Fitness App Development Guide: Best Tips for Business Owners & Startups

It’s difficult to imagine our lives without digital technologies. They’ve transformed almost every industry, and the fitness one is not an exception.

In this guide, we’ve gathered our knowledge & expertise on fitness app development to help you figure out the best strategy for your project and find a reliable Tech Partner. So the guide is the most relevant for:

• Owners of offline fitness businesses like gyms, yoga studios, health clubs, and others, who want to improve the experience of their members with a Mobile or Web App.

• Teams with F&F or Angel Funding that need to build an MVP and are trying to figure out possible costs and the best strategy.

• Online fitness businesses and teams that already have a Mobile or Web app and would like to scale their products for other Mobile or Web Platforms.

A health and fitness app can help to improve reach, retention, and engagement in many ways:

• 🌎 The location doesn’t matter that much anymore. You can have customers from anywhere — whether it’s another city or even another country.

• 🌨 Whatever the situation outside is — a pandemic, a hurricane, or a heavy snowfall — users can still access your content or join you on your live online workout.

• ⏯ The content used in fitness apps is reusable. It means you can record it once and then sell to as many users as there will be willing to buy it. Thus, you can expect a good RoI (return on investment).

• 👍 Fitness applications enable a personal approach to customers. They help to tailor your services to the goals of your members and build a stronger, much more long-lasting relationship.

• 🔔 Reminders and push notifications can help you retain customers by reaching out to those who stopped using your services for some reason.

• 🕹 Gamification & customization features contribute to higher engagement and keep people interested in using your services for a longer time.

Moreover, despite all the challenges, the online fitness industry is forecasted to reach $59 million by 2027, showing a huge jump from $6 million in 2020. That means that the industry will keep growing, and it’s a good time to catch the wave!

Also, while mainly fitness businesses that are offline-only had suffered from the COVID-19 lockdowns, there turned out to be many opportunities for the online fitness industry. There was a 33% annual growth rate which is one of the best results among all the industries.

However, such a situation forced some changes within the industry as well. Let’s take a look.

👾 How the СOVID-19 Pandemic Impacted Fitness App Development and What You Should Do About It

While it’s challenging to find an industry which has not been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more challenging to find one affected more than the fitness industry.

Both big fitness/gym chains (like 24 Hour Fitness) and small family yoga studios had been hit hard by the numerous lockdowns and then by the new rules and restrictions that followed. However, they have also opened up new possibilities, especially in terms of reach.

For example, here's the app by the 24 Hour Fitness chain:

The COVID-19 lockdowns pushed digital transformation in the fitness industry. It’s no longer a competitive advantage but rather a way to stay connected with your members.

That’s why many businesses turn to fitness app development:

• On the one hand, such apps can provide users with virtual content so they can continue using your services while being at home or in a park near the place their place.
• On the other hand, you may develop an ERP-like software to improve the management of your in-club processes.

The high demand for fitness apps can also be seen by taking a look at Google Trends statistics:

Difficult not to notice the 2 peaks in the winter and spring 2020, showing the huge increase of interest in fitness apps.

Yet, before you hire a fitness app developer and make your own web or mobile app, let’s figure out what strategy you should follow.

📝 General Strategy for Your Fitness App Development

As we’ve mentioned, there are many strategies you can follow when it comes to making your own health and fitness application.

It may be something for your users with live content or a “Netflix-like” app with pre-recorded sets of exercises. Another option to consider is a Web App for internal use by your staff to manage classes, сreate & share content as well as track revenue and expenses.

Yet, no matter what option seems to match your business needs best, the overall strategy can be described in a more or less similar number of steps. These will be:

1. Evaluating your assets — What resources, that you are able to contribute to fitness app development, do you have right now?

It can be almost anything: money, time, equipment, existing platforms & tools you already use to create and deliver digital content, available coaches, or maybe even content you might already have, etc.

2. Setting your goals — What would you like to achieve by creating a fitness app?

This will help you decide on the type and features of your future app. Thus, you’ll have a clearer picture of what your Development Team should look like as well as a possible project budget.

3. Deciding on the type of content — Based on your goals and available resources, what content would you like to provide your members with?

In general, there are 4 main types of online fitness content. You may focus on one of them or mix a few to provide a better experience. These can include:

• Online pre-recorded workouts.
• Live streaming classes.
• Audio coaching.
• Text lists of exercises.

4. Picking a platform — How will you deliver the content to your members?

Do you need to make a mobile or a web app? Android and iOS, or just for a single platform? Or, perhaps, you already have a website that you’d like to convert into a mobile app?

If you don't have enough resources to build such an app from scratch, think of other options you can use right now: for example, live classes via Zoom or Skype, or distribution of pre-recorded workouts in a WhatsApp group chat.

