Rally Coach™

I really wanted this program to help me, but it ended up being more frustrating than supportive. The app is unreliable and sends irrelevant, poorly timed “help” that doesn’t match what you’re actually going through during withdrawal. The coaching experience was even worse—disengaged, not truly listening, and at times argumentative. In my case, a support representative named Tammy became loud and confrontational instead of helpful, which added unnecessary stress during an already difficult process. Promised resources like NRT were never properly followed through. At times, the lack of real support and the added frustration felt like it created triggers rather than helping prevent them. That’s concerning for something meant to support people trying to quit. I will still complete the program, because quitting matters to me. But I want it to be clear that I am nearly a week nicotine-free because of my own effort and commitment—not because of this program. I came into this hoping for real support, and I think employers and insurance providers should take a serious, honest look at whether this program is actually delivering that.

I needed a wellness/weight loss plan that I could sustain over time, not one that required buying expensive food or workout equipment I couldn’t afford or lengthy trainer sessions I knew I would never keep. RA program has helped keep it simple, and has kept me focused and motivated for 25 weeks now. Sessions are easy to work into my week, and the weekly check in - and weigh in! - keeps me accountable. The calorie counting app has been the real game changer for me. Was shocked to find out how many calories I was consuming each day when I felt like I “hardly ever ate!” Easy to log food as I go about my day and over time it has “trained” me to choose calories wisely to satisfy my hunger and keep me healthier. That plus a little daily exercise (mostly walking!), and I am down close to 40 lbs from my starting weight. It gets easier each week to keep it going. I don’t feel like I am dieting at all. I just live a little healthier now, and it feels awesome!

Okay, I’m comparing this to Real Appeal’s former app, but even with that in mind, this app lacks a number of features that should be in any app for supporting a healthy lifestyle. There is no way to track exercise, no way to track water consumption, no way to backdate your weigh-ins, and not way to add foods that are not in the database (using nutrition facts on the label). The interface with Fitbit is lacking; it only tracks steps, and can’t read the weight from a Fitbit scale. And to top it all off, the food entry features rarely allows you to measure food in grams (which I prefer, even though I’m American), and even when it does, you can’t enter a weight over 99 grams (a little more than 3 ounces). On the plus side, this app does allow you to create meals for quick entry (for example, if you eat a certain breakfast frequently). All in all, it’s stable and easy to use, and with some tweaks it could merit five stars. But it’s not quite there yet.