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Healthcare
Table of Contents
In January 2024, the leading mobile fitness and workout apps recorded almost 14 million downloads worldwide. Industry leaders can boast impressive revenue results: MyFitnessPal generated $310 million in 2023, and Fitbit sold over 143 million devices in 2023, with around 128 million users globally. Many businesses are zeroing in on fitness mobile app development, yet it is not as easy an endeavor as it may seem. We will walk you through the intricacies of fitness app development in 2025 and share practical strategies for creating a competitive product.
Along with a rapid increase in downloads, fitness apps also registered an increase in the number of daily active users (DAUs), according to fitness app market analysis by Grand View Research. One more good sign for businesses: 94% of Gen Z users are ready to use apps on their journey to improving health. This means the demand for digital wellness products will continue to grow.
For the next four years (2025–2029), Statista predicts further global growth of fitness app users, from 11.6% in 2024 to 13.2% in 2029, reaching $10.06 billion.
What boosts the growth of fitness app development? The top 3 factors are the growing focus on mental well-being and health in general; popularization of devices and expanding network coverage; and gamification trends.
The last five years marked more awareness about mental health and wellness in general, in no small measure, due to COVID-19. The pandemic changed both the consumer behavior and the HealthTech industry overall. Conventional training shifted from offline studios and gyms to the digital space. Consumers became more aware and focused on their health, using online tools to get medical records about their condition.
Increasing cases of obesity make online health products popular as well. According to the World Obesity Atlas 2023, more than half of the global population will be overweight or obese by 2035. Therefore, weight-loss and diet applications are likely to get more users in the future decade.
Another trend in the healthcare industry is the growing focus on mental health. Reduced stigma around mental health issues makes these problems more visible and thus generates more solutions. Meditation apps, mood trackers, and CBT-based solutions are just a few examples of health and fitness app development.
Apparently, the number of mobile subscriptions outruns the total number of global population. Developing countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and some African and LATAM countries will be the drivers of smartphone, tablet, and wearable device usage.
With increasingly advanced smartphone models and improving network infrastructure, Health Tech companies are finding more reasons and possibilities to invest in fitness application development, telemedicine, remote disease management, EMR and EHR systems, and other solutions.
Users are expecting fitness products to become more feature-rich and help them set goals, track their progress, and stay motivated. Here, gamification takes the stage.
Rewards, mini-games, challenges, and community-based features in a wellness app are no longer perceived as entertainment only. They keep the users satisfied and increase their engagement, making fitness activities a pleasant routine — and bringing the apps’ developers the awaited results.
When you think of developing a fitness app, narrowing in is the next step after thorough research. The type of fitness app is defined by balancing market trends, customer needs, and your vision. While there’s always room for bold experiments, you may consider this overview of best practices and trends for informed decisions.
Exercise and weight loss apps are the largest segment in the fitness app industry, with a market share of 54.4% in 2023, according to Grand View Research. Such apps can often be a 2-in-1 product or go as separate products for separate goals.
As more wearable devices flood the industry, activity tracking apps are estimated to have the fastest growth rate of 18.8% in the next decades.
With the rising stress levels and anxiety among the global population, mindfulness apps are in increasing demand. They offer yoga classes, guided meditation, breathing techniques, and mindfulness training. Headspace, Calm, and Insight Timer are some of the best-known leaders in the industry.
Women’s health and period tracking apps are winning the market, as female users are actively seeking better ways to be aware of their fertility, hormonal balance, and health in general. Digital solutions help users in many ways: track their periods, fertility windows, and PMS symptoms; identify patterns related to their mood and energy; and deliver personalized health insights that help women improve their routines based on cycle phases.
Wearable technology and smart devices make sleep-tracking apps more popular and advanced. For instance, BetterSleep got more than 1 billion downloads worldwide only in January 2024. Real-time trackers help users understand their sleep patterns, smart alarms wake them at optimal sleep cycles, and data-informed insights help users improve sleep hygiene and sleep quality over time.
Growing awareness of behavioral psychology is breaking new ground for habit-tracking and lifestyle apps. People want easy-to-use tools that would keep them motivated and accountable. So here’s the place where gamification blends with psychology-backed techniques, supported by personalization and community features.
The introduction of the iPhone boosted Apple and other brands to create all-in-one fitness solutions or hybrid health apps, like Google Fit, Samsung Health, and Apple Health. These apps offer holistic health tracking and embrace physical activity logging, diet and heart rate tracking, mental health insights, and wearable integrations — everything in one platform