5. Finding contractors — Who can help you build your fitness app?

Finally, find the missing link in the whole process — a reliable Tech Partner. When you hire a fitness app development team, pay attention to their experience and expertise. For example, our team has delivered a few fitness applications, so, we have what to show if we’re reached out to with such a request once more.

6. Do it!

Now you have all the components of a successful fitness software development: the vision of your content, the goal, the platform to stay connected with your members, and the fitness app developers to make all this magic work. So go for it! :)

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Let’s take a closer look at the different types of fitness applications so we caan share some tips & help you pick the best option for your business needs!

📱 7 Main Types of Fitness Apps

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

Basically, all fitness apps can be divided into groups by the kind of content they provide (pre-recorded videos, audio, live content, etc.) and industry (yoga, fitness, mindfulness, nutrition, and others). Thus, your app idea will likely fall under one of the following types:

1. Apps for health clubs, gyms, and yoga studios.
2. ERPs and Management Software for your offline fitness business.
3. Apps that mainly focus on virtual content — whether these are fitness apps like Fitbit or yoga apps like Asana Rebel.
4. Fitness streaming applications like Peloton.
5. Diet & nutrition applications.
6. Mindfulness applications — meditation, mindful yoga, or fitness audio guides.

Luckily, we have detailed guides on each of the mentioned types. Thus, you can check out the details by following the relevant links below, while we focus your attention on some key points.

🏪 Fitness Apps for Gyms, Yoga Studios, and Health Clubs

Luckily, we have detailed guides on each of the mentioned types. Thus, you can check out the details by following the relevant links below, while we focus your attention on some key points.

Thus, the owners of gyms, yoga studios, and fitness centers usually focus on the implementation of the following basic features in their workout apps:

Of course, the list above isn’t 100% versatile. Every case is different as you may aim to cover other business goals and need special features for that purpose. For example, you might want to improve your app with features like:

• Blog — to keep users engaged with some health and fitness content on exercises, the right techniques, nutrition, etc. Moreover, members can give you extra promotion by sharing the articles on their social media.
• eStore — to sell products related to your industry: blender bottles, yoga mats, sportswear, and others.
• Events — to notify members about upcoming activities as some of them have moved outside: think of Yoga Morning in a park, for example. Moreover, users will be able to easily sign up for them.

If you’re interested in finding out more about fitness app development for gyms, yoga studios, and fitness centers, we recommend checking out the following guides:

📊 ERP and Management Software for Offline Fitness Businesses

Just like fitness applications, ERP and Management systems aren't new to the fitness industry. Yet, the COVID-pandemic gave a new role to such systems, which is helping to rebuild trust with members who are returning to gyms and fitness centers. Moreover, they are great helpers when it comes to managing customer flow under new rules.

Again, the “building blocks” can vary from project to project. But generally, such software includes the following functionality:

Such a system can also be integrated into your fitness app. In this way, you’ll be able to automatically add online users into your CRM system or have a special set of features to make and add virtual content.

You can also check the following article for more details on how you can streamline your in-studio processes with digital technologies:

🤸‍♀️ Fitness Apps with Virtual Content

This is one of the most popular types of fitness apps out there. Fitbit, Asana Rebel, apps by Leap Fitness Group — you can continue this list on and on.

Why are they so popular?

• Easy to use. Visiting physical gyms takes more effort. Virtual content can be accessed more easily: no matter if it’s 10 pm or 6 am; at home, in a park, or anywhere else.

• Reusable content. When providing offline services, your coaches can’t hold more classes than is physically possible. Moreover, with the COVID limitations in place, the number of members who can visit your location at the same time is greatly reduced. Live online training can be accessed by a lot more users at the same time. A pre-recorded workout is even better: you create it once and it’s be available to users again and again. It’s like having your own personal trainer in the pocket!

• Mobile is a habit. Modern users often prefer mobile over something offline because it’s just the way they’re used to. For example, an average US adult spends almost 3 hours a day on their smartphone. That’s especially true for people under 40, who are likely your main target audience.
  As we’ve already mentioned, online workouts can be a part of a gym, yoga studio, or fitness studio app. Yet, a health and fitness app with virtual content can be also developed as a standalone product by Startup Teams, coaches building their personal brand, or other fitness enthusiasts.

Thus, such apps can have lots of features — from simple step counting and calorie tracking to a complex in-app video workout. They can be broken down into the following categories:

So the costs to make such an app will greatly depend on what blocks and what features within that blocks you’d like to implement. For example, activity tracking apps may look simple but will require lots of integrations with wearable devices and other third-party services.

The hourly rate of your team will also noticeably influence the final costs.

You can check this guide on fitness application development for a detailed description of features and a breakdown of costs:

🚴‍♂️ Fitness Streaming Applications

A live fitness app is an app with virtual content that provides users with an in-studio-like experience. That’s a great solution if you want to create some off-studio value for your members, and at the same time to keep that personal connection with them.

