Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Blog Summary: This blog is a short guide for decision-makers to tap into the potential of the fitness app development industry. It will give them insights into building a feature-rich fitness app motivating users to stay on track with their fitness goals.
The global health and fitness market has witnessed significant growth with increased health awareness and remote lifestyles. Today, users need convenience in tracking their health activities and monitoring progress while on the go.
For the same reason, smartphone wearable integration has turned out to be one of the most beneficial features for fitness apps. GlobeNewswire suggests that the wearable devices market is expected to reach USD 188.4 billion by 2030.
As per Statista, the fitness app market size is expected to be worth USD 10.04 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 9.99%. Hence, fitness app development is a lucrative and high revenue generator for both B2B and B2C markets.
We’ll uncover all the basic and advanced features that you can integrate into your fitness apps. Besides, you’ll be able to figure out which type of fitness apps will best suit your ideal goals.
A fitness app is a convenient option to keep track of your fitness levels and monitor them on a regular basis. It’s a mobile app to help users improve their overall health.
It includes features for workout routines, goal setting, progress monitoring, and nutrition recommendations. Fitness apps can use sensors in smartphones or wearable devices to collect data on physical activity, heart rate, and other metrics.
These apps provide users with insights into their fitness progress and offer personalized recommendations. Besides, they also help users achieve their fitness goals more effectively and conveniently.
Remote lifestyle has increased the demand for building a loyal community of like-minded individuals. Hence, the cost of fitness app development depends on the type of customer you want to target:
Home workout apps are a convenient solution for users looking to reach their fitness goals without going out or training in gyms. They provide customized workouts, video demonstrations, meal planning, and progress monitoring.
For example, some popular home workout apps like Nike Training Club (completely free), Strava, Runtastic, and MyFitnessPal provide personalized fitness routines and nutrition guidance.
Personal trainer apps save users time when hiring trainers. They allow users to choose personal coaches and find instructors matched to their goals and requirements. These apps also provide messaging and chat options to connect with the trainers for guidance.
The business model for fitness apps like Map My Run, Everfit, ClubRight, PTminder, and Coach Catalyst includes premium subscriptions for personal trainers.
Gym equipment management apps utilize IoT services to sync users’ equipment activity. These apps tailor gym activities according to a user’s preference, helping gym enthusiasts.
By collecting and sending user data through IoT servers, it syncs it with the gym machines before a user starts their workout. Popular apps include Zen Planner, Gymdesk, Virtuagym, PushPress, Glofox, RhinoFit, etc.
The engagement rate of users with these apps is immense as they want to improve their diets and switch to healthier options. They also want to track their eating habits and physical activity, lose weight, and make workouts a part of their daily routine.
Nutrition, calorie counting, and healthy food recipes are some of the major services offered by apps like MyFitnessPal.
These apps use sensors and wearable devices, which is a lucrative idea for developing a fitness app for both hospitals and fitness businesses. They help them establish their individual goals by generating recommended grocery lists and nutrition plans.
Additionally, they also help them stay updated with vaccinations and provide reminders to make proactive health decisions.
These apps offer features for making healthy lifestyle changes. These include overcoming unhealthy habits, improving physical and mental health, and preparing the body for any type of change.
For example, Asana Rebel is an app that is free to download but has subscriptions to promote well-being through Yoga and meditation.
Quite popular in the market, these apps help keep track of health metrics. Users can track water intake, calorie burn, weight management, sleep patterns, and blood pressure levels.
For example, if you have an idea for developing a wearable fitness mobile app, you can add IoT features to track their calorie intake levels.
Trekking, hiking, and adventure enthusiasts can utilize these apps to gain information about map routes and access navigation tools. These apps serve as virtual guides to help hikers know about difficult terrains and points of interest by offering insights on weather and sightings with GPS capabilities.
For example, AllTrails is an app that provides safety information for outdoor enthusiasts who like to engage in exploring new adventure conquests.
We can guide you in figuring out which type of app would best suit your unique goals and audience.
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The rise of smart device integration, social engagement, and personalized experiences with gamification has brought an upward tick. Hence, starting a fitness app needs a proper understanding of the target audience and relevant features to create the app you want.
The basic features mentioned below for creating an MVP will help you gauge the user preferences to include advanced essential features later.
