Home Page Blog How to Build a Fitness Tracking App [Benchmarking Tips] How to Build a Fitness Tracking App [Benchmarking Tips] App Development Last Updated: 15/11/2024 Share on Social Media: 2,019 10 min. Fitness tracking apps are a great example of how technology can connect businesses and consumers and benefit both. In January 2022 alone, the most popular fitness applications were downloaded 16.91 million times, compared to only 3.23 million times in 2018, according to Statista. So, looking at the 2018-2022 range, we can see that the global pandemic played a role in the importance of fitness tracker app development. People started paying more attention to their health and many physical fitness centers closed, so the new habit has emerged and it’s not going away. Time PeriodMonthly Downloads in MillionsJan 202216.91Jan 202115.26Jan 202018.28Jan 20198.84Jan 20183.23Jan 20172.76Downloads of leading fitness and workout mobile apps worldwide in the month of January from 2017 to 2022 Fitness apps come in all shapes and sizes. Workout libraries like Nike Training Club, pedometers (or step-counters) like Fitbit, exercise apps like Peloton, combined wellness programs like BetterMe, unusual outside training apps like Dryft…the list goes on. So, are you looking to start a fitness tracking app? You’re on the right track. In our guide, ProCoders shows you market data, your future top competitors, essential features, steps on building an application, and more! If you want to build a modern solution with top-notch user experience, you need this guide. Key takeaways: Creating a fitness tracker application is a profitable idea, proven by the market revenue growth at 16.36% CAGR. User penetration increases as well, which means that the public is becoming more interested. The top applications for different purposes are Nike Training club (as a free app), obé Fitness (for group training), and others. All have over 4 stars on both App Store and Google Play. The best features recommended for the fitness tracking app you make are personalization, various fitness activity trackers for physical progress and nutrition, geolocation, and others. The development process includes thorough market research, UI design, building the fitness tracker app’s prototype and MVP, creating the final version, and launching. The tech stack for a fitness application may include SDKs and APIs like Google Fit, Apple’s HealthKit, Fitbit, and Misfit, programming languages such as .NET, PHP, Node, and more. The article contains a FAQ section with questions about app development cost, how to monetize the project, what influences the price, etc. Overview of the Fitness Applications Market According to Statista, the CAGR of the at-home gym app industry revenue is forecasted to be at 16.36% in the years 2022-2027, with the expected market volume of $33.04 billion in 2027. The data was gathered from paid apps where people purchase plans, workouts, and other materials. This means the real numbers are bigger as apps tend to include paid ads; some also charge per download. User penetration is also expected to grow from 8.67% this year to 12.21% by 2027. A steady growth shows not only the interest of Internet users towards their health is growing but also your profit opportunities. Moreover, this market research offers data on fitness apps alone, when in reality you can also cover physical and mental well-being, nutrition, and more. Before starting your healthcare app development, consider various niches. Our next stop is the most popular fitness tracking applications with millions of downloads worldwide. The Most Successful Fitness Tracker Apps Let’s get to know the leaders of the market. You can take them as examples for your concert or look into how you can create a different application and become the leader of your own niche. According to Healthline, these are the best programs: Nike Training Club – the best free app with iPhone and Android ratings of 4.8 and 4.3 respectively. Lots of free workouts and plans, easy-to-apply filters. obé Fitness – the best solution for group training with iPhone ratings of 4.8 and Android ones of 4.4. A paid app with 20 live classes offered each day and a library of over 2,000 workouts. Fit Body – the best female community – 4.9 on App Store and 4.7 on Google Play. 4 trainers, 12 programs for fitness, and healthy meal ideas for 72 weeks! Centr – the male counterpart created by Chris Hemsworth. 4.7 on App Store and 4.7 on Google Play. Not for beginners, but the app has daily workouts and meals, not forgetting some mindfulness techniques to balance the mind and body. Studio Bloom – the best prenatal and postpartum fitness app with 4.8 on App Store and 4.7 on Google Play. 300 classes including injury rehab, yoga, cardio, strength training, HIIT, etc. ProCoders has worked on a challenging and very unique fitness app as well. It’s called Dryft and it needed all these sophisticated functions for trainers and class attendees. The former had to upload the info about their workouts, locations, etc., receive payments, and more. The latter had to pay in a couple of clicks, have the class info uploaded to their calendars, etc. Along with Dryft’s UX/UI designers, we’ve created an application that diversifies human lives and helps them stay fit! Get our Clients’ Contacts to Discuss their Experience with Us! Get the Contacts Get our clients’ contacts Project Info Let us match you with the most suitable partner:* Or just pick one of our cases:* —Please choose an option—Roth River (IoT – U.S.)Quartz Network (Social – U.S.)Same Day Courier Network (Logistics – U.K.)Expandigo (SaaS/Marketing – U.S.)HANDLE Global (Logistic – U.S.)Granite Holdings Ltd (Canada)Dryft (Fitness – U.S.)MyDistijl (CRM – U.S.) Contacts The most convenient way for you to meet with our partners:* Video call E-mail Phone Finish Enter your e-mail ad we will be in touch shortly:* I'm just checking