Cisin takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a fitness mobile application, including choosing a monetization method and features for your app.
We also cover design and development. Our ultimate guide is based on our own fitness app development experience.
Fitness Apps Market Overview
In recent years, the global health and fitness app market has seen significant growth, driven by an increasing number of smartphone and wearable devices.
There is also a growing awareness about health, as well as a focus on fitness and well-being among the general public. This market includes a wide range of apps designed to monitor users physical activity, help them maintain healthy lifestyles and reach their fitness goals.
A report by Allied Market Research states that the global fitness app market is valued at $4.15 billion and will reach $13.05 by 2027.
This growth rate (CAGR) is 21.6% between 2021 and 2027.
Fitness-tracking apps are also on the rise. Statista projects that the eServices Fitness segment will have 353.2 million users as of 2023.
Fitness app development from scratch is a growing industry.
There Are Many Different Types Of Fitness And Workout Apps
You can do much more with a fitness app than simply develop a gym workout application. It can be anything from simple activity tracking to delivering health advice and workouts via the mobile interface.
cisin have highlighted some of the popular options that you might want to consider.
Apps for Activity Tracking
These apps allow users to track their daily fitness and wellness habits. These apps use smartphone sensors and wearable devices to collect data about activities such as walking, running, or cycling.
These apps provide valuable information such as the distance covered, the calories burned and progress charts. They encourage healthy habits and promote motivation. Activity tracking apps are ideal for fitness enthusiasts as well as beginners.
They promote a healthier lifestyle and help users reach their fitness goals.
Contact cisin if youre interested in building a fitness-tracking app but arent sure where to begin! cisin can begin a Discovery Phase during which we will consider all of your project requirements and create a development roadmap that you can use to stay on budget and within time.
Apps for Diet and Nutrition
Users can use them to manage their diet and make better food choices. These apps offer tools like meal planning, tracking nutrient intake, and calorie counting to give users insights into their eating habits.
They often offer extensive food databases, recipes, and customized diet plans that cater to individual goals and needs. Diet and nutrition apps can help users improve their health by encouraging healthier eating habits and promoting awareness.
Fitness apps of this kind should have a strong user community. User support groups and the novelty of always changing recipes and options will keep users motivated.
Diet planner apps should include gamification features, scoreboards or weight loss competitions.
Workout App
The main purpose of a workout plan app is to provide diverse workout options beyond the standard cardio or dancing routines.
Gamification special features such as progress tracking, rewards and social interaction can be used to increase user engagement. Create an app that offers unique experiences such as VR-based workouts, outdoor adventures or story-driven exercises to motivate users.
This will help you stand out in the competitive fitness market. A dynamic and captivating workout app will appeal to a large audience and encourage fitness success.
cisin tip. You will need more than one app to create a fitness app that includes online classes and personal coaches.
Why? You will need one each for your customers, trainers and perhaps even for administrative purposes. Keep this in mind.
Yoga and Meditation Apps
Apps that combine yoga and meditation can help you achieve mental and physical health through relaxation, mindfulness and flexibility exercises.
These apps are designed for users of any level and include guided yoga sessions, breathing exercises, meditation, and other techniques. Users can customize their yoga practice with the help of detailed instructions and a variety of yoga styles. Consistency is maintained with the help of reminders, personalized suggestions, and progress tracking.
Yoga Studio, Headspace and Calm are popular examples.
How To Create A Fitness App In 10 Easy Steps
Follow the development plans steps cisin provides in this section to create a fitness app that is successful, meets your audiences needs, stands out on the market and achieves the business goals you desire.
Step 1
Determine the main goals of your fitness app. This could be weight loss, muscle gains, or overall fitness. Understanding your target audiences needs, motivations, and preferences will help you build an app that is tailored to their needs.
Analyze your competitors, identify gaps in the market, and collect insights about the most popular features and successful ones of existing fitness apps.
This will allow you to create a unique app and set it apart from the competition.
Step 2
Based on your research, determine the key features that are essential to your app. These include workout libraries, personalized programs, activity tracking and nutrition tracking, analytics of progress, social features and gamification.
Step 3
Consider factors like cross-platform compatibility and scalability when selecting technologies, frameworks and tools to develop an app.
- Framework: Do you want JavaScript-driven React Native or Dart-driven Flutter? Decide this upfront.
- Integrating: Does your app require integration with third-party APIs or social media platforms such as Facebook? Do your research on the services and software that you will use.
- Payment Systems: How will users pay for services in-app they receive? How will you compensate vendors like fitness instructors who are paid per download or click? How will you pay for sponsored ads, and how do you plan to accept payments? Your choice of software will have an impact on your ability to do this.
Step 4
Create an intuitive, visually pleasing, and easy-to-navigate user interface. This will enhance the user experience/customer experience.
