The Good Tracker vs Visible: Heart-Rate Pacing or a Spoken Daily Log
Updated October 26, 2026
Short answer: Visible is a pacing app built around heart-rate readings: a free app with a morning phone-camera check, plus a band service for live over-exertion alerts. The Good Tracker doesn't measure heart rate. You just say how you feel, and it logs symptoms, food and meds so you can see how your days line up.
How do The Good Tracker and Visible compare?
Competitor details are as of Oct 26, 2026, taken from each company's own site or app store listing, and each is sourced to a URL in the Sources section below. Features change, so check each company's site before you choose.
| The Good Tracker | Visible | |
|---|---|---|
| Main approach | Daily log: say how you feel and it organizes symptoms, food and meds into the day 1 | Pacing built on heart-rate readings and check-ins 4 |
| How you log | Voice note, 0–10 sliders, food photos or a few words 1 | Morning phone-camera reading; log symptoms, medication and daily exertion 4 |
| Voice logging | Yes 1 | Not stated 4 |
| Heart rate / HRV | Not offered | Morning HRV and resting heart rate by phone camera; continuous with the band 46 |
| Live over-exertion alerts | Not offered | With the paid band: real-time pacing notifications and PacePoints 46 |
| Food | Food photos + notes 1 | Not stated 4 |
| Medications | Dose + timing 1 | Medication logging 4 |
| Crash days | Mark a crash or flare day 2 | Not stated as a separate flag 4 |
| Doctor output | Doctor summaries 1 | Health report and export; clinician share link 4 |
| Hardware | None; runs in your phone's browser 1 | Free app: phone camera. Membership: Visible Band 2.0, made by Polar 6 |
| Platforms | Web app now; iOS planned 13 | iPhone 4 and Android 5; band features US and UK only 4 |
| Plans | GT is free to use today. | See official site for access details 46 |
Do I need a heart-rate band to pace?
Not necessarily. Visible's own free app takes a morning reading with your phone camera, without the band 4. The band adds continuous heart rate and live pacing notifications 46. If you want an alert while you're in the middle of something, that needs a worn sensor. The Good Tracker doesn't offer that.
Is The Good Tracker an alternative to Visible without an armband?
Partly, since they do different jobs. Visible measures your body. GT records your day in your own words: how you felt, what you ate, what you took and when. You can mark crash or flare days 2 and look back at what came in the days before. Some people use a heart-rate tool and a daily log side by side. Our pacing guide and how to track PEM cover the log side.
Which is easier on a low-energy day?
With GT you can leave a short voice note, and it fills in that day's scores and notes for you 1. Visible's morning check uses your phone camera, and you log symptoms and exertion in the app 4. Which feels lighter depends on whether talking or holding still is easier for you that day.
What can I bring to a doctor appointment?
Both make something to bring along. Visible offers a health report, an export and a share link for clinicians 4. GT makes a doctor summary from your own logs, with symptoms, food and meds on the same days 1. Either way it's your own record, not a diagnosis. See how to show your doctor your symptoms.
Who should choose which?
Choose The Good Tracker if you: find typing or forms tiring; want food, meds and symptoms on one timeline; don't want to wear a device; are fine with a web app until the iOS app arrives.
Choose Visible if you: want heart-rate pacing with live alerts and are willing to wear a band (band features are US and UK only 4); want morning HRV readings; want a native iPhone or Android app now.
The Good Tracker isn't the right fit if: you need wearable heart-rate pacing or an alert while you're active. GT doesn't offer either today.
Prefer talking to filling in a diary? Try a voice log in GT.
FAQ
Does The Good Tracker measure heart rate or HRV?
No. GT doesn't read heart rate, HRV or wearable data today. It records what you tell it: symptoms, food, medications and notes.
Can The Good Tracker tell me when I'm overdoing it?
No. GT doesn't send live alerts. You can mark crash or flare days and look back at what came before them, then talk it over with your clinician.
Can I use The Good Tracker and Visible together?
Yes. GT doesn't list a Visible import today, so they would run side by side: Visible for heart-rate readings, GT for a spoken daily log.
Is The Good Tracker on iPhone?
Not yet. GT runs in your phone's browser today, and an iOS app is planned.
Visible, PacePoints, Polar and other names are trademarks of their respective owners. The Good Tracker is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Sources and notes (competitor facts as of Oct 26, 2026)
- The Good Tracker homepage: https://www.thegoodtracker.com/
- The Good Tracker ME/CFS page (energy, fatigue, PEM and sleep scales; crash or flare flag): https://www.thegoodtracker.com/me-cfs-symptom-tracker
- The Good Tracker FAQ: https://www.thegoodtracker.com/faq
- Visible App Store listing: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/visible-pacing-for-illness/id1624474919
- Visible Google Play listing: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.makevisible.visible
- Visible website (band and membership; Visible Band 2.0 made by Polar): https://www.makevisible.com/
"Not stated" means we didn't find it on the official source. Visible's prices and member counts are left out on purpose.