This type of workout apps became especially popular during the 2019-2020 lockdowns. It was a great solution for gyms, yoga and fitness studios that had no resources to develop lots of pre-recorded content but were able to hold live workouts or yoga sessions with their customers via Skype or Zoom.

Many of them then switched to personal trainer apps with similar features but a far better user experience and performance.

For example, now there are many special YouTube guides on how you can set up a studio for live classes:

It’s also possible to mix different types of content: both pre-recorded and live sessions. Thus, you’ll meet the expectations of your members who want to experience your workouts in real-time as well as access them whenever they need.

If you’re interested in more detailed information on this or want to take a look at costs breakdown of Peloton-like app development, you can check this guide by our team:

🥗 Diet & Nutrition Apps

Healthy eating can also be considered a part of the fitness industry. There’s actually no contradiction here: you may already provide a great in-studio experience and not be willing to set up a brand new online branch. Thus, an app dedicated to healthy nutrition can provide additional value to your members rather than create competition between your offline and online services.

If you’re a nutritionist, having such an app will help you reach more people, and provide them with a higher-quality experience.

If we look at the brightest examples of diet apps, they usually include the following features:

Again, you can come up with your own combination of features to emphasize those that match your domain expertise the most. For example, it may be a diet app for vegetarians with a special attention to their eating habits, recipes they use, and their lifestyle.

You can learn more details and development costs of nutrition apps in the following guide:

🧘‍♀️ Mindfulness Apps

It may not seem like this group of applications has something to do with fitness apps, but they do have a lot in common. We’re talking about apps like Headspace or Calm. The concept itself can be easily applied to the health and fitness industry.

An alternative option is not to develop a standalone application but rather incorporate audio guides into your fitness app with a wider functionality. Again, there are no good or bad options — just those that match your idea and business needs better or worse.

Thus, audio guides can improve the experience of your members and provide some additional value to them. Alternatively, you can also turn this idea into an extra monetization option and sell such audio guides like separate products.

We also recommend checking out the following guide to find out more details as well as costs of meditation/audio guide app development:

🏃‍♂️ How to Integrate Apple’s Health, Google Fit, and Other Services into Your Fitness App

It’s possible to implement data exchange between your app and other popular fitness services. Here we don't only mean fitness tracking products by Google (Google Fit) or Apple (Apple Health) but applications and services by Garmin, Fitbit, Strava, Runtastic, Suunto, Withings, etc., as well.

It's an the easy way for users to synchronize their fitness activity among different platforms. After all, it allows users to achieve their personal goals more effectively.

For example, they may use the Nike Running Club app to track their jogging progress, and then transfer the data onto daily step count, calorie loss, and running activity into Google Fit. Then you can get this data for your own app for live cycling workouts and provide users with more personalized workout routines & insights based on the activity within and outside of your application.

Let’s take a diet app as another example. You’ll be more successful at helping users to lose weight if you have data on how much calories they burn during their workouts tracked by Fitbit wearable devices.

Enabling data exchange between your app and such services is done by the development team. Your fitness app developers will have to integrate public APIs of services you’d like to exchange data with.

In the following guide we talk more about each service and types of data it allows you to get as well as leave links to documentation for your dev team:

🤖 Integrating Smart Fitness Devices Into your Application

The fitness industry is full of various smart devices that significantly improve user experience by digitizing and help users automate progress tracking.

The options include smart watches, fitness wearables like rings, smart clothing, mats, dumbbells, VR/AR technologies, etc. Plus, there are multiple third-party services you can partner with and integrate functions like workout planning, nutrition control, in-app payments, etc.

To get a more detailed overview of all the options that the market can provide, you can take a look at our article dedicated to the Internet of Things in the fitness industry:

The question is: how do you connect all of that within your application? And the answer depends on whether you use a third-party service or build in a custom device.

Using vendors for additional technology or functionality is a more commmon way as well as an easier one. When you partner with a third-party in terms of device or feature integration, you normally get an API/SDK.

It’s a set of code or tools that allow you to establish communication channels between your application and the device. If it’s a certain functionality, the concept is pretty much the same, except there’s no hardware the application communicates with.

In case it’s a custom hardware, the integration happes via a library (storage for prewritten code) that allows establishing communication between the BLE-module and the app. Which one you might need depends on the framework used to build your application (Native iOS, Native Android, React Native, Flutter, etc.).

Integrating custom devices with the application is not that complicated yet requires a certain level of expertise. Thus, if you have an in-house development team with relevant experience or a skillful Tech Partner, this shouldn’t cause you any trouble.

💸 How Much Does It Cost to Create a Fitness App?

Development costs actually depend 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.

Luckily, all of our health and fitness app development guides include rough estimates. Thus, you can have an idea of how much different mobile apps can cost.

💡 Takeaways

These were our key insights about the fitness app development process. We hope that now you have a clear strategy on how to make your own health and fitness app. If we break it down into 3 simple steps, it can be something like this: