AirPods as Posture Trainers: This App Tells You If You're Sitting Correctly – We Tried It Out | t3n

In today's world, one thing we all have in common is that we sit. And we sit for longer periods than ever. According to a study published in 2025 by the German health insurance company (DKV), we spend an average of ten hours a day sitting during the workweek. This means that the average sitting time has increased by 15 minutes daily within just two years.

Moreover, it's not just that we sit frequently, but we often do it incorrectly. This can lead to serious health issues, such as circulatory and metabolic disorders.

The open-source iPhone app Airposture aims to help you avoid poor sitting posture. The app employs an interesting mechanism: Airposture uses the sensors in your AirPods to draw conclusions about your sitting position.

Trying Out Airposture: How the Posture Control Works via App

Airposture is extremely simple to use: you put on your AirPods and press the large start button in the app. The app then records your head position measured by the sensors in the Apple headphones until you end the session. At the end, you receive an evaluation that shows you in percentage how long you maintained a "good sitting position" during the recording period.

What stands out during the test is that the app does recognize an upright, ergonomic posture. However, if you hold your head straight, you can lean forward so far that it hardly qualifies as a healthy sitting position. Unfortunately, this is not the only issue.

Why the Correct Sitting Position Alone Is Not Enough

No matter how good your sitting position is, after a certain duration, a change in posture is strongly recommended, as explained by the Techniker Krankenkasse. Even the best sitting position leads to one-sided strain over time. In fact, the health insurance company advises that when sitting for extended periods, it is better to focus on frequently changing positions rather than just maintaining the correct sitting posture.

Also important: those who sit for long periods need sufficient movement as a counterbalance. According to the previously mentioned DKV study, only one-third of the frequent sitters in Germany get enough exercise. Airposture cannot help with that either.

When Airposture Can Still Be Helpful

Nevertheless, for those who struggle to occasionally pay attention to a reasonably healthy sitting posture, Airposture could still be beneficial. At the very least, using the app forces you to think about your sitting position.

Unfortunately, you currently cannot find Airposture in the App Store. However, the developer Allen has made the app available through Apple's TestFlight. TestFlight allows developers to provide pre-release versions of their apps for download. This means you must first install TestFlight from the App Store and then follow this link to install Airposture on your iPhone.

Developers can also view the app's source code on GitHub and compile it themselves if needed.