state of mind.

FastTrack, on the other hand, is, for the most part, just a simple timer app. It opens quickly in the browser as a bookmark and gives me a single button to start or stop a fast. Yay for simplicity. The onboarding process is just as straightforward, with no wizards or welcome screens talking me through the benefits of fasting. I already know what I’m getting into. Just make an account, log in, tap a button, and get on with your day. Honestly, I wish more apps worked like that.

This simplicity impacted me in more ways than one. Without the friction of constant upselling, notifications, or convoluted interfaces, I started tracking more consistently. It’s the same approach serious fitness enthusiasts take. A spreadsheet with reps, or a notepad, if you’re old-school, wins out over a flashy app every single time. That lack of friction helped me reach, and even exceed, my daily goals because it’s easy to lose track of time when you’re not being bombarded by hourly notifications aimed at cheering you on. In my case, they just gave me anxiety over how much time was still left in my fast. Over the last few months, I haven’t missed a single fast, and my feeding windows have become tighter and more consistent. This has translated directly into noticeable results. My body fat percentage is lower, I have more energy during workouts, and most importantly, I’ve built a routine that I stick to diligently.

For all its simplicity, FastTrack isn’t just a stopwatch with a shiny coat of paint. It maintains a proper log of all my fasts and lets me add comments, which has helped me spot patterns in my fitness journey. All data is retained locally, and I can easily glance at when I’m likely to cut a fast short or push for longer fasting windows. It’s been extremely useful in optimizing my nutrition intake as well. If I’m consistently running on fumes by the end of a fast without significant physical activity, it’s clear that my calorie intake is significantly lower than it should be. After particularly heavy workouts, I’d often eat earlier than planned. All of that is obvious, sure, but having that data on hand helps me see broader patterns and the bigger picture. In fact, I’d say the data-driven feedback loop has worked far better for me than any motivation I derived from commercial apps.

As someone who prefers purpose-built tools and devices, I get a strange kind of motivation from using something that doesn’t try to keep nudging me. FastTrack serves no notifications. It just runs as a tool. And because of that, I opened it more often and used it more honestly. Lacking gamification parameters, I had no incentive to round off an extra 30 minutes in my daily fast. Nor was I concerned about breaking a streak or unlocking a collectible. I just remain focused on tracking my progress, which, for someone trying to hit specific goals and maintain a training plan, is exactly what I need.

Look, I’m well aware that self-hosted tools aren’t for everyone. As easy as FastTrack is to set up, the lack of Play Store or App Store availability, or a one-click setup, definitely increases the difficulty level. You’ve got to hit the command line, install Docker, and then get it up and running. You’ve also got to deal with — shudder — what a localhost is. If you want to access it remotely, you’ll want to configure a reverse proxy. But once installed, I haven’t had to touch it again. Given the simplistic feature set, the app is light on resources, so I just popped it onto my NAS. On the flip side, as I mentioned earlier, there’s no cloud sync or dedicated app, so a remote proxy is a necessity if you find yourself on the move often. That said, it’s easily circumvented by running a service like Tailscale.

If that sounds like a lot of work to track fasts, I’ll be honest, the initial setup is. Especially when there’s no dearth of apps like Zero on the Play Store. But as I delve more into data ownership and deal with subscription fatigue, I’m okay with the one-time effort of setting up open-source alternatives. All those other apps come with strings attached, be it dodgy data retention policies, hidden microtransactions, or constant ad and notification spam. Some of them simply won’t work if you deny internet access or want something as basic as adding personal notes to your log. That’s a no-go for me. FastTrack does none of that. It gives me complete control over the experience, in exchange for a bit more effort during the setup process.

Why I’m sticking with FastTrack

I’ve tried all the popular fasting apps over the years. Most had beautiful, well-polished interfaces compared to FastTrack’s more utilitarian offering. Others tried to combine fasting with community features, sleep tracking, or holistic wellness. But none of them helped me build the kind of consistency I’ve managed over the past few months with FastTrack. Not because they weren’t capable, but because they all tried to do too much. FastTrack’s biggest strength is that it doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is. And at the end of the day, consistency is all that matters, whether you’re focusing on your health or trying to stick to using an app daily.

FastTrack has also given me useful, distraction-free insights into my routine. I’ve got it saved as a shortcut on my home screen, allowing it to integrate seamlessly into my day without any issues. And best of all, it has helped me stick to my fasting window, which in turn helped me hit the body composition goals I’d been chasing for over a year.

There are more convenient apps out there, sure — and the best app is the one that works for you. FastTrack may not be for everyone, but for anyone serious about fasting who’s tired of cluttered experiences, it might just be the last fasting app you ever need.