Telehealth App Development Guide for 2025

With a telemedicine platform development, or even a specialized yoga application development or corporate health app development, people can quickly and easily access healthcare or wellness services with minimal hassle. Additionally, they can choose the most suitable doctor for their needs, thanks to the extensive list of healthcare providers available.

Moreover, there is a significant social aspect to consider. People living in rural areas often face challenges due to inadequate healthcare systems — they either cannot reach a hospital quickly or cannot afford the associated costs.

Telemedicine apps address these issues by enabling them to receive appropriate medical care without spending money on travel or worrying about emergencies. Telehealth mobile app development technologies such as video conferencing, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning not only make this possible from the comfort of their homes but also deliver an exceptional user experience.

📌If you're interested in expanding your virtual care solutions, consider exploring how to make a video conferencing app to enhance your telemedicine offerings further.

Improve Time-Efficiency 🕘

We all know how time-consuming doctor visits can be. First, a patient has to travel to the hospital and then spend a significant amount of time waiting in line. And what if they need to see multiple specialists on the same day? It can take ages.

A major advantage of telemedicine solutions, including those used to develop a mental health app, is their remote functionality: no waiting, pre-appointment questionnaires, and seamless transitions to video calls with doctors.

Doctors also benefit from providing their services through a telemedicine mobile application. They often face immense pressure due to overloaded working hours. When you build a telehealth app, you give doctors better control over their schedules, improving both efficiency and work-life balance.

This allows doctors to see more patients in less time and with fewer complications. Additionally, telehealth solutions make it easier to monitor patients, access medical records, and more. As a result, these tools contribute to better mental health and sustainability for doctors. And we all know the golden rule: the healthier the doctor, the healthier the patients.

Keep Medical Record Easier 📥

This aspect of running a business is often underestimated by owners. However, in healthcare, it’s crucial to safely store all patient histories, diagnoses, medical prescriptions, and other health information.

The perfect solution for this purpose is to develop a telehealth app. Not only it’s easy to collect health data, but it's also simple to transfer it to other doctors, as long as it complies with the Patient Privacy Policy.

By collecting medical data, you contribute to research, help develop new treatments, and gain more insight into various diagnoses. As a result, you enhance doctors' knowledge and skills — leading to higher payments and improved credibility.

Most importantly, you improve the quality of telehealth services, since it becomes easier to access and store data.

Cut Costs ❎

This is a clear advantage — online platforms, whether in telemedicine or meditation app development, tend to be cost-effective in the long run.

Of course, it doesn’t replace offline hospitals — chronic illness or another health issue can't be treated online. However, the decision to build a telemedicine system significantly reduces operational costs, allowing healthcare organizations to offer primary care through a web or mobile app.

According to a study by the American Hospital Association, healthcare providers saved nearly $2,750 per patient by using telehealth physical therapy for post-knee replacement surgery, instead of in-person visits.

What's more, there will be less paperwork — almost everything can be digitized and handled within a telehealth app. This will not only cut costs by reducing paper use for documentation, doctor-patient agreements, and prescriptions but also allow you to focus on actual tasks and increase profits.

Ready to bring the benefits of telemedicine to your users? Contact us to make a telehealth app that meets your business and user needs.

# 2: Home Screen 📊

Type: Common Feature

The Home Screen is the first thing users see in telehealth apps. It needs to be useful and convenient but not overloaded with information.

The Home Screen for patients and doctors should be different.

For Doctors

When you make a telemedicine app, the Home Screen for doctors may display:

• Revenue
  Consider adding this feature to help doctors track their income. It could show monthly, weekly, or even income for different months.

• Today’s Appointment

This feature can help doctors manage their time through scheduling, ensuring that every patient on the list receives appropriate care.

• Rating

This useful feature allows doctors to see whether patients are satisfied with the healthcare services they provide, enabling them to offer better care in the future.

• New Patients

The list of new patients helps doctors track how many people want to see them shortly, allowing them to manage their workload during the review stage of patient requests.

• Quick Access to Client’s History and Health Records

To provide better services, doctors should be able to quickly access a patient’s history and lab results — like an outpatient e-chart — directly from their dashboard.

For Patients

When you build a telehealth application, the Home Screen for patients should include:

• Search Bar

To speed up searches, it’s a good idea to add a search bar to the Home Screen so patients can easily find the doctor they need without scrolling too far.

• Appointments Calendar

The calendar can serve as a reminder for appointments, allowing patients to easily cancel or reschedule if needed. We recommend highlighting dates with a bright color to ensure they stand out.

• Quick Access to Main Features

Provide quick access to essential features like a list of top doctors, prescriptions, recommendations, and chat or video conferencing with a doctor. This ensures patients can access important information as soon as they open the app, preventing them from missing any medication or messages from their doctor.

• Health & Movement Indicators

This additional feature can help your app stand out. Provide patients with activity trackers and offer basic information (e.g., heartbeat, steps) about their current health status. This is especially useful if you want to build your own telemedicine application for daily use.

📌 Also, we offer services to create a personal trainer app that meets high-quality standards.

# 3: List of Doctors & Filters 🔍

Type: Features for Patients

Patients should be able to view a list of all doctors, including their name, specialization, average rating, and consultation price. To make searches faster, you can include categories based on doctors' specializations, as shown in this picture.

When patients click on the "Book an Appointment" button (which should be conveniently placed near each doctor's name), they should see all the necessary details about their potential doctor, such as:

• Other patients’ comments,
• The doctor’s education and experience,
• Available dates and times.

Adding search filters to your telehealth software is also a great idea to make results more precise. When you build a telehealth app, consider including filters such as:

• Specialization,
• Price,
• Available dates,
• Location.

# 4: Questionnaires & Health Control 📋

Type: Common Feature

Before appointments, nurses typically ask patients to complete medical forms with questions about their background, basic health indicators, and complaints.

Telemedicine apps simplify this process for both patients and doctors. Patients can easily open a pre-made form and fill it out on their smartphone. Doctors can then access the form remotely and review it within the telehealth app before the appointment.

Including this feature during telemedicine application development is invaluable for tracking treatment progress and effectiveness, and adjusting plans if a patient's condition worsens.

# 5: Video & Audio Calls 📞

Type: Common Feature

This feature is essential for building a telemedicine video mobile app. It fosters a sense of live communication and helps establish a more trusting doctor-patient relationship.

Additionally, it enables doctors to observe a patient's external symptoms and overall well-being (e.g., whether they appear sleepy, pale, or dizzy). Advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms can also be integrated to support more accurate diagnoses.

For therapist appointments, the emotions, reactions, and facial expressions of both the doctor and the patient play a critical role, making this feature a top priority when building a telehealth app.

# 6: Feedback 💬

Type: Features for Patients

A doctor’s reputation is crucial — learning from others' experiences can help patients avoid issues or ensure they make the right choice when selecting a doctor.

In online telehealth apps, gathering feedback is easier than ever. Patients can simply leave a comment on a doctor's profile or rate their experience.

When you make a telemedicine app, it would be beneficial to include pre-made feedback forms with key questions, such as "Did the doctor ask you about...?" or "How would you rate the efficiency of the treatment?" This can streamline the feedback process and provide valuable insights.

# 7: File Uploading & Downloading 📤

Type: Common Feature

A doctor may need patients to upload a picture of a rash, bruise, or other health-related images. Additionally, patients might want to print out their X-ray scans, prescriptions, diagnoses, and more.

This is where the file-uploading feature becomes essential. Consider including this functionality during your telemedicine mobile app development.

To enable this, you can request camera permissions from your users, allowing them to take photos directly within the web or mobile app.

# 8: Medical History 📘

Type: Common Feature

Patients should have easy access to their current and previous diagnoses, prescriptions, medical records, and recovery plans.

When you develop a telehealth app, add this feature because it allows patients to stay informed about their health and recall important details from doctor visits.

Doctors should also have access to Electronic Health Records (EHR) to provide better treatment, taking into account past diagnoses, prediction, and any relevant details that might have emerged during previous appointments with other healthcare providers.

# 9: Schedule 📅

Type: Features for Doctors

This essential feature helps doctors manage their workload efficiently by showing how many patients are scheduled for the day and how many new patients are requesting appointments.

Remember, telemedicine platform development isn't just about catering to patients — it's also about supporting healthcare providers.

# 10: Chats 💭

Type: Common Feature

In case of an emergency or if patients have additional questions, they should have the ability to contact their doctor. Chat features in telemedicine apps are perfect for meeting this need.

