Fitness has been on trend for the last decade. The gym and fitness industries are flourishing around the world today. The IHRSA (International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association) reports that the $30 billion U.S. health and fitness sector has grown by 3 – 4% per year for the last decade. The industry shows no sign of slowing anytime soon.
COVID-19 is the reason fitness apps are in vogue. Fitness apps were a part of our lives for a long time before COVID-19, but their popularity peaked only in the past few months. This has led to the mushrooming of many national and international health-related companies.
Nike has made its premium Nike Training Club App available to all U.S. customers for free during the COVID-19 lockdown. The app provides virtual workouts such as a 40-minute upper-body strength routine and a 20-minute core strength yoga course. Nike has seen an increase of more than 100 percent in the number of weekly active users.
Fitness app development is booming due to the huge potential of fitness apps. Fitness apps are becoming more popular and in demand. Many business owners seek the assistance of fitness app developers to create fitness applications for them.
Before you start developing a fitness application, you should consider several factors. The last step in the process would be to hire a fitness app developer.
Why build a fitness app?
The global fitness app market will reach USD 14,64 billion by 2027.
Fitness apps were not very popular until 2014. Wearables were the rage in 2014. Apple’s Apple Watch and Samsung’s Fitness Band, among other products, helped smartwatches, fitness bands, and similar devices to become mainstream in 2014.
The chart above shows the revenue from wearables (in US Dollars). The wearable business has continued to grow since then.
Global fitness app market to grow 23% CAGR between 2016 and 2023.
Statista predicts that fitness apps that analyze fitness achievements such as weight lifting or distance running will only grow in popularity. By 2021, the fitness market as a whole will grow significantly. This is the perfect time for startups to enter this industry and create a fitness application. Are you ready to learn how to create a fitness application? This is the step-by-step process:
Types of Health and Fitness Apps
Let’s first look at some of the different types of fitness applications available.
Fitness apps are available in many different types. Apps are available to track different aspects of fitness and health. Each app caters to its intended audience, has a specific use, and is marketed accordingly. Let’s take a look at a few popular fitness apps before we answer the question of “how to make a fitness application.”
Fitness Tracking Apps
Fitness-tracking apps have become very popular in recent years. It tracks various aspects of health, consumption, and fitness. It includes features such as counting calories, tracking your physical activity, counting steps, and tracking distance traveled.
This app can also read data from wearables. Your users can get more accurate data about their activities by pairing wearables with your app. The users can set goals for their daily activities and work according to them. Your tracker can be their digital logbook.
Workout & Exercise Apps
When it comes to developing fitness apps, the first thing that comes to mind is workout apps. The majority of users prefer this app as it allows them to adapt to a specific training plan, maintain a time log, track calories, and maintain consistency. People who don’t have the time or motivation to visit the gym or join an activity club can also benefit from workout apps. Workout apps are therefore popular. According to a survey conducted by Flurry Analytics, workout, and weight loss apps account for 73 percent of all health and wellness app sessions.
These apps include a variety of exercise plans that cater to different body strength categories. These apps include upper body strength, cardio sessions, yoga sessions, power workouts, floor exercises, and many more. Some companies have also developed workout-specific apps. There are many yoga and personal training apps.
When designing an app for workouts, the most important factor to consider is ease of use. The more categorize, the more likely the audience will adopt the app. The key to success in the market for workout apps is simplifying search options. You can guide your users with audio and video demonstrations of exercises.
The Nike Training Club App provides filters such as duration, intensity, type of equipment, focus, and more. The app offers users a variety of training plans and can adapt the plan to their needs if needed. This app helped Nike engage with their customers and increase brand awareness.
Nike Run Club is another example of an app that can be used to train for running. Users can adapt the coaching plan and track their runs. Nike offers marathon training plans. This is an excellent way to create a large community of users, which can lead to the establishment of the brand and customer retention.
Alo Moves is another app that offers yoga videos. Alo Moves lets users select the length, instructor, style, and difficulty of the yoga session to find the best classes. It also includes a feature that allows users to engage with each other by leaving comments and following one another.
Diet and Nutrition Apps
Apps for diet and nutrition allow users to track calories and monitor nutrition intake. These apps allow users to maintain and monitor their eating habits. They are motivated to reach their goals through push notifications.