Apps should be accessible to users with varying fitness levels and abilities.
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Step 5
You have several options when choosing the right team:
- In-house team: Hiring a team of in-house developers allows you to have direct communication with them, complete control over their development process and a thorough understanding of your project. It can be costly and time-consuming to hire, train and maintain a skilled team of experienced developers/deep experience.
- Offshore development team: By partnering with an outsourcing company, you can hire a dedicated team of developers. This will save time and money while allowing access to a large pool of highly skilled professionals. This option is flexible since you can scale your team to meet the needs of your project. This option ensures the offshore team understands and adheres to deadlines, is committed to your project and has a clear understanding of your goals.
- Freelancers: Although freelancers are able to offer specialized skills for a lower price, they might not be available or committed enough to work on long-term projects. Communication and project management are also difficult, which can lead to delays and inconsistent results.
- Hiring Agencies: Traditional agencies can assist in finding skilled developers, but the process is time-consuming and costly. Moreover, hiring agencies may not understand the projects requirements, resulting in a mismatch between talent and project needs.
Step 6
Create a simplified fitness tracking app that focuses on the core features and functions.
You can use an MVP to validate the market potential of your app, test it with real users and gather feedback.
Step 7
You can now build a more complicated app with all the basic features you originally planned based on the feedback you received from users in the previous step.
Step 8
Conduct thorough testing while building a fitness app to ensure its functionality, performance, and usability. This will help you identify any bugs or issues.
Consider a mix of manual and automatic testing and beta testing with actual users to collect valuable feedback.
Step 9
Release your app in the app stores that are appropriate for you (Google Play Store, Apple App Store), and make sure to follow all guidelines and requirements.
Use relevant keywords and compelling descriptions to optimize your app store listing. This will increase visibility and encourage downloads.
Create and implement a marketing plan to drive awareness and user acquisition. Use social media, influencer relationships, content marketing and app store optimization techniques (ASO) to reach your audience and encourage downloads.
Step 10
This is the last development stage Track app usage, feedback from users, and ratings in app stores to identify opportunities for improvement.
To maintain engagement and satisfaction, update and improve your app in response to user feedback and market trends.
You can contact cisin if you are unsure about any of the steps. You can contact us at any point in the project, and we will continue to work on it for you.
You can expect to receive a custom and thorough approach from your project because we only hire highly-qualified app developers. Some of them have experience in online fitness app development.
Wed love to hear from you today!
Challenges You Might Face When Creating A Fitness App?
Did you make a promise to yourself when you were welcomed in the new year (and, lets face it, waved goodbye to 2020) to take better care of yourself, both mentally and physically?
Even the most reluctant fitness enthusiasts have been woken up by the importance of good physical health in the past year.
We have spent more time at home and less time commuting. This has allowed us to focus on our fitness and health goals.
Its not surprising that the number of downloads for health and fitness apps in the UK soared by 65% during the first lockdown in March 2020.
Can health and fitness apps ride this wave of popularity forever? Will it last long? We will investigate 3 of the biggest challenges that health and fitness apps are likely to face this year.
And well suggest some tactics to help them overcome these.
What are you waiting for? Lets dive
Read More: How Much Does Mobile App Development Cost to Develop a Fitness and Workout App?
After Covid, Gyms Reopened
The Pandemic has seen extremes in the health and fitness industries.
Home workout equipment, health and fitness apps, and forced closures of gyms have led to a decline in the number of gyms.
Were starting to see some light at the other end of the dark tunnel. After the government releases their spring lockdown roadmap, restrictions will start to ease up by mid-April.
But what does this mean for fitness and health apps?
Will users abandon apps and return to brick-and-mortar locations for their workouts, or has a public opinion about crowds and enclosed spaces changed irreversibly? This remains to be determined.
Lets play the devils defender for a moment!
What tactics can they use to combat this if it turns out that the popularity of health and fitness apps plummets with the reopening of gyms? We think the best way to combat this is to emphasize the social aspects of fitness & health apps.
People who are constantly at the gym and want to go back do so for the social aspect.
Apps can be social AND convenient, allowing you the freedom to exercise wherever you like!
Headspace is an app for guided meditation and mindfulness that has a number of social elements. You can see the meditation stats of your friends and encourage them to meditate, similar to a Facebook poke.
You can join groups of meditation. This feature is similar to when someone recommends you join a group of friends for exercise because you are more likely to stick with it.
The buddies feature allows you to invite friends to join your meditation journey. This will allow you to share progress and connect with them.
It would be great if health and fitness apps use these same gamification tactics. Not only would this encourage sharing of the app, but it could also appeal to people who dont want to return to the gym but miss the social aspect.
Gamification can be used to entice users back into the app and encourage them to sign up for it.
A Market Saturated with Apps & a Declining Attention Span
The attention span of humans is something that seems to always make its way back onto the news agenda.
We live in an age of fast-paced mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. People want online content that is quick, easy, and fast to consume.
Attention is one of the most important resources in this digital age. Microsoft Corp. conducted a study that found people lose their concentration after only 8 seconds on social media platforms.
Wowza! Thats a new low!
This statistic is not only applicable to social media but also has implications for the app market. Our time and our ability to process so many different health and fitness apps havent changed, despite the fact that new apps are being released every day.
Health & Fitness apps must not only differentiate themselves by having strong USPs but also employ creative tactics to encourage users to sign-up and stay engaged.
Here are some tactics to consider if you havent already been distracted by the latest shiny thing.
- Allow users to "try before they purchase". Allowing users to explore your health and fitness app without requiring them to sign up, or log in, will demonstrate the value of your viable product before they commit.
- Prioritize the speed and reliability of your app. We have already discussed that society is becoming more demanding, and the attention span of people is decreasing globally. Do not give your app users a reason to be frustrated. They will abandon you or switch to a competitor if they feel that way.
- Utilize push notifications. Push notifications can often bring users back to apps they havent used in a while. If you have a fitness app, for example, why not send a push notification highlighting the 10 most popular workouts in your app? Its a great way to appeal to their FOMO and pique their curiosity about what other people are doing.
Data Privacy & Trust
Data privacy and trust are not a concern that is exclusive to apps for health & fitness in 2023. It is a continuing issue.
According to a study conducted by Manifest, some people are afraid of apps that collect and track location data.
This could be a barrier for health and fitness apps that use this feature. In fact, of those who did not feel comfortable using location-tracking applications, 52% cited a lack of safety as the main reason, while 15% cited a lack of privacy.
Its understandable. The consequences of a breach in location data are grave. Hackers who have access to maps of fitness routines can know exactly where and when a person is.
They could be a potential victim of crime.
In 2018,, a fitness app, faced privacy concerns when it released a heat map interactive of users activity. It brought together 1 billion activities and 13 trillion GPS points to enable anyone and everyone to explore exercise routes around the world.
This was a feature that looked amazing. Strava allows hundreds of thousands of users to plan their rides, runs and swimming.
A crisis erupted when an Australian student discovered that the map displayed the locations and daily routines of military personnel in bases located throughout the Middle East. The heat map was quickly wiped of sensitive information.
Health & Fitness apps must demonstrate their trustworthiness from the start to overcome this barrier. We recommend a few strategies:
- Transparency is important when it comes to in-app permissions. When you ask your users to enable their location services like Strava, Fitbit, or Zwift, they will most likely want assurances on the five ws: who, whats, where, when, and how. Tell them! Explain your data collection method in a simple, straightforward and honest manner. The user will trust your app more if you are upfront and honest.
- Allow users to control social sharing. Many health and fitness apps allow users to share their achievements or actions within the app on social media. This activity may be beneficial for brand awareness, but you need to strike a balance between it and the privacy of your users. This could result in bad ratings, reviews and even the uninstallation of your application if you are not transparent.
How Much Does It Cost To Make A Fitness App?
The first step in deciding how to make a fitness app or a yoga app, or a meditation app is to determine the costs.
You can build a budget for your healthcare app development team if youve thought through your needs.
Hiring an external development team to handle your entire project is the easiest way to go. When you are looking at IT cost optimization, keep in mind the location of your hiring talent.
It will have an impact on your overall costs. Developers in the US and Australia are charging an average of $110/hour. Western Europe can charge as little as $80/hour.
In Central Europe, developers are available for as little as $50/hour. Hiring developers/specialists with experience from Central European countries like Croatia or Albania will reduce your costs by half.staff
Remember that junior developers can also handle some tasks.
The time required to create your app can vary greatly. Weve found that industry averages are generally true.
You can also use this table for a rough estimate of your app budget. Just multiply the number of hours by the salary of the developer in the area you are interested in hiring from.
These estimations are not accurate.
cisin can help you create a budget or even a plan of development. We created our Discovery Phase to help startups get a clearer vision of their strategy.
We know how to save money and achieve the desired results. Get a free consultation on your project by contacting us today.
Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!
Key Takeaways
Research and planning are the keys to a successful fitness app. You can increase your chances of creating a successful fitness trainer app development if you carefully consider your needs and hire the best team.
We have the design and development resources to help you create an app for fitness from start to finish. Our professional developers with experience can also work with your team in-house to provide the additional support that you require.
Wed be happy to discuss your next project, no matter what you prefer to do or the type of app you would like to create. (Maybe you want to learn how to develop an app for womens healthcare or healthcare mobile app development) Call us for a consultation today!
