How to Create a Fitness Tracking App: Case-Based Guide

One of the main trends in recent years is the increasing awareness of consumers about fitness and their desire to create a fitness tracking app to help them monitor their progress. Moreover, there has been significant progress in the practice of tracking exercise using mobile devices such as My Fitness Pal, Strava, and others. Such apps, including a fitness wristband and gym tracker app integration, provide features like motion tracking and social connectivity, setting a new standard for what users expect in personal activity tracking. By enabling users to monitor, evaluate, and optimize their fitness programs, these apps are targeting a highly active audience that approaches health as a lifelong choice.

⌚ Popular Smartwatch Fitness Tracker Apps

Smartwatch fitness tracker apps have revolutionized fitness apps by incorporating workout, health, and wearables right on the wrist. Let's take a look at popular apps and delve deeper into how to make a fitness tracking app that offers a seamless, comprehensive health experience 👇

1. Fitbit

App release: 2014
Number of Downloads (2023): 100,000,000+
In-app purchases: €8.49 - €89.99
Extra features: Daily Readiness Score, Sleep Stages & Sleep Score, Guided Programs.

Fitbit has been one of the pioneers in the wearable fitness segment, combining simple interfaces with deep functionality. People can track steps, workouts, sleep quality, or heart rate in real time. Additionally, Fitbit can be seen as socially integrating users through challenges and achievements, which helps create a community for users working towards their fitness goals. Thanks to these factors, the app has become the best choice for both beginners and professional trainers.

Want to know how much does it cost to make a Fitbit-like app? Go to our full guide on this topic!

2. MyFitness Pal

App release: 2010
Number of Downloads (2023): 100,000,000+
In-app purchases: €1.09 - €109.99
Extra features: Massive Food Database, Meal Scanning and Barcode Scanning, Macro & Nutrient Goals.

MyFitnessPal is a recognized tracking fitness and nutrition app that focuses on diet and calorie intake. With one of the largest food databases, it allows the user to enter meals and track macronutrients to easily control their diet. It also works with other popular fitness trackers and therefore synchronizes the user's exercise data with food consumption data to provide users with comprehensive information about their health.

3. Garmin Vívoactive

App release: 2013
Number of Downloads (2023): 10,000,000+
In-app purchases: $9.99 - $49.99
Extra features: VO2 Max & Fitness Age, Offline Mapping & GPS Integration, Garmin Coach.

For those who prefer to pay attention to their performance, Garmin's Vívoactive is very attractive. This company is known for providing accurate data on running, cycling, swimming, sports other than VO2 max, and other complex tracking. The Garmin Vívoactive can save maps and create custom exercises, which is why athletes who are adjusting their training regimens choose this device.

4. Strava

App release: 2011
Number of Downloads (2023): 50,000,000+
In-app purchases: €2.89 - €94.99
Extra features: Segment Leaderboards, Activity Analysis Tools, Route Planning & Heatmaps.

Strava is highly valued by cyclists and runners, particularly as a sport tracker app with features such as route tracking, leaderboards, and rewards, and a large number of social connections. Since users can track and share results from multiple sports, they can report their progress to friends or other fitness enthusiasts. The ability to connect to other mobile platforms and devices makes the app versatile, which further strengthens Strava's position as a must-have app for marathon runners.

5. Google Fit

App release: 2014
Number of Downloads (2023): 100,000,000+
In-app purchases: free
Extra features: Heart Points & Move Minutes, Google Health API Integration, Goal Recommendations.

Currently, Google Fit offers components such as activity tracking, heart rate monitoring, and movement data through a simple interface. It can be freely used on a large number of devices thanks to its connection to the Google Health API. To make it more accessible, Google Fit divides simple health monitoring tasks into “Heart Points” and “Movement Minutes”.

6. Apple Health

App release: 2014
Number of Downloads (2023): pre-installed on iOS devices - over 1 billion devices globally
In-app purchases: free
Extra features: Health Sharing, Emergency SOS & Fall Detection, Cycle Tracking & Hearing Health.

Specially designed for Apple Watch and fitness tracker iPhone users, Apple Health consolidates data from multiple health and fitness apps and provides them with a single dashboard. It allows you to track activity, heart rate, sleep, and diet, among other things. Thus, thanks to the ability to receive data from other applications and a minimalist design, the app offers the user a complete overview of their health status at a glance.

