Best apps for postpartum pelvic floor exercises: a daily routine or a wider programme?

Start with the kind of support you need

“Postpartum app” can mean a reminder to do your pelvic floor exercises, a core programme or help returning to whole-body workouts. Those are different purchases. A larger library isn't automatically more useful when all you want is a few minutes of guided practice.

If you already know which pelvic floor exercises to follow, compare session formats. If you want help deciding what exercise is appropriate after your birth, start with your maternity team or pelvic health service. And if you're looking for a broader programme, look at its entry guidance and progression before its promises.

Happy Floor: a guided pelvic floor session

Consider it if you want someone else to do the counting. Happy Floor offers narrated pelvic floor sessions, a Daily Squeeze, tutorials and a progression plan. You can concentrate on the exercise while a voice leads you through it.

Its Control feature guides submaximal contractions with a full release between each one. Submaximal means using less than your maximum effort. The value is structured practice of graded effort and release, rather than having to organise every cue yourself. It guides that practice without measuring the contraction or confirming relaxation.

This can be an appealing session format when you have an appropriate routine to follow. It isn't a personalised post-birth programme, an assessment of birth injury or a return-to-running clearance. Check how the sessions fit any exercises your clinician has given you.

Happy Floor is for iPhone, free to download with a subscription for full access. We make the app; our recommendation here concerns its format and features, not a claim of faster recovery.

View Happy Floor on the App Store.

Squeezy: an adjustable routine

Consider it if you prefer familiar prompts and records. Squeezy's adjustable plan and professional mode are useful features to examine when you're following a routine agreed with a pelvic health specialist. Visual and audio prompts guide each session, while reminders help you remember it.

It costs £3.99 on the UK iPhone App Store, and the provider also offers Android. Before purchasing, ask whether your maternity or pelvic health service offers Squeezy Connect. For example, Gloucestershire's maternity information describes access through its service. That is a local pathway, not a promise of free access throughout the UK.

Some people want variety; others would rather repeat something familiar. A person planning exercise after birth wrote:

Not a big fan of videos or frequently changing moves. I don't want to have to learn how to do a new exercise every workout, I just want the basics repeated

Anonymous Redditor, r/FitMama discussion

That preference is worth taking seriously. The quotation concerns choosing a programme, not an endorsement of Squeezy or evidence about recovery.

getUBetter: local support

Check this first if your local service provides it. getUBetter has general, pregnancy and post-birth pelvic health pathways, including strengthening and relaxation exercises and signposting to local services.

Access is free through participating NHS pathways on iPhone, Android or the web. Its connection to local information makes it a different proposition from simply buying a timer. Follow the provider's eligibility instructions or ask your service which pathway is available to you.

Being included in a local pathway doesn't make it interchangeable with individual physiotherapy. It does make local access a sensible thing to check before adding another subscription.

MUTU: a broader core programme

Consider it if you're looking beyond a pelvic floor session. MUTU offers a broader exercise programme with core and pelvic floor content through a web membership. This is a different scope of commitment from an app that mainly prompts contractions.

The UK membership page advertises a 10-day trial. Prices can involve introductory offers, so compare the renewal total as well as the first payment. We haven't completed checkout or tested the full programme.

Use any trial to inspect the actual sessions: how much space and equipment you need, whether the explanations make sense to you, and how comfortably the schedule fits around daily life. If you have ongoing symptoms, check the programme's suitability with your clinician rather than assuming “postpartum” answers that question.

Connect: whole-body progression

Consider it if you want a programme spanning breathing, pressure management and progressive strength. Connect Pelvic Floor Fitness, created by physiotherapist Caroline Packard, offers broader exercise tracks, including return-to-running content.

The provider lists US$30 per month or US$180 per year, with a 14-day trial. Its UK iPhone listing is available; the provider also offers Android and web access. We haven't verified UK checkout currency or tax, so the website's dollar amount is not a quoted sterling price.

A programme designed by a physiotherapist is still different from that physiotherapist assessing you. Check entry guidance, exercise modifications and the commitment involved. We haven't tested full sessions or established that it is clinically better than the other programmes.

What about an internal device?

Perifit and Elvie add sensor feedback to pelvic floor practice. They also add insertion, cleaning and setup. Their postpartum conditions are separate from guidance about ordinary pelvic floor exercise.

Read the current Perifit restrictions and Elvie information, and obtain the required healthcare approval before using a device after birth. A routine check doesn't automatically establish that every device or programme is suitable for you.

If feedback is a particular priority, our general app comparison covers the products and UK device costs. You don't need an internal device to use Happy Floor or Squeezy.

Choose for the day you actually have

Before committing to a wider programme, preview what one ordinary session asks of you. Can you follow it with the sound low? Do you need to watch every movement? Is there room for the equipment? Can you repeat familiar exercises when that's what you prefer?

For a routine app, check the instructions for both effort and release and how it represents your agreed plan. For any subscription, check the ongoing price and cancellation terms. A programme you understand and can fit into your life is a better starting point than a long feature list you won't use.

When the next step is a conversation

Pain, difficulty relaxing, bulging or heaviness, and uncertainty about technique deserve individual guidance. A harder level can't work out what's happening. A GP, maternity team or pelvic health physiotherapist can help you choose appropriate support.

Our Pelvic Floor Problems 101 guide explores different pelvic floor problems, while Why Mums Don't Jump opens up conversations about symptoms and everyday life.

For leaks during effort, read the stress-incontinence app comparison. For tracking urgency and toilet trips, use the bladder diary guide. You can find all the choices in our pelvic health app hub.