How To Create A Fitness App – Examples, Features, & Cost

In today’s world, maintaining your fitness is not just about losing weight by eating less, or going for a leisure walk, or just eating healthy food a few times a week. It surprisingly goes much beyond. 

In its truest sense, fitness is all about maintaining your physical and mental wellness, getting the right nutrition, and keeping your stress levels at bay so that you live your best and seize every single day! 

Many people today realized the importance of maintaining their fitness and overall well-being, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some of us stopped taking our health for granted and began hustling like never before, while the others resumed their training and began working on becoming their best self again. All from the comfort of our homes. 

Undoubtedly, the credit goes to fitness apps. 

For such reasons, the global demand for fitness apps during 2020 surged as if there’s no tomorrow, and by looking at the figures, it doesn’t seem that it’s going to stop anytime soon. 

Many new startups came to the forefront to cater to this ever-growing demand, while the already existing players in the industry experienced a major win. And by that, we mean more application users, revenue, profits, brand awareness, everything! You name it. 

So, if you’re a budding entrepreneur who’s on their journey to make the world a healthier place, we have some major facts to spill out. The best time to develop a fitness app was approximately 7 years ago. 

The next best time… is today. 

In this blog post, we’ve compiled as much information as you’d probably need to get started within the next hour itself. You can call it a step-by-step framework. 

From understanding how to create a fitness app to the overall development cost of such an app – we’ve covered everything. With facts, figures, best examples, and a little pixie dust. 

So, without any further ado, let’s give you the answers you’re looking for and begin changing the future of your biz. 

Fitness and Health Apps That Are Making It Super Big!

Before we understand “how to create a fitness app” and dive deeper into the pool of features, let’s look at some of the biggest players in the health industry and get inspired by them. 

Here are the top 10 fitness and health apps.

• Fitbit 

Fitbit is one of the world’s leading apps for health and fitness. You can use the Fitbit app or get a Fitbit tracker or smartwatch to see how your activity, workouts, sleep, nutrition, and stress all fit together. Either way, you’ll find the information and inspiration you need to reach your goals—all in one place.

• Calorie Counter – MyFitnessPal

Calorie Counter is like having a dietitian, trainer, and coach at your fingertips. It offers innovative tools to make food and workout logging easy. Apart from this, it has other unique features such as tracking progress, access to learning from coaches, customizing your weight, nutrition and fitness goals, and more!

• Samsung Health – For Samsung Users

Samsung Health records your activities and helps you create a healthy lifestyle in an easy and simple way. You can check various health records on the Samsung Health home screen, add the items you want to manage, such as daily steps, activity time, and body weight, and edit them all by simply long-pressing the screen.

• WW (Weight Watchers Reimagined)

Weight Watchers Reimagined has got weight loss down to a science. With their in-depth personal assessment, you get to know yourself first. From there, the app scientifically matches you with a personalized weight loss plan. It helps you incorporate healthier food choices into your life and lose weight by offering hundreds of on-demand, equipment-free workouts. 

• Google Fit

With Google Fit, you can get instant insights when you exercise and see real-time statistics for your runs, walks, and bike rides. The fitness app will use your Android phone’s sensors or Wear OS by Google smartwatch’s heart rate sensors to record your speed, pace, route, and more. It also lets you see your daily progress on your Heart Points and steps goal.

• Calm 

Calm is a leading meditation app. It is a different kind of fitness app as it helps you experience lower stress, less anxiety, and more restful sleep. All this is made achievable with the help of guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, masterclasses, and relaxing music. 

• Asana Rebel

Asana Rebel is a yoga and fitness app for anyone who wants to get fit, lose weight, and start a healthy lifestyle. You can burn calories, strengthen your core, increase flexibility to boost your performance, balance the body while focusing the mind, and leave the stress of the day behind. 

• 30 Day Fitness Challenge

The 30 Day Fitness Challenge app has detailed video guides, fitness challenges for each body part, and workout reminders to keep you focused. The app increases exercise intensity step by step so you can workout better every time. The best part is that you don’t need to go to the gym. Just use your body weight and take a few minutes a day to stay fit and lose weight effectively.

• Sleep Cycle 

With the Sleep Cycle fitness app, you can track sleep using your phone and start your day feeling energized with its intelligent alarm clock and sleep tracker. Its unique design only wakes you up while you’re in your light sleep phase. Moreover, you’ll get detailed reports as the app monitors your sleep patterns from bedtime to your waking-up hour. 

• 7 Minutes Workout

If you want to lose weight, get a flat tummy & strengthen your abdominal muscles, try 7 Minutes Workout and get a six-pack with videos that show you how to perform each exercise. It includes the best exercises for regular people, just like you. You can do a quick-fit workout anytime, anywhere, and the best part is that it only takes 7 minutes. 

These were our top 10 picks for fitness apps that offer valuable features and content to their users while generating millions of dollars in revenue. 

From the above list, we can conclude that there are five main types of health and fitness apps, namely:

1. Fitness Activity Tracking Apps (Google Fit, Samsung Health, Fitbit)
2. Nutrition and Diet Apps (Calorie Counter – MyFitnessPal, Weight Watchers Reimagined)
3. Workout Apps (7 Minutes Workout, 30 Day Fitness Challenge)
4. Meditation and Sleep Aid Apps (Sleep Cycle, Calm)
5. Yoga Apps (Asana Rebel)

Want to develop a fitness app for your startup? Get in touch with us today!

Now, here’s a quick question for you: 

What do you think is the reason behind these applications’ booming success? We mean, what is that ‘magic potion’ that makes their revenue statistics skyrocket every year? 

We’ll give you 5 options, and you can think which of these can be the reason behind these apps achieving absolute breakthroughs in the health and fitness industry. 