7. Samsung Health

App release: 2015
Number of Downloads (2023): 1,000,000,000+
In-app purchases: free
Extra features: Global Challenges & Community, Mindfulness Exercises, Comprehensive Health Monitoring.

Samsung Health offers a variety of app features for exercise, sleep, stress, and blood oxygen monitoring. Again, it always syncs with Samsung wearables, so data sharing is easy and users have access to a large online community. Samsung Health also offers guided meditation and mindfulness for users who are committed to healthy lifestyles and practices.

These popular smartwatch fitness tracker apps showcase the essential features users seek, making them a great reference when you're exploring how to create a fitness tracker app that stands out.

Progress Monitoring and Achievements

In fitness tracker app development, incorporating progress tracking with a pedometer is essential for boosting user motivation. Users should be able to view not only statistics for a specific period of time, but also overall averages for the day, week, month, distances covered, and records. Milestones such as “Fastest Mile” or “100 Workouts Completed” push users to go the extra mile. Whenever possible, include features such as an exercise journal app option, as well as badges or levels based on goals achieved, adding a long-term value proposition for ongoing engagement and participation.

Integration with Wearable Devices

Integration with wearable devices, supported by BLE app development for optimized connectivity, such as Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin, will give you a significant advantage when you create a fitness tracker app. Connecting your app to these devices means you can request all kinds of data, including heart rate variability and sleep quality. Synchronization with wearable devices allows users to have a holistic view of their fitness and health, and therefore provides a more personalized solution.

Integrating Apple HealthKit and Google Fit features will enhance fitness tracking app development by enabling data collection from multiple sources, providing added support and value to the end user.

Social Sharing and Community Features

The implementation of social aspects in fitness challenge software for fitness apps shows a positive correlation due to the popularity of information sharing in communities. When you create a fitness tracking app, enabling friend connectivity is essential—friends can join fitness challenges and share workout achievements on social media or within the app itself. Additionally, incorporating a social aspect into the app, such as a photo section where users can share, comment, and praise each other, similar to Strava, can enhance engagement. When you encourage community, you help users stay focused and compliant.

Notifications and Reminders

Reminders for the next workout, the next rest day, or the next day to check goals are also part of notifications and push notifications that inform users of a new training challenge or motivational message. When considering how to make a fitness tracking app, it's crucial to prevent too many notifications, you should allow users to define the type of notifications they want to receive, as well as the frequency of notifications. For example, users can choose to receive standard notifications about their daily steps or standard reports about their weekly exercise.

Personalization and Goal Setting

Allow users to set personal fitness goals through a customized workout tracking app, such as running a marathon or losing weight. To create a fitness tracker app, it's also helpful to provide the client with workout recommendations based on what they've done in the past and what's currently recommended. For example, recommend general physical activity regimens that include cardio and strength training to increase endurance.

Some apps, such as MyFitnessPal, include dietary recommendations, which makes them even more useful for users.

Data Analytics and Insights

Some users need data analytics when a training tracker app provides them with information about their health. These can be daily, weekly, and monthly reports on the number of workouts completed, time spent working out, calories burned, or steps walked, etc. To further improve, you can add heart rate tracking, sleep quality, and VO2 max estimates.

To effectively implement these capabilities, it's important to understand how to build a fitness tracking app. Additionally, integrating artificial intelligence into recommendations can make them more personalized and situational, suggesting certain actions to the user, for example: “Try a recovery workout today”.

User Profile and Settings Management

An easy-to-use user profile tab allows users to enter basic information such as age, weight, any health issues, and allows for accurate calculation of calorie intake and calories burned. Here, users should also be able to change privacy settings and set measurements for the data in an environment they are comfortable with, as well as options to control data sharing. Profiles should be dynamic, so that, for example, a person can update their training regimen and past habits are archived.

Step 2: Planning and Wireframing

Defining Core Features and Functionalities

Outline the essential features that your app will offer. Common functionalities in fitness and physical therapy app development include activity tracking, goal setting, progress tracking, social sharing, and personalized workout or recovery plans. Prioritize features based on user research and consider how to make a fitness tracker app that will stand out in the crowded fitness market.