the prices/options and don't have a need right now. Please don't try to reach out. I have read and agree to the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Previous Next So, what features are in demand nowadays in fitness applications? What are the audiences most drawn to? Keep reading to find out! Features of a Fitness Tracker Application that Bring Profits Before thinking about how to make a fitness tracking app, let’s see what features are in demand nowadays. After all, you have to launch something your target audience needs, so it makes sense to look into that. Personalization Allow to fill in a personal profile for everyone. Name, age, gender, and preferred workout type alone will give you lots of info to show targeted ads or the most fitting training. This feature may also help you estimate the number of calories lost during the workout or running session. Push notifications Push notifications have to be personalized as much as possible, depending on the most used features, set bodybuilding goals, progress, and even suitable deals from your eStore. Trackers Various trackers for nutrition, fitness, and overall progress make these apps even more personalized and engaging. You can send notifications to the users when they reach a new milestone to remind them to use the app more often. Geolocation With user consent, of course, offer geolocation tracking so that they can see where they ran or went and how long the distance was. Offer the best places for working out, the ability to build routes beforehand, etc. Gamification Make fitness fun with some gamification, like rewards for running or walking a certain number of miles. The rewards can be discounts for your eStore items or points that can be later exchanged for a week or a Premium plan. Other notable mentions are social login and sharing, wearables synchronization, setting goals, and sleep tracking. OK, with the list of features you can use for the program, we can proceed to see how to build a fitness tracking app. Get a Winning Fitness Tracking App with Popular Features! Contact ProCoders Get a Winning Fitness Tracking App with Popular Features! information I have a web-version of an app Number of screens: Share a link for reference if you have so: features Which features should your app contain? User Authentication: Simple with Google with Facebook Native features: Geolocation Payments Camera Push Notifications external Should your app work with external hardware devices? Bluetooth USB Wi-Fi Finish Enter your e-mail and we will be in touch shortly.* I'm just checking the prices/options and don't have a need right now. Please don't try to reach out. I have read and agree to the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Prev Next Stages of Fitness Tracker App Development So, how to make a fitness app? What steps do you have to know about? How to make sure you don’t miss out on anything? ProCoders has a neat step-by-step guide on how to develop a fitness tracker app. Step 1: Research the market and create a concept Thorough market research shows you: What the audience expects from similar products What your direct and indirect competition is What niche is the most popular nowadays, and more. All this helps you see how to create a fitness tracker app that meets users’ expectations. With this in mind, you have to create a concept where you’ll have info on design, features, messaging, etc. Step 2: Choose the features you want for the fitness app Some entrepreneurs want to launch a really useful app so badly that they stuff it with features right away. First of all, it’s going to confuse people and the fitness tracker app you’ve started won’t have one clear goal you can market. Besides, more features mean more developers and/or more working hours, which also makes the price skyrocket. So, it’s better to position your app in a niche where it can be useful (that’s what we’ve done all that market research for). Step 3: Design the interface with UX in mind An intuitive interface makes a difference. Hiring a designer with experience in the Health & Wellness industry will ensure that your idea finds the right way into the real application. You’ll have to pick colors, buttons location, menu, profile design, font, its size, etc. All that should not decrease loading speed and other user experience metrics, so there’s a lot to think about. An expert can help you make the right choice so the app reflects what you wanted to launch and suits your target audience. Step 4: Develop a prototype and an MVP A prototype will help you see how your app may look after development and testing. It’s suitable for first presentations when you’re looking for sponsors or researching the target audience. An MVP or a minimum viable product is a working version of your program with basic features like registration, a workout or two, and progress tracking. You can pitch it to potential investors or even launch as a beta version to get the first reviews and revenue. Step 5: Build a fitness tracker app and test it Hiring the right people with the proper skills is essential for this step. If you don’t already have a team or need additional staff, make sure to turn to ProCoders. We’ll find the experts who will bring value to your app and use their skills and experience to make it as good as it can be. The building of the program will consist of frontend and backend development. After compiling the two, it’s absolutely crucial to test the application. For that, a specialist uses a combination of manual and automatic tests. ProCoders highly recommends hiring QA specialists instead of trusting the testing to developers. Qualified pros know what software to use and what types of assurance your product needs. Check QA Specialists Availability Get a Checklist Check QA Specialists Availability experience Please choose the experience level: Intermediate Senior duration Please choose the duration: 3-6 months 6+ months Details When to start: in a week in 2-3 weeks in a month Finish Enter your e-mail and we will be in touch shortly.