1. Extraordinary App Features.
2. Monetization and Revenue model.
3. Core and Primitive App Features.
4. Marketing, Advertising, and PR Strategy.
5. Outsourcing App Development.

Is it option 1? Or is it their revenue model? Or could it just be their marketing strategy? 

Well, the correct answer is a unique blend of ALL FIVE OF THEM. And some more tactics that we’ll be discussing in the next section. 

How To Create A Fitness App In 5 Steps: Step-By-Step Framework

As we’ve already covered the examples and 5 major types of fitness and health apps, let’s jump onto the steps to understand how to create a fitness app. 

• Do A Viability Check 

It often happens that an interesting app idea strikes you, and you decide to go forward with it. However, it’s important to look before you leap, or else you may fall into a huge pit of defeat (and perhaps, debt too) 

So, before you make way for your fitness app, do a viability check. You can do this by doing a little research and finding answers to the following questions: 

• • Does my app solve an existing problem?
  • Does my app have features that stand out from its competitors? What would be its USP?
  • Do I have a well-defined and ideal target audience?
  • What should be my app’s revenue model?
  • Would the revenue model still be functional and thriving in a dynamic market?

If you manage to get a positive response for at least 3 of the questions above, you can consider it a green signal. 

• Conduct Market Research

The market for fitness apps is ever-growing. 

Having a thorough knowledge of your competitors, key demographics, opportunities, money risks, and other future challenges can help you make wise decisions for your fitness app. 

This means you’ll be able to decide upon the features and services in a more efficient manner. However, as easy as this step sounds, it quite isn’t that way. 

It can get quite challenging to study the market, so hiring experts, such as a mobile app development agency or freelancers, is the best way to go about it. 

As freelancers have an in-depth understanding of coding and usually have prior experience as well, they can help you come up with an app just as you need.

However, we’d still suggest you go for a development agency, and here’s why…

Why should I go for a mobile app development agency over freelance and in-house developers?

When you outsource your fitness app to a mobile app development agency, you get the whole development team, which includes a project manager, UI/UX designer, iOS and/or Android developer, backend developer, and quality assurance engineer. 

They conduct deep market research, survey your target audience, compile a detailed business plan, make a list of first-priority and optional app features, and develop a trial app version.

And not to forget, they usually have deep industry knowledge and significant years of experience. 

Therefore, when you get such insights about your app, target market, and competitors, your success becomes inevitable. Also, it won’t take you long to get a massive return on investments.

• Decide App Features 

Your team of developers includes the best features to make your app stand out. Here are the must-have features of your fitness app. 

Core Features: 

• • Registration 
  • User Profiles
  • Goals
  • Synchronization with Wearable Devices
  • Workouts and Exercises
  • Activity Tracker
  • Audio and Video Player
  • Customization
  • Push Notifications and Reminders
  • Recommended Workouts
  • Settings
  • Support
  • In-app Payment Gateway

Apart from this, you also get an admin panel to add and edit new content. Only the app owner and designated specialists should be able to use the admin panel.

Unique Features:

• • Gamification mechanics like rewards, badges, quizzes, virtual gifts, leaderboards, and progress dashboards.
  • Augmented Reality (AR) to visualize real-time information like distance covered, calories burned, and heart rate.
  • Live streaming for users to take part in real-time training without going to the gym. All users need is a smartphone, an internet connection, and being on time.
  • Recipe recommendations to help users cook and eat healthy meals. 

• Development Process 

At this stage, your team of developers prioritize the development of your application and monitor the progress to ensure maximum efficiency. After the development stage, you’ll get a minimum viable product (MVP) that includes your product’s main features. Once the QA engineers give feedback and approve the prototype, the team can go on to add unique features, and the same process will be repeated thereafter. 

• Testing and Improvement

This step is crucial to determine the success of your application. Your app will be thoroughly tested for bugs, flaws, overall functionality, KPIs, and user feedback. The testing and improvement stage pauses when you get a fully-fledged fitness app but continues right after you decide to change something.

How Much Does It Cost To Create A Fitness App?

As we’ve covered all the features and steps required for you to know “how to create a fitness app,” let’s get to the main deal – the app’s cost. 

The cost to build a fitness and health app would vary depending on the developer, the platform, features, and the payment contract you choose. For instance, your price can differ if you opt for a native app over a hybrid app. Further, you’ll need to decide whether you want to go for fixed or hourly app development. Finally, a major deciding factor for the overall cost would be the features you want to include in the app. A rough estimate for a native iOS fitness app would range anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000.

Over to you!

These were all about the strategies that you can use to come up with your own fitness app. With proper market research and packing your app with exceptional and customized features, you can get an edge over your competitors. 

However, does this seem too overwhelming for you? Don’t worry. There’s no need to go anywhere else. 

You can finally end your quest to know how to create a fitness app.

Why Choose Idea Usher Solutions Over Any Other?

Our team is highly experienced in developing a world-class application. Here’s why you should choose us. 

• Customizability

We understand that each client is unique, and so are their requirements. Therefore, your needs are our priority. 

Our wide range of custom features can help modify your application just as you need. We are here to offer you top-tier mobile solutions that will make you stand out from your competitors. 

• User-friendly

Our applications are thoughtfully designed by keeping all your requirements in mind. By offering a great User Experience and User Interface, we ensure that your end-users love your application.

• Speed To Market

Our team ensures that your application reaches your target market as soon as possible. By offering a faster speed to market, we save you a considerable amount of time and increase your visibility, ultimately leading to increased brand awareness. 

• Consistent support

Our dedicated and consistent team is always ready to help you and offer solutions to all your problems. Even in special circumstances and emergencies, we are always there to provide you assistance.

Get in touch with us today. In case you’re not satisfied, you can also get a quick overview of our application portfolio.