How to Create a Fitness App: Process, Costs, Estimates and Challenges

The fitness industry has been on the rise during the last few years — so many companies have been investing in mobile app development. And the situation doesn’t seem to change! Jogging, gym, and yoga have become a lifestyle for millions of people instead of just part-time entertainment. In the realm of fitness software development, we've seen a similar evolution: from niche technical solutions to indispensable tools in everyday health and fitness routines.

In this article, we’ve gathered our knowledge & expertise on sports tech app development to help you figure out the best strategy for your project and find a reliable Tech Partner.

🌐 Understanding the Fitness App Landscape

The fitness app landscape is a rapidly evolving sector within the health and technology industries. Here we collected highlights drawing on a Statista report on the world fitness apps market.

• Projected Revenue: It’s estimated that the revenue from fitness apps will amount to US$5,000 million by the year 2023.
• Growth Rate: From year 2023 to year 2028, CAGR in annual growth rate of 14.96% is projected and the market size is expected to reach about USD10.04 billion.
• User Penetration: User penetration is projected at 10.85% in 2023 and is expected to rise to 13.08% by 2028.
• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): They are projected to have an ARPU of US$ 13.92 for the fitness app market.
• Leading Market: The United States is poised to generate the most revenue, with a projection of US$1.506 billion in 2023.

🏆 Fitness Apps Types With Top Successful Examples

In this part of our guide, we’ll provide you with some concepts of what your fitness app can look like.

Essentially, all fitness apps, including those focused on yoga mobile app development, can be categorized by the type of content they offer and their target industry sectors such as fitness, mindfulness, nutrition, and others. Thus, your app idea will likely fall under one of the following types:

Gym Scheduling App

Gym schedule app helps users book and manage gym sessions. They often include features like class schedules, booking options, and membership management.

A prime example is Mindbody, which allows users to discover and book fitness classes in their vicinity.

Efficient Client Management

Apps streamline client management by automating tasks like scheduling, reminders, and tracking user progress, which is a key advantage when you build your own fitness app. They provide valuable data on client preferences and behaviors, enabling more personalized services.

Improved Marketing and Promotion

Training apps and virtual gym apps offer direct marketing channels to their users through notifications and updates, enhancing user engagement. They allow for targeted marketing campaigns based on user data and preferences.

Global Reach and Accessibility

An app can reach a global audience, breaking geographical barriers. It provides 24/7 accessibility, allowing users to engage with your services at their convenience.

Community Building

Features like social sharing and challenges help build a community around your brand. This fosters user engagement and loyalty, as users feel part of a supportive and like-minded group.

Time and Cost Savings

Mobile apps reduce the need for physical infrastructure and personnel, leading to cost savings. They save time for both the business and the clients by offering efficient, on-the-go solutions.

💳 Fitness and Workout App Monetization Types

Every business needs to generate revenue. When building a fitness application, it's essential to plan how you will monetize it. There are various monetization models for such applications, including:

• Paid app - users pay to download the app (with all content unlocked and no ads).
• In-app purchases - users make one-time payments to get access to specific features, workout plans, and so on.
• Freemium - a model that entails free access to all basic features of the application. However, you can offer an additional set of features through a paid subscription (which can be a weekly, monthly, or yearly fee).
• Ads - but be careful, too many of them can ruin your UX.
• eCommerce - you can also use your app to sell fitness products and branded goods (like fitness gear, sportswear, and so on).
• Sponsored content - it's also possible to get money by distributing content of local fitness service providers (gyms, sports supplement stores, etc.).

🔍 Features That You Should Pay Attention to When Creating a Fitness App

The fitness app market is rapidly expanding, offering a variety of solutions to cater to health and fitness needs. Understanding the fitness app requirements is crucial when developing a fitness app, as it's important to integrate features that attract users and provide a comprehensive and engaging experience. Here are some key features to consider:

User Registration and Profile

This is the basic part of almost any application. Onboarding is usually the first screen the user sees when entering the app. Its main aim is to provide users with some basic info about the key features. In other words, you should briefly describe how your app can be useful to users.
Here are a few basic tips on how to develop a fitness application with a great onboarding screen:

• Don’t add too much info. 72% of users believe, that the onboarding process should take up to 60 seconds, so 3-5 “screens” are enough.
• Bring benefits upfront. Your main goal here is to make people interested in using your app so dedicate this screen to key benefits users will get when using your application.
• Make it appealing. Onboarding should also be nice-looking, not only informative. Animations, gifs, different colors - here you can be even more creative than in the app itself.