The nutrition app has a Calorie Meter, a carbs intake, a calorie calculator, a caffeine intake, a dietary guide for healthy foods, a nutrient guide, and recipes, among other features.
Know Your Audience
The next step is to create a list of the audience you want to reach. The audience is a crucial part of developing a health and fitness application. The journey will be much easier if you plan and research at this point. Hence, you must discover your target audience.
Find out about the most popular age groups and their financial situation, work, location, and other things. You can easily determine what features your target audience will require if you are familiar with them. Research your competitors to see if they meet these needs. Find similar apps on the app stores and compare them to your app. Find out what your competitors are doing wrong and fix it when you develop your fitness app.
After you have identified your target audience, the rest is easy. If you’re developing a diet application, you could include a recipe guide that is based on the location and the availability of certain types of food. Knowing your audience can help you focus on what you have to offer.
Want to know how to create a fitness application for a certain target audience? You need to know who the audience of your app is. How to do it?
- Conducting polls helps you a lot. You can survey your app idea to see how people react to it. What kind of people are responding to it? What age group is it? You can then improve your app.
- Research their comments and analyze them to refine your idea.
- Modify your app according to the findings and insights.
- Test your assumptions again by presenting the modified idea
- Watch the group of people that showed the greatest interest in your concept. These are your early adopters.
Create a fitness app with unique features
The next step in building a fitness application is to define its features. It depends largely on the type. When answering the question of how to make an app unique, consider features such as…
1) User Profile
Personal information such as age, height, weight, gender, and medical conditions will be included in the user profile. The user can then analyze their achievements.
2) Tracking of Physical Conditions
Track user activities such as the number of steps taken, sleep duration, and arterial pressure. Tracking features can be implemented without requiring external devices such as wearables.
3) Diet Features
The die diet feature is a great addition to any app. This can be a complimentary feature. It can give your service a boost compared to others. You can offer the most basic version of tracking diets for free, and charge for more customized plans.
4) Community Building
Fitness enthusiasts can benefit from features that encourage community building. This would in turn help to keep users motivated and engaged.
5) Integration of Music Apps
Your app can be integrated with popular music apps. It can also play playlists that are specific to workouts, which will make it easier for you to exercise. This makes exercising more enjoyable without the need to fiddle with external sources.
6) Wearable Device Integration
Wearable integration is beneficial for all types of apps. Wearable devices integrated into fitness apps could boost the value of an app. The app will also encourage users to use it more often.
7) Workouts with Professionally Trained Trainers
Your app can also offer training from popular and professionally trained coaches. Apple Fitness+, a home workout program for Apple Watches that guides users through workouts led by popular coaches, is a good example.
8) Push Notifications
Fitness apps should have push notifications. You can send notifications to users who haven’t used your app in a long time. You can send them notifications telling them it’s time to go to the gym or measure their pulse.
9) Social Media Integration
Social media is the driving force of today’s world. It is therefore an essential feature for app developers. You can allow users to share their gains and achievements on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
This is not all you may need. Functionalities are largely determined by the financial constraints of app publishers. Consult our fitness app developers if you want to know how to create a fitness application with unique features.
Build a fitness app that generates revenue
The fitness app business model must be adjusted to balance this, given that the majority of fitness apps are available for free. App monetization becomes a necessity. Marketing support is required for monetization strategies before and after an app’s launch.
It is important to plan your strategy from the start. This will allow you to create a roadmap for getting the most out of your fitness and health apps. Here are some tips on how to create a fitness application that will generate app revenue.
1) In-app Advertising Model
The model of in-app advertising is effective. It is a simple mechanism. App developers can earn money by serving ads within their apps. This is a common app monetization model in fitness apps. Ads are usually promoted at regular intervals. Advertisements are also available in the form of static stickers.
2) Paid Model
Users must pay a fixed price upfront before downloading the app. Users pay a set amount regardless of how much utility they receive. The app may be offered for free trial to give users a taste of the app. This model is suitable for an app that has a high level of brand recognition, and excellent reviews and ratings.
3) In-app purchases
In-app purchases are a popular way to make huge amounts of money. You can sell virtual or physical products from within an app. App publishers pay a commission to app store owners for these purchases. Apple and Google each take 30% off every app-based in-app sale.