Chats can also be useful for explaining test results or scans, ensuring that everything is clear and understandable for the patient.

Consider adding a "Smart Response" feature to make the app more time-efficient for both doctors and patients.

# 11: Customer Support 🤝

Type: Common Feature

In case something goes wrong on the technical side, customer support should be available to help.

When you decide to build a telehealth application, we recommend implementing AI features, such as chatbots (explore how to integrate AI in app in our guide). These chatbots can be programmed to answer common questions or provide contact options, such as email or messaging, for more complex inquiries. This can help you save time that would otherwise be spent on basic conversations.

Customer support should:

• Be quick.
• Offer 24/7 phone support in case of emergencies.
• Provide a list of contact options (email, messengers, etc.).

# 12: Payment Gateway 💲

Type: Common Feature

To make the doctor-patient relationship seamless and secure, use a reliable payment gateway for all in-app transactions. By "reliable," we mean:

• Compatibility with various devices and OS types.
• Availability of popular payment options (Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal).
• Fast processing without delays.
• Strong security.

Don’t underestimate this aspect of the app development process. Just like medical records, it requires extra attention and security to ensure a safe and smooth experience for users.

# 13: Push Notifications 🔔

Type: Common Feature

When creating a telemedicine app, don’t forget about push notifications, since they can benefit everyone: business owners, doctors, and patients.

• Business owners can boost revenue by sending personalized offers.
• Doctors can receive new patient messages, appointment notifications, and reminders (which should be customizable, e.g., "Remind N minutes before the appointment").
• Patients can receive reminders for appointments, as well as notifications for pill-taking, test results, and more.

This feature will encourage users to engage with your telemedicine app more frequently, enhancing their overall experience.

For example, a mental health-focused app may require specific features like virtual therapy sessions. Engage healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders to gather insights on pain points and expectations. These initial findings will help you create a business plan and outline the value your app brings to the market.

Step 2. Define Main Features

Your app’s features determine its usefulness and appeal. When you create a telehealth app, you should include basic functionalities such as video consultations, appointment scheduling, secure messaging, and e-prescriptions.

Patients should find it easy to book appointments, consult doctors, and manage their health records, while providers need tools for scheduling, patient data management, and analytics.

Start with a basic features to launch an MVP and plan to add more advanced options, such as AI-driven symptom checkers or integration with wearable devices and heart rate sensors, as your app evolves.

Step 3. Create an Intuitive UI/UX Design

A user-friendly design is crucial for the success of your telehealth app. The interface should prioritize simplicity and accessibility, ensuring that even non-tech-savvy users can effortlessly navigate it.

• For patients, include clear navigation for booking consultations, accessing medical records, and messaging providers.
• For healthcare professionals, design efficient dashboards that display schedules, patient details, and analytics in a single view.

To make a telemedicine app inclusive for all users, prioritize accessibility by following global WCAG standards, such as adjustable text sizes and voice command options.

Step 4. Ensure Compliance and Data Security

Compliance with healthcare regulations and robust security measures are non-negotiable. While we’ll discuss specific security protocols in the next section, it’s important to highlight the basics here.

During telehealth mobile app development, you should adhere to region-specific laws like HIPAA or GDPR to protect sensitive patient data. You should also incorporate end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access controls to safeguard privacy. Regular security audits will ensure your app meets all regulatory and security standards effectively.

Step 5. Develop the Telehealth App

The development stage transforms your concept into a functional app since developers build the app’s backend and frontend architecture. Here is a basic technology stack that suits the needs to develop a telehealth app:

• Frontend: React Native, Flutter.
• Backend: Node.js, Ruby on Rails.
• Database: MySQL, MongoDB.

Later in the article, we’ll explore important SDKs and APIs for telehealth apps.

Step 6. Perform Quality Assurance

Testing your app thoroughly ensures a smooth user experience. Simulate real-world scenarios to check the app’s performance under different conditions, from high traffic to poor network connectivity.

Conduct functional tests to verify that features like video calls, messaging, and scheduling work seamlessly. Beta testing with a small group of users can help identify bugs or usability issues that might have been overlooked during telehealth mobile app development.

Addressing these problems early can prevent costly fixes post-launch.

Step 7. Deploy the Telehealth App

Once testing is complete, you can launch your app. Submit it to relevant platforms, such as the App Store or Google Play, ensuring you comply with their submission guidelines. During deployment, developers should monitor the app’s performance to identify and resolve any issues.

Step 8. Gather User Feedback

User feedback not only helps refine your app but also strengthens user trust, as they see their concerns being actively addressed.

Use in-app surveys and app store reviews to collect opinions on functionality, design, and overall experience. Address common complaints and implement popular feature requests in updates.

Step 9. Provide Continous Support and Maintenance

You can’t build your own telemedicine application and forget about it. Regular updates are necessary to fix bugs, improve security, and add new features. You should also monitor the app’s performance to ensure servers remain stable and data remains secure.

Developing a telehealth app can be complex, but our expertise in HealthTech app development makes it easier. Let’s work together to turn your idea into a scalable, secure, and user-friendly telemedicine platform.

With encryption, even if a third party gains access to your app’s information, they won’t be able to decrypt it. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is widely used by businesses to protect in-app communication and transactions from hackers, governments, and even the facilitating company itself.

If you’re considering adding encryption to your telemedicine software, we highly recommend focusing on implementing E2EE.

# 2: Proper Data Storing

The way you store medical and healthcare data plays a critical role in ensuring security. Overloaded servers are easier to exploit, so here are two essential tips to store data securely and minimize risks:

1. Avoid keeping unnecessary information.

This includes outdated test or scan results, unused patient data, duplicate documents, and anything no longer relevant. Reducing server load not only minimizes risks but also simplifies the management and maintenance of telemedicine apps.

2. Restrict and protect data access.

Limiting access to sensitive information is vital. Not all employees need access to everything — for instance, an accountant doesn’t require access to patient prescriptions. During telemedicine application development, create user categories with varying access levels to safeguard information.

Additionally, ensure that all server storage is protected by secure firewalls, robust passwords, and authentication systems. Collaborate closely with your telemedicine app developers to implement these measures effectively.

# 3: Educating Your Doctors

Developing a telehealth web or mobile app is just the beginning. The doctor-patient relationship is crucial for successful treatment, and doctors must be fully aware of how to treat patients online while safeguarding their privacy and data.

When you make a health insurance app, it’s equally important to educate insurance agents about protecting patient data and following privacy regulations.

Each web or mobile app is unique, with specific features and functionalities. Doctors need to understand how each platform works to ensure patient data safety.

Remember, patient data isn't just critical for patients and businesses — it directly impacts a doctor's reputation. If something goes wrong, the doctor is the first point of contact for the patient.

This highlights the importance of privacy and security. Everyone involved with the app — from patients to healthcare providers — has an interest in maintaining data privacy. Ensuring robust security is the key to success in telemedicine and wellness application development.

Regulations 📚

Medical apps must comply with the same regulations as offline medical institutions, with the added complexity of telemedicine platform development requiring specific considerations.

This means paying attention to patient data privacy regulations and ensuring compliance with laws like GDPR, PIPEDA, and HIPAA:

1. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): This is a privacy and security law of the European Union that applies to any institution or business handling information related to EU citizens.
2. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): A regulation for US businesses that mandates healthcare institutions and their associates to implement methods ensuring the security and confidentiality of patient data during its collection, transfer, sharing, or storage. This regulation directly impacts telemedicine solutions, including when you create a physical therapy app.
3. PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection And Electronic Documents Act): A Canadian federal privacy law that governs the collection and use of personal information while respecting individuals’ privacy rights.

In our work with Caspar Health, we overhauled the app’s UI/UX to meet accessibility standards and implemented secure communication tools like TalkJS Chat to ensure compliance with German privacy regulations. These telehealth-oriented features allow patients to communicate with therapists and track their rehabilitation remotely, supporting a level of care similar to in-person therapy.

The app’s ability to deliver personalized rehabilitation programs digitally highlights its potential as a telehealth solution, bridging the gap between patients and providers in a secure, user-friendly way.

Humanoo Kids

The Humanoo Kids app helps parents track their child’s health and development with features like milestone tracking, vaccination management, and appointment scheduling. Built using React Native, Firebase, and GraphQL, it also integrates seamlessly with Humanoo’s insurance services.