* I'm just checking the prices/options and don't have a need right now. Please don't try to reach out. I have read and agree to the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Prev Next Step 6: Launch, gather feedback, and consider improvements The final step is to launch the product and execute your marketing efforts. It’s important to gather initial feedback to see where the app may need improvement and make changes to the new version. And there you go! Tech Stack You Need to Build a Fitness Tracker App Another important topic is the tech stack your developers need for a fitness tracking app start. SDKs for wearables integration – Fitbit, Misfit, Nike+, etc. APIs and SDKs for tracking data – Google Fit or Apple’s HealthKit Running features – Tomtom Barcode scanning – Nutritionix API, Open Food Facts BMI calculator API – written in PHP, Node, .NET, Java Ruby, etc. Now, finally, let’s see who you can turn to for help whenever you need project analysis, skilled developers and QA specialists, and full technical support even post-launch! How ProCoders Can Help If You Decide to Develop a Fitness Tracker App? ProCoders may already have the needed people on board for you! But even if not, we’ll be honest about it and promise to find you the right match in several weeks instead of months. We are a staff augmentation company, which means we can find qualified people for your project ASAP. Our values are communication, efficiency, and professionalism, that’s why we hire mobile app developers and other specialists full-time and pay them, whether they are engaged in the development of a client’s product or not. Trust us with: The hiring process Resume reading Interviews Practical tests Development Testing And take this time to do other essential tasks for your future application. We have experience with the Health & Wellness sector, which can be clearly seen in the Dryft app. We worked with the non-technical founder of the company who came to us with a bold plan to build an app where you could “drift” around top locations in major cities and work out there. They needed a team and an amazing product for an adequate, even limited, budget. So we delivered what they wanted. That is: A fully dedicated team to create a cost-effective, high-quality platform Capabilities for both desktop and mobile use Features both for trainers and students, calendar integration, promotional content, in-app purchases, and more. We offer you to get discovered and start turning your idea into reality! Start your Discovery Phase Today! Get Started FAQ. Here is even more information on the topic of the development of your fitness tracker app How much does it cost to create your own fitness tracker app? $60-80K or more if we’re talking about a full-on fitness tracking mobile app development from scratch. The final number depends on a lot of things, including the kind of app you want, how fast you want it, and how many people you already have on board. Which factors influence the fitness tracking app development cost? The scale of your app, cross-platform or native development, the time you have, their level of expertise (junior, middle, or senior) If you’re not sure about any of those things, we can’t provide you with a clear estimate. But ProCoders Discovery Phase can! Provide us with the information about your idea, budget, time expectations, etc., and our analysts will come up with the most optimal plan and numbers for your situation. How to monetize your fitness tracking app? You can provide paid materials, subscriptions, paid advertisements, and an online store. Paid materials – special workouts, health and wellness webinars by top experts, meal plans, etc. will come in handy for the users and bring extra revenue for you. Subscriptions – it can be one Premium subscription or several plans for any budget. You can also have a free plan with relevant ads and limited access to workouts or other special features. Paid ads – relevant advertisements won’t stain the quality of the experience and will earn you extra something. eStore – selling physical goods like yoga mats, sportswear, dumbbells, etc. will increase revenue and make customer experience more wholesome. What tips are there to save on cost to create a fitness tracking app? Focusing on essential features, building a cross-platform app instead of two separate ones for iOS and Android, and hiring remote staff for the job are some things you can do to save money on developing a fitness tracker application. You can add more features when the program starts bringing money. And hiring additional staff or a whole team via a staff augmentation company like ProCoders will ensure you get a high-quality product without overpaying for an in-house team (or additional full-time staff for an existing team). Conclusion Starting a fitness tracking app can be difficult, but once you research the market and make your positioning clear (what app you want to make, how it’s going to be useful, what the target audience is), it becomes much easier. By including the features like profile personalization, geolocation tracking, nutrition and workout plans, and progress tracking, you’re going to have a very promising product. As to the technical part, ProCoders can help you with it by finding top-notch professionals with the necessary tech stack knowledge and experience. We’ve already helped develop fitness apps, so be confident to apply to our Discovery Phase to discuss your idea! Let’s Discuss your Needs! Contact Us! We’re ready to start! Let’s get started App Development 2,019 Posted: 13/01/2023 Last Updated: 15/11/2024 Previous postHow to Develop an App for Women’s Health Tracking Next postHow to Create an Uber-like App for Trucks Write a Reply or Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Post