4) Freemium Model
Freemium allows users to use some of the basic features for free, and then charge for upgrades or access to certain features. This is a common tactic used by companies to attract users and generate revenue. Users can use the app for free, but they will have to pay to access certain features and benefits. It helps them build a sustainable business, rather than just an instant hit.
5) Subscription Model
This is a subscription-based model. This model overlaps with the premium and freemium ones. The user pays a fixed amount each month for the use of the app. Subscriptions guarantee repeat business. Subscriptions are cheaper than one-time costs to encourage users to commit to a longer-term relationship. Businesses that have subscription revenue tend to be higher-ranking in terms of revenues.
Here are the five most common monetization methods used by the fitness and health industry. You need to consider the intended purpose of your app, as well as the types of users that you plan to reach. Check out the monetization models that your competitors use and also what trends are in-app monetization. Here you can find a detailed look at these monetization methods.
Choose the platform for your app
App development is not complete without selecting the deployment platform. You must decide whether you will develop an app for Android or iOS, or a hybrid that is compatible with both platforms.
The choice of platforms has a direct impact on app adoption, which directly affects revenue. Location can also play a role in this selection. If you plan to create a native fitness app and launch it only in one country, you should look at popular platform apps in that particular country. You can then ensure that your app is seen by the largest number of people.
How to Create a Fitness App that Stands Out on the Market
Clone apps are popular among business owners because they believe that clones are reliable and cost-effective. Clone apps have their drawbacks. Although the idea of cloning apps sounds cool, it’s not very practical. An original is always worth more than a replica.
Cloned apps hurt the quality and originality of mobile applications. App publishers are faced with problems such as up-charging for their apps, and poor UI/UX and functionality. Custom apps can be a solution to the problem of making a fitness application unique. It is therefore advisable to use custom apps when creating a fitness application. These are some of the benefits of custom apps compared to the disadvantages of cloned apps.
Scalable: Because they are created from scratch, custom can be customized based on the business needs of an individual.
Clone Apps are not as good in terms of quality, either when it comes to functionality or aesthetics. Custom apps can deliver qualitative results because the fitness app development project will be in the hands of a professional.
Users are always looking for something new. Unique features attract users to a greater extent. To solve this issue, it’s easy to add new and innovative features in custom apps.
If you choose the app cloning method, you will have to use the features of the original app. Use the customer app to remove this unwanted baggage.
Cost: You might think that creating an app clone is affordable and cost-effective. Cloned apps are of low quality. You may end up paying more to fix an app that was built using cloned software than custom apps.
Clone Apps in the iOS App Store: Apple has introduced new rules to its App Store. Apps created using commercial templates or app creation services will not be allowed to launch on Apple’s store. Custom apps never had to deal with such problems because they were original and would never work!
These were the advantages of custom applications. Do you still insist on using the low-cost copy apps? The difference between clone and custom apps isn’t much. You can’t believe this? Read ahead.
How much does it cost to make a fitness app?
Artoon Solutions assures affordable pricing to execute your fitness app concept successfully. The platform (Android/iOS) is important when calculating the cost of creating a fitness application for Android/iOS. It impacts the number of hours spent by our developers.
If you choose to use the native apps for Android and IOS it will require 1340 hours, including all APIs. If you decide to use only one platform (Android or iOS), the hours are 670 for each.
You can get your hybrid app developed in just 1136 hours, including APIs.
Our models can be customized to meet your specific needs. Here is the breakdown of hours and features.
Create a road map for the development of fitness apps.
Fitness app development can be a lucrative and appealing idea. To implement the correct development strategies to maximize your company’s profit, you must first define your needs and goals. You will then be able to develop a suitable solution and implement different monetization techniques.
Correct development is key to creating a quality fitness app. You need to plan your roadmap before you start creating a fitness application. This includes deciding the best monetization strategy and making the app UX bug-free and smooth. Work with developers who can answer your questions about how to create a fitness application. Experienced developers will ensure the successful implementation of wearable integration and monetization strategies. They can also deliver high-quality experiences to users.
To maintain an overall experience, it is important to keep in mind the users’ perspective. It should be personalized and sold. Artoon Solutions is one service that adds a personal touch to its products. We can assist you in planning the right roadmap if you have any doubts about how to create a fitness application that is tailored to your business. We can help you develop the best monetization strategy. We are experts in the development of fitness apps for Android, iOS, and cross-platform solutions.
Are you planning to create a fitness app?
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