Creating user profiles is important because even if they change devices, the profiles are always in sync. For example, you can provide an option to connect users’ social media accounts when they create user profiles for the first time.
They don’t have to indulge in a lengthy and complex registration process every time, as slow page loading can affect the performance of a mobile app. The profile creation also needs simple and basic details like name, height, weight, email ID, and a profile photo.
It includes adding a short bio, food preferences, daily routine, work profile, goals, and time they can dedicate towards working out. They can also modify their profile password to add existing health issues and diseases.
Apart from that, some apps also provide a database to choose from custom workouts, food options, and calorie intake. Customized user profiles can be a good addition, providing access to personalized workout routines, tracking statistics, and comparing progress.
Depending on the goal of your users, fitness tracking apps can offer them different browsing options. You can also add different filters for choosing fitness levels, desired types of workouts, duration and intensity, and specific body parts.
For example, if your app is for finding personal trainers, you can make the dashboard specific to it. Include location features of personal trainers, their experience levels, certifications, and the form of training you require. You can also include group and individual classes to help users choose their preferred option.
Most of the current fitness apps are integrated with many third-party applications. These are important to establish a successful interaction with the components included in the architecture of a mobile app.
Gym and fitness enthusiasts like to work on music playlists. Hence, many apps provide a feature to integrate their playlists from other apps like Spotify, YouTube Music, etc.
Similarly, other apps can be integrated with Google Fit and Apple Health to keep track of user metrics. These apps are also integrated with a device’s features like GPS navigation to sync their data related to steps and sleep patterns, like FitBit.
A push notification system is essential for reminding users how well they are faring on the goals that they have set for themselves. It focuses on maintaining the consistency and frequency of their health habits and timely workouts.
When using a fitness app, many times, users might not stay on track with their schedules due to reasons like illnesses, less time, etc. Adding push notifications as a feature can help them stay connected.
They will get reminders to do their workouts, take meals, and take water breaks at scheduled times. Moreover, it will increase user engagement with the app, making the app profitable for a business.
Payment function integration is a basic feature that needs to be implemented to increase the security of a mobile app for fitness. While this feature is essential, it’s also important to maintain the security, privacy, and confidentiality of users’ data.
Adding payment gateways will enable users to make payments for premium subscriptions and any in-app purchases conveniently. Common payment gateways include PayPal, Visa, etc.
Monetization of your apps is essential for profit generation by offering free trials before they sign up for a premium subscription. Other ways to get paid include in-app advertising.
Goal setting is a feature to be included to offer a personalized experience for your users. This feature allows users to choose a task, track their progress, and complete it in a specified duration.
Whether you’re building a nutrition app, sports app, or fitness app – this feature can prove to be useful. It provides users with a systematic approach to bring measurable results as they have the freedom to set and choose their desired goals as per their fitness levels.
You can further divide this feature by asking users to select a type of workout (running, walking, cycling, etc.). They can input their desired goal and select a time duration to complete them.
Developing a fitness app is incomplete without adding a feature for progress tracking. Everything, from the number of sets, repetitions, hours, kilograms, kilometers, and calories, can be tracked through fitness apps.
Progress tracking motivates users to stay on track of their fitness goals and are compelled to use the app to continue their journey. However, it should be noted that tracking unnecessary data can overload the database.
Hence, it’s essential to provide a graphical overview of metrics to display the summary of the entire fitness routine. It makes it convenient for the users when they can track their progress in just a few taps. Graphs and charts are easy to understand with color codes for active segments.
If you’re not sure which features you should add, we can help you launch a cost-effective MVP.
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Advanced features of a fitness app give your business a competitive edge. An app development company can help you develop an MVP. It enables gauging user interest to add free and paid features.
A diet plan specifically customized for a user acts as a compass to guide their health habits. It allows them to create a plan best suited for their daily activities and health conditions. The feature also includes providing ingredient options and helping them make their homemade recipes.
Further, it also provides recommendations on the recipes they can make. The ingredients and recipes are affordable and within users’ budgets, and they also provide alternatives as per their food preferences, allergies, and intolerances.
You can also include grocery lists and resources for vegetarian, non-vegetarian, vegan, seafood, etc. MyFitnessPal is one such example that provides these diet features and water intake levels.
Social sharing is a highly engaging feature that can boost your brand awareness. It offers a community of people looking to achieve their goals while taking part in challenges and events. Users can connect with their family and friends and share their outcomes when they beat a challenge or activity.
This feature allows users to stay motivated on their fitness journey. It connects users with people who are trying to stay healthy and on the same journey as them. It also increases app usage by serving as a platform for sharing tips and recipes and accomplishing goals.
This feature uses GPS or other location-tracking technologies to identify a user’s current location. It also provides recommendations for nearby fitness activities, such as outdoor running routes, hiking trails, or local gyms or fitness studios.
Additionally, it tracks workout routes and distances, enabling users to see and compare their workout progress. Geolocation can also be used to create virtual fitness challenges. Users can compete to cover the most distance in a given area or complete a specific workout at multiple locations.
This could involve setting fitness goals and rewarding users with points, badges, or virtual trophies. It rewards them for each milestone they complete or maintain a consistent exercise routine.
Gamification can also involve creating fitness challenges or leaderboards. Users can compete with friends or other app users to achieve the highest scores or longest workout streaks.
Additionally, incorporating elements of storytelling or role-playing into workouts can make them more enjoyable and encourage users to stick to their fitness goals. For example, users could progress through levels or chapters of a story, unlocking new challenges or rewards as they go.
Wearable devices gather real-time data on a user’s heart rate, steps taken, calories burned, and other metrics. They can easily connect with devices such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, and heart rate monitors,
This data can be analyzed to provide insights into a user’s fitness level, progress over time, and areas for improvement. Additionally, integrating with wearable devices can enable the app to send notifications and reminders to users.
The reminders encourage them to stay active and reach their fitness goals. Wearable device integration can also enable social features, such as sharing workout data with friends or participating in group challenges.
With video tutorials, users can see the proper form and technique for different exercises. Tutorials ensure that users are performing them correctly and reducing the risk of injury.
Video tutorials can cover a wide range of workouts, from bodyweight exercises to weightlifting, yoga, and more. They can also be organized by difficulty level, target muscle group, or workout type, making it easy for users to find the content they need.
Additionally, video tutorials can be integrated with the app’s tracking features. Users can track their progress and receive personalized food intake recommendations for new workouts to try. Video tutorials provide clear visual instruction and guidance for user-friendly user experiences.
By tracking a user’s sleep patterns and quality, the app can provide insights into how well the user is resting and recovering from their workouts. This can be particularly useful for users who are training hard or trying to improve their fitness levels.
Sleep monitoring can also help users identify potential issues with their sleep. Users can gain a more holistic view of their health and make more informed decisions about their fitness and wellness routines.
Multi-device synchronization allows users to access their fitness app and data across multiple devices, such as smartphones, tablets, or computers. Users can switch devices and pick up where they left off.
This makes it more convenient for users to stay on top of their fitness goals and maintain a consistent workout routine.
Additionally, multi-device synchronization can enable social features. Users can share workouts with friends or participate in group challenges, regardless of which device they are using.
By tracking heart rate, heart rate variability, and other metrics. The app can provide information on a user’s cardiovascular fitness, recovery, and overall health.
This can be particularly useful for users who are training for endurance events, such as running or cycling, or who are focused on improving their cardiovascular fitness.
Detailed heart monitoring can also alert users to potential issues. Users can monitor abnormal heart rates or signs of overtraining and get recommendations for adjusting their workout routines.
It makes a fitness app more comprehensive and valuable for users who are serious about tracking their cardiovascular performance and overall health.
A successful fitness app requires a strategic approach and the integration of standout features that set it apart from existing apps in the market.
If you are a business owner with a groundbreaking idea looking to develop or improve a fitness app, partnering with Moon Technolabs can help you achieve your goals.
Here’s why:
Lastly, with customer experience being a top priority, it’s always a good idea to start the app development journey with an MVP. We guide you in deciding which type of fitness app will be suitable for your target market. Consult with our experts to discuss costs and hourly rates.
Jayanti Katariya is the CEO of Moon Technolabs, a fast-growing IT solutions provider, with 18+ years of experience in the industry. Passionate about developing creative apps from a young age, he pursued an engineering degree to further this interest. Under his leadership, Moon Technolabs has helped numerous brands establish their online presence and he has also launched an invoicing software that assists businesses to streamline their financial operations.
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