Virgin Active UK vs Active Lambeth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Virgin Active UK
This app rewards users for achieving personal wellness goals with exclusive partner benefits. Access on-demand classes and book club sessions to support your fitness journey anytime, anywhere.
- Real rewards for wellness goals
- Book club classes
- On-demand fitness classes
- Personalized wellness support
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Welcome to Virgin Active’s new wellness app that gives you real rewards for hitting your personal wellness goals. - Real rewards: Instant fist-bumps from iconic partners - Real endorphins: Book all your fave club classes - Real support: Train anywhere, anytime, with on-demand classes Designed to support real progress with real rewards and guidance, this isn’t an app… It’s your personal, free smoothie-giving, endorphin unleashing, goal crushing, wellness weapon.
Active Lambeth
Access a wide range of sporting facilities, fitness classes, and supportive services across the borough. Book and manage activities, view club information, and enjoy at-home workouts with world-class trainers. This app provides convenient access to local leisure options for all.
- Book and manage classes
- View club information
- Manage account and membership
- Book swimming lessons
- Access at-home workouts
- Contactless entry via QR code
- Integrates with Apple HealthKit
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ACTIVE LAMBETH - LEISURE FOR ALL Lambeth Council is proud to provide members with the Active Lambeth App. We have a huge selection of sporting facilities, fitness activities and supportive services across the borough at affordable and flexible rates. We are unmatched by any other local provider for our range of facilities and offer excellent value for money. You’ll find everything you need to stay active, all from the palm of your hand • Book & Manage Classes • See Club Info (address, opening hours, pool opening times etc) • Manage Your Account & Membership • Book Swimming Lessons & Courses • See latest offers and updates • Plan Your Visit and More! CONTACTLESS ENTRY Gain quick and easy access to your Leisure Centre by scanning the QR code with your App. ACTIVE AT HOME We have partnered with content creators to provide Active Lambeth members with access to hundreds of video workouts led by world-class trainers to help you take your at home training to the next level. MORE THAN JUST A GYM… Active Lambeth gives you a fantastic selection of facilities and activities right on your doorstep from gyms and swimming pools to soft play, court and racket sports and even ice skating. We also support doctors’ referrals and provide a range of dedicated spaces for community groups and schools. For more information, visit https://active.lambeth.gov.uk This is Leisure for all. APPLE HEALTHKIT We also use HealthKit to allow users to share their activity and workout data with the app. This data is used to incentivise users to stay active.
Screenshots
Verdict
Virgin Active UK and Active Lambeth both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 44% of Virgin Active UK's written reviews are positive against 16% of Active Lambeth's. Virgin Active UK also leads on ratings volume (682 vs 16) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Virgin Active UK against 4.8 for Active Lambeth. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Virgin Active UK has 682 ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Virgin Active UK's written reviews are positive against 16% of Active Lambeth's.
Virgin Active UK ships an update monthly, Active Lambeth every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Virgin Active UK | Active Lambeth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (682 ratings) | 4.8 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 44.1% of reviews — better | 15.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 682 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 350 MB | 108 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Virgin Active UK | London Borough of Lambeth |
Customer experience
Virgin Active UK
Active Lambeth
User reviews
Virgin Active UK
From 682 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent facilities
- 👍 Friendly and attentive staff
- 👍 Great atmosphere and clean gym
- 👍 Effective and entertaining services
- 👍 Relaxing environment
Room to improve
- 🐛 App login and password issues
- 🐛 Unreliable app functionality
- 🐛 Inconsistent app updates
- 🐛 Buggy rewards system
- 🐛 Cluttered and confusing app design
Active Lambeth
From 16 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use (rarely mentioned)
- 👍 Convenient (rarely mentioned)
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 App gets stuck
- 🐛 Service unreachable errors
- 🐛 Login issues
- 🐛 Cannot view bookings
Bugs and requests
Virgin Active UK
Reported bugs
5 issues- App login and password issues
- Rewards system not functioning properly
- Inconsistent app updates breaking functionality
- Booked classes not syncing to calendar
- Waitlist position not visible in app
Requested features
8 requests- Add ability to view waitlist position
- Improve class booking and cancellation flow
- Provide more class and facility information in app
- Enhance rewards system functionality
- Simplify app design and navigation
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Improve app reliability and stability
- Add ability to sync booked classes to calendar
- Provide guest pass management in app
Active Lambeth
Reported bugs
54 issues- Cannot access bookings in app or website
- App keeps crushing or getting stuck
- Error: Cannot view main menu (MAF error)
- App won't let users sign in
- App keeps logging users out
Show 49 moreShow fewer
- Forcing users to pick nicknames, all taken
- App cannot be opened after displaying logo (white screen with 'Service unreachable')
- Unable to login with credentials after sign up
- First-time login creates a customer account not recognized if membership bought on web
- Always need to write email and password when logging in
- App is very slow, prone to hanging
- Most days require re-login
- Insane search UX, difficult to find activities
- Doesn't save email and password
- Loses waitlist classes
- Misleading class icons
- Links spin and go nowhere
- Reset password email never arrives
- App asks to pay to book every class despite membership
- Logged out constantly, poor interface
- App doesn't work
- App is almost impossible to use
- Poor connection
- Service Unreachable error when booking activity
- Unable to access account, details incorrect
- Cannot transfer details from Bettergym to Active Lambeth
- No record of membership, asked for bank details
- Server not found when using app from home
- Very tedious and cumbersome for multiple gym users, difficulty changing locations
- App doesn't remember preferred gyms
- Extremely difficult to book a football pitch
- App hasn't worked since switch from Better
- Constantly receive 'service is accessible' message
- Multiple accounts issue, impossible to correct
- No detail on swimming classes etc.
- Suddenly stopped recognizing membership after 2 weeks
- Online booking system omits sessions
- Keeps getting stuck, nothing intuitive
- Cannot just pay for swim session
- App doesn't work
- Cannot access bookings
- App returns 'service unreachable' page
- Unable to book a class
- Unable to accept payment
- Cannot book a class on the app
- Activation link directs to an internal error page
- Loads of links don't work
- Impossible to work out how to activate old Better account
- Link from instruction email broken
- Cannot work out how to log in, keeps inviting to buy membership
- Going to account tells user they haven't logged in but no option to login
- Won't let me book/sign up for anything
- Poor signal at gym, queues at gate for barcodes
- Visually an inaccessible mess
Requested features
11 requests- Lower age group for app download
- Add pass to Apple Wallet
- Option to remain logged in
- Add Apple Pay as payment option
- Improve search UX for finding activities
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Include No Strings badminton sessions in booking system
- Feature older people on website
- Allow users to simply pay for swim sessions without membership
- Make barcode visible immediately upon opening app
- Place booking option on the same page as barcode
- Remove unused features like fitness tracker and work with us tab from main view
In-app purchases
Virgin Active UK
No in-app purchases
Active Lambeth
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Virgin Active UK free?
Is Active Lambeth free?
Which has better reviews, Virgin Active UK or Active Lambeth?
Do Virgin Active UK or Active Lambeth have ads?
Which is updated more often, Virgin Active UK or Active Lambeth?
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