Comparison

Virgin Active SA vs Sessei

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Virgin Active SA

This app rewards you for achieving personal wellness goals with exclusive partner offers. Access on-demand classes, book club sessions up to 8 days ahead, and use your digital card for club entry. It's designed to support your progress with guidance and tangible benefits.

Highlights
  • Real rewards from partners
  • Book club classes up to 8 days in advance
  • Digital access card for club entry
  • On-demand classes for anytime training
  • Personalized wellness guidance
Features
Read full description

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 up to 8 days in advance • Scan the app to enter the club with your digital access card • 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.

About

Sessei

Features
Read full description

Sessei is a calm, local-first tracker for the three habits that make the rest of your wellness routine work: drinking enough water, sticking to your fasting window, and remembering your daily supplements. No account. No cloud. No tracking. Your data stays on your device. — WATER — Log drinks in two taps from the home screen, the Add sheet, or a home-screen widget. Eight drink types are built in with research-backed hydration coefficients, so a coffee or a glass of wine doesn't quietly inflate your daily total. Quick-add presets remember your usual sizes and drink types. — FASTING — A clean, focused timer for intermittent fasting. Pick a window from 12:12 to 23:1 and tap to start. The ring evolves through ten phases — from glycogen burn through autophagy to extended fasting — with a personalised autophagy estimate tied to your profile. A flame marks where autophagy is generally observed. Tap to learn more about the science. — SUPPLEMENTS — Add supplements from a curated catalog of ~50 vitamins, minerals and common stack items, or scan a label with the camera. Daily and weekly cadences. Tap to log, swipe to deactivate. The app gently nudges you when something is due based on timing hints (with-meal, fasted, evening, etc.). — INSIGHTS — Day, week and month views per category. Swipe horizontally to scrub through history. See your weekly hydration cadence, fasting consistency, and supplement adherence at a glance. — HOME-SCREEN WIDGET — Three sizes. The small widget is water at-a-glance plus a +50 and +250 mL quick-log button. The medium widget shows water and your current fast side by side. The large widget adds supplements still to take today. — PRIVATE BY DESIGN — Everything you log lives in a local database on your iPhone. There is no Sessei account, no analytics, no third-party SDK collecting your data. The optional Apple Health integration is two-way and entirely under your control — turn it on or off in Profile at any time. — PRICING — Free 7-day trial unlocks every feature. After the trial, water and fasting stay free forever. The Supplements module requires a one-time Premium purchase — no subscription, no recurring fee, no expiry. Restore Purchases is available in the paywall if you change devices. — DESIGN NOTES — Sage palette, copper accents, generous whitespace. Built for iOS 17 — interactive widgets, Live Activities-ready, Dark Mode throughout. The app respects Reduce Motion and uses Dynamic Type everywhere. — WHAT SESSEI WILL NOT DO — No streaks-as-shame. No alarm-bell notifications. No "you missed yesterday" guilt copy. The tone is supportive, the data is yours, and the goal is to make showing up easier — not noisier. Support: feedback@sessei.app Privacy Policy: https://sessei.app/privacy

Screenshots

Virgin Active SA4 screens
Sessei4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Virgin Active SA at none against Sessei's 1. Sessei's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sessei sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Virgin Active SA asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Virgin Active SA ships an update every 3 weeks, Sessei daily. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Virgin Active SA versus Sessei: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVirgin Active SASessei
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (746 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews5.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings746 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size361 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVirgin Active South AfricaBenjamin Christmann

Bugs and requests

Virgin Active SA

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Login error messages with no resolution
  • Password reset emails delayed or not received
  • App freezes during booking attempts
  • Gym attendance not logged for rewards
  • Rewards expiring before being credited
Show 10 more
  • Inconsistent reward tracking between users
  • Internet connection errors despite valid connection
  • Session timeout and forced re-login
  • Account creation errors during registration
  • Class cancellation not reflected in app
  • Timetables fail to load
  • App crashes on password reset screen
  • Add-to-calendar button non-functional on iPhone
  • Rewards goals resetting incorrectly
  • Club entry button disappeared after update

Requested features

8 requests
  • Apple Wallet integration for digital card
  • Apple Watch device support
  • Graphical display of visit statistics per month
  • Bike assignment visibility for spinning bookings
  • Club entry button on home page
Show 3 more
  • Instructor rating/comments functionality
  • Class calendar add-to-calendar functionality
  • Cross-club timetable access for weekend bookings

Sessei

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Virgin Active SA

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sessei

One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$7.99

Questions

Is Virgin Active SA free?
Virgin Active SA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sessei free?
Sessei is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Virgin Active SA or Sessei have ads?
Neither Virgin Active SA nor Sessei shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Virgin Active SA or Sessei?
Virgin Active SA ships an update every 3 weeks, and Sessei daily. Most recently, Virgin Active SA was updated on November 6, 2026 and Sessei on October 28, 2026.

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