Creating Wireframes and User Journeys

Develop wireframes to visualize the app's layout and design. Mapping out user journeys helps you understand how users will navigate through your app, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience. Tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD can be useful for this phase.

Step 3: Choosing the Right Tech Stack for iOS and Android

Native vs. Cross-Platform Development

Decide whether to build a fitness tracker app natively or use a cross-platform framework. Native development (using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android) can offer better performance and access to device-specific features but requires separate codebases. Cross-platform development with frameworks like React Native allows you to write one codebase for both platforms, reducing development time and costs, though it may have some limitations in accessing certain native functionalities.

Tools and Frameworks to Consider (React Native, Swift, Kotlin)

React Native: Ideal for cross-platform fitness tracker app development with a single codebase in JavaScript.
Swift: Apple's programming language for iOS development, known for its performance and safety features.
Kotlin: A modern language for Android fitness tracking app development that's fully interoperable with Java and offers concise syntax.

Different platform have their own implementation of health and fitness related tools and frameworks:

• Apple Developer Documentation - HealthKit
• Google Fit Developers
• Samsung Health SDK

Step 4: Designing the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)

Importance of Seamless User Flow

The correct organization of the user flow is essential, especially when designing a fitness tracker app project that prioritizes ease of use, especially when the target audience is the fitness industry and individuals. Users need efficient, easy access to trackers, metrics, statistics, and goals to create a fitness tracking app. The flow concept effectively reduces the number of steps to get to key functions, such as starting a workout, progress tracking, or viewing statistics. By making proper structuring a top priority, you can ensure that your target audience will interact with the app frequently, which will keep them satisfied in the long run.

UX/UI Best Practices for Fitness Apps

When creating a fitness tracking app, make sure you use standard user interface and user experience design principles to make the app appealing. In the context of fitness, clarity, simplicity, and motivation are important:

• Visual Hierarchy: Prioritize elements so that the most important ones are placed at the top of the page or in the first lines, such as “Start Workout” or “View Progress.” To focus visitors on important actions, highlight text with color or a different font style.
• Intuitive Controls: The app design and related interactions should be easily recognizable and identifiable using familiar signs and gestures. For example, a “swipe up” gesture can initiate a workout, and a tap on a graph can expand the view of advanced health statistics.
• Motivational Elements: Some features can include badges, daily streaks, or incentives related to reaching goals to help encourage users. Send special calls and/or announcements to encourage regular exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle.
• Data Visualization: To avoid overwhelming the user with detailed data, activity information can be presented in a table, graph, or chart, similar to a step tracker app with a weekly step chart.
• Customizable Themes: Giving the ability to switch the app between light and dark mode or choose between other custom colors can further facilitate task completion, making the app a real pleasure to use day or night.

Step 5: Developing Core Functionality and Features

Incorporating APIs and Third-Party Integrations (e.g., Google Fit, Apple Health)

Integrating your movement tracker app with third-party platforms like Apple HealthKit, Google Fit, and other APIs enhances its capabilities and provides users with a more comprehensive health overview. These integrations allow your app to read and write health data, enabling users to consolidate their fitness information in one place.

For instance, with comprehensive fitness app development services, integrating with Apple HealthKit allows access to data such as step count, heart rate, and nutrition, facilitating a seamless user experience. Similarly, Google Fit provides access to a wide range of health and fitness data on Android devices.

In addition to health data platforms, consider integrating social media APIs for features like sharing achievements or competing with friends, which can boost user engagement and retention when you create a fitness tracker app.

Utilizing Built-In Device Sensors (e.g., GPS, Heart Rate)

GPS: Enables location tracking for activities like running, cycling, or hiking. Use GPS data to map routes, calculate distance, and analyze pace, providing users with detailed insights into their outdoor activities.

Accelerometer and Gyroscope: Detect motion and orientation to count steps, monitor sleep patterns, or recognize specific exercises. This data helps in providing accurate activity tracking and can enhance features like step challenges or movement reminders.

Heart Rate Monitor: Access heart rate data from devices equipped with this sensor to monitor workout intensity, calculate calories burned, and provide insights into cardiovascular health. This can be pivotal for users focused on heart-rate-based training zones.

Barometer: Measures atmospheric pressure to determine elevation changes, useful for tracking activities involving altitude variations like hiking or stair climbing.

By effectively integrating APIs and utilizing device sensors, your fitness tracker app development can deliver a rich, interactive experience that meets user needs and stands out in the competitive fitness app market.

Step 6: Testing the App for Performance and Usability

Let's find out what our experienced QA engineer Ostap Shtypuk will tell us about testing the app for performance and usability:

Cross-Device and Cross-Platform Testing

Test your app on multiple devices and operating systems to ensure compatibility and performance consistency. This includes various screen sizes, resolutions, and hardware capabilities. Use both emulators and physical devices for comprehensive testing.

Performance Optimization and Bug Fixing

Optimize the app to run smoothly by:

• Minimizing load times.
• Ensuring smooth transitions and animations.
• Reducing battery consumption by optimizing sensor usage.
• Regularly test for bugs and fix them promptly.

Tools like Crashlytics or Sentry can be used for crash reporting and diagnostics.

🔒 Ensuring Security and Data Privacy in Fitness Tracker Apps

Since fitness tracker apps use various forms of health and activity tracking, the security and privacy of such information should be considered paramount, as people have never been thrilled with the idea of storing such personal information in apps. Our developer, Sergei Shemshur, will talk about data security.

Handling User Data with Care

Fitness tracker apps collect a wealth of personal information, from basic profile details to sensitive health metrics like heart rate, sleep patterns, and location data. Handling this data with utmost care is crucial to maintain user trust and comply with legal standards. Implement robust data management practices by:

• Data Minimization: Collect only the data necessary for the app's functionality. Avoid requesting excessive permissions or gathering unnecessary information.
• User Consent and Transparency: Clearly inform users about what data is collected and how it will be used. Obtain explicit consent through clear, accessible privacy policies and consent forms.
• Secure Storage: Implement encryption for data at rest and in transit. Use secure databases and follow best practices for data storage to protect against unauthorized access or breaches.
• Access Control: Restrict data access to authorized personnel only, employing authentication and authorization mechanisms within your systems.

By prioritizing careful data handling, you not only protect your users but also enhance the credibility and reliability of your app.

Compliance with GDPR and CCPA

Adhering to data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the United States is essential.

Integration with Smart Wearables and IoT

Thus, wearable technology is one of the main areas of growth in the demand for software and connectivity of fitness trackers to smart devices and the Internet of Things. From smartwatches to biometric sensors, wearables provide a constant stream of data for fitness apps that use them to perfectly track and provide valuable feedback. This also applies to wearables that are mounted on exercise equipment, where customers can connect their apps to the machines to monitor performance metrics such as the number of repetitions completed, weight lifted, and calories burned in real time.

This integration not only improves the app experience, but also expands the user's understanding of health across apps and contexts.

Predictive Analytics for Fitness and Health Monitoring

Predictive analytics is gradually becoming useful for primary health and fitness prevention. With predictive analytics, you can analyze user data, such as sleep quality, hydration levels, and activity, and make predictions about their health.

Think of a fitness tracker that analyzes the user's movement history in the app and informs them that they are about to run out of energy, or tells them what hours of the day to exercise based on their peak performance times.

With the development of predictive analytics, fitness tracker apps can help users with fitness programs in stages, making them more complete and users more interested in continuing to exercise.

This is a fairly aggressive timeframe, so we chose the Agile process with the necessary modifications, so the basic concept was based on dividing the project into simultaneously initiated and implemented phases that would cover individual components of the entire plan. This iterative release strategy helped our team to release critical features in the shortest possible time and announce future updates with a “Coming Soon” feature card. In addition, we enhanced ForceUSA's content management system (CMS) by developing a Google Spreadsheet to be uploaded to the website, updating information about trainers and new programs in real-time.

Innovation leader STEPR manufactures stair-climbing equipment and needed an Android tablet that could effectively manage the interaction between the equipment and provide optimal training solutions. The app had to be developed for a specific 27-inch screen and meet strict security and user interface requirements.

To address the security limitations of Android, our team was able to incorporate hidden or undocumented APIs to make the device secure. We also designed a clean layout that has huge clickable areas that are easy to reach to control the device during workouts. Other features such as OTA updates, real-time workout statistics, and PiP have further enriched the app, making training fun as users track their results.