🛠️ Main Steps of Fitness App Development

Next, we'll walk you through each step that you must do to create a fitness app.

Market Research and Conceptualization

Before you start to create your own fitness app, you should study this market, its growth trends, and user preferences.

Partnerships and Integrations

Consider partnerships with health and fitness brands or integrating with existing health apps and devices for expanded functionality.

💵 How Much Does it Cost to Create a Fitness App?

Understanding the cost to develop a fitness application depends on many factors. The key ones are:

• The hourly rate of your application development company. For example, app developers from Eastern Europe usually charge around $40-50/hour while mobile development teams from Western Europe or the US may charge up to $200/hour for the same work.
• Type of the mobile app as well as needed features.
• The needed technologies and tech requirements. For example, it would cost you more to create a fitness app for Android and iOS using a native approach rather than switching to React Native.

Here you can find approximate cost and development time for a fitness app:

⚙️ Tech Stack to develop fitness app

We share with you a few tech tips that will help you to reduce costs and create a fitness application of nearly perfect quality. Here they are:

• You don’t have to directly connect your mobile app to hardware sensors of smartphones to get user’s health data. Use SDKs and APIs of Google Fit (for Android) and Apple’s HealthKit (for iOS) to get all the basic tracking stats (like distance traveled, steps taken, calories burnt, and so on).
• To implement integration with wearables use APIs and SDKs of Fitbit, Misfit, Jawbone UP, Garmin, Nike+ or others (based on the manufacturer you choose).
• Tomtom can be your helper if you decide to build the running feature. It’ll provide you with real-time maps and navigation services that will significantly improve the UX.
• HealthGraph API is used to track user’s activities and health measurements over time (sleep, nutrition, weight, completed strength training and other activities).
• For implementing the barcode scanner feature, you may access the Open Food Facts database, Nutritionix API or MyNetDiary food catalogue.

📚Our Expertise

At Stormotion, we specialize in Fitness App development services.

Collaborating closely with our clients, we've crafted a diverse range of apps, spanning from Guided On-Demand Workout Apps to Streaming, Wearables Tracking, and Diet & Nutrition applications. Additionally, we possess extensive expertise in working with BLE & Serial-based fitness IoT hardware, along with Wearables.

From ideation to comprehensive development, covering both hardware and software aspects, we guide our clients through every step of the product development process. Throughout our collaboration, our aim is to equip clients with the tools and strategies necessary to create a competitive fitness application, providing ongoing support and updates after the application's release.

Within our portfolio, you'll discover successful cases of developing workout and coaching apps for fitness devices, some of which have quickly risen to become market leaders in their respective segments. A notable example is the Stepr application.

Stepr is a compact, effective, and connected stair-climbing exercise machine designed for a wide range of users. In cooperation with Stepr, we enhance their Android-based Tablet software. The challenge was establishing Serial port connectivity for device control and introducing innovative features, including Picture in Picture mode, Netflix, and YouTube integration for an immersive workout experience.

If you want to know more about what challenges we faced in developing various fitness applications, you can read in our portfolio.

👂Takeaways

As you may have already understood, the development of a fitness application is a rather complex process (similar to the development of any application). We hope that our advice and experience have been helpful to you. Let's summarize:

• The fitness industry is currently on the rise, so creating a fitness application is a good solution for attracting new customers to your business or increasing revenue.
• There are numerous types of fitness applications. We recommend not mixing them but rather focusing on one niche and emphasizing the app's differences from competitors.
• In addition to the app's core features, don't forget to add extra features. This will also help you gain an advantage over competitors.
• Pay special attention to the technological stack for creating your application. For example, React Native allows you to develop the application simultaneously for both iOS and Android.

Now you’re all set and ready to make a fitness app of your own. If you’re looking to hire fitness app developers — we’re here to help! Drop us a line so we can see how we can contribute our health and fitness app development expertise to your idea!