Fitness App Development: A Guide to a Ground-breaking Health App
According to research findings, the global fitness app market was valued at $13.78 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $120.37 billion by 2030. There has been a global trend towards fitness, with consumers prioritizing solutions that let them stay healthy from home. Wearable devices, at-home memberships, and virtual coaches offer health enthusiasts the opportunity to improve their fitness at any time and place, often at a more affordable price. Hiring a fitness app development company is the best way to get started if you want to take advantage of this rising fad in the e-health market.
Types of fitness apps available in the market
The app market is flooded with a wide range of fitness app that addresses several health concerns of people. Almost all health and fitness programs started from activity trackers from simple pedometers to evolve into complex systems that measure all kinds of body movements and generate statistics. In addition, they also give recommendations for workout routines, nutrition, and general wellness.
Here are a few examples you can commonly find:
- Activity tracking apps
- Diet & nutrition apps
- Workout apps
Key features a fitness app must have
Every fitness app development serves a different purpose and provides its users with unique and exclusive features. However, there are some fundamental features that a fitness app must have to be more user-friendly and accommodate the user’s needs. These are:
Onboarding users
When you need to explain the app features or give instructions to new users, onboarding is the feature that comes in handy. When users interact with your app or use it, you can quickly provide onboarding by showing about two to eight screens, adding a 60- to a 90-second video tutorial, or sending in-app prompts.
User profiles
The app users can enter all the necessary details, including their name, age, gender, height, weight, and other crucial components. This information can also help app developers to match the user profiles with the relevant workout routines and help them maintain customized health plans.
Goal setting
Users must set fitness goals and create plans to achieve those. The ultimate goal of any fitness app is to achieve measurable results. A graph overview of the metrics is a great way to keep users informed about their fitness activities daily, weekly, or monthly. It allows users to evaluate their progress within a pre-defined timeframe and set long-term goals accordingly.
Notifications
Notifications are crucial when it comes to motivating you to hit the gym! Users can forget about their exercise plans, so the app’s task is to remind them. However, notifications must be adjustable to set notifications as the users need.
Voice Instructions
Voice commands or instructions play a major role in guiding health enthusiasts with the necessary knowledge. These messages can be pre-recorded phrases for setting workout goals or cheering up users.
Recommendations
Machine learning algorithms can provide personalized recommendations based on a user’s preferences or viewing history. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) enables an app to build customized fitness programs with dietary plans.
Chatbots
AI-powered solutions are appearing on the market equipped with intelligent chatbots that communicate with users. In-app conversations can help improve fitness habits and motivate users.
Payment gateway integrations
Suppose you do a service connecting users with nearby fitness centers. In that case, it is best to have integrated payments for people to pay for their classes in the app.
Community & social sharing
For most people who install fitness apps, the user community plays as much of a role as personal goals in motivation. Not only do they motivate users to share their experiences through social media, but they can also organize running events for the community. Therefore, social integration is essential for an android app development company to keep users happy.
Gamification
Game-like challenges in workout apps are excellent motivation for users. While kept simple and fun, challenges can get people to do extra exercises, and neatly designed achievement boards can be shared easily with friends.
Also Read: 6 Crucial Facts to Consider as a Fitness App Development Company
Developing your own fitness app
How do you go from a fitness app idea to iOS and Android fitness application development? The question becomes less intimidating if we divide the process of custom developing your app into separate steps.
STEP 1: MARKET RESEARCH or DISCOVERY
Before you dive deep into the process of developing a fitness app, it is essential to do thorough market research. At this stage, the mobile app development team conducts initial market research. It determines if your fitness app idea is marketable or what can make it so.
STEP 2: IDEA VALIDATION
During this stage, you analyze problems that your app can solve during the discovery stage. Finally, you should check the solutions your app can provide during the idea validation stage.
STEP 3: PROTOTYPE & USER TEST
While market research is something you can do on your own, prototyping is typically when you want to bring in an agency with the relevant UX/UI expertise. At this point, your development team needs to work on a comprehensive app interface and screen relationships.
STEP 4: CHOOSING THE TECH STACK
Selecting the right technology stack for the app will keep you on the right track. It will impact your budget, the app’s health, and the limitations you need to perform.
STEP 5: DEVELOPMENT
The app development backlog is split into sprints during this period, which is typically two weeks long. A project manager during this phase prioritizes tasks, tracks progress, and keeps track of the backlog.
STEP 6: QUALITY ASSURANCE & TESTING
In this stage, all the bugs get eliminated from the app, and the user experience is tested. This stage also requires the participation of the entire app development team.
STEP 7: DEPLOYMENT & SUPPORT
This is the stage where the final product is released to the app stores for users to download. Once released, you will begin monitoring it for crash reports and other user-reported issues to provide ongoing maintenance.
The best practices in fitness app development
While choosing a fitness app development company, you should keep in mind if they adhere to the following best practices:
- How about testing the app from the perspective of usability?
- Build the community by facilitating users to share their diet plans, etc. and follow each other
- Integrate with Siri and Google Assistant to enable voice control
- Add elements of gamification
- Deploy CDN tools to offer flawless video interactions and imagery
- Consider the UI aesthetics sensibly
Final thoughts
People are realizing the benefits of exercising, using smartphones and wearables, anywhere, anytime. This means the fitness app market will only grow. Despite the dominance of big-name apps like Nike Training Club, Fitbit, and MyFitnessPal, users are still looking for alternatives, and the app market will only grow. The key to good fitness app development is proper research and planning. Suppose you understand your market needs, have the right team, and ensure they’re fully resourced. In that case, your chances of developing an excellent fitness app will increase significantly. Do you have an excellent health and fitness app idea and still searching for experienced and competent mobile app developers to build it? Get in touch with us at Shyam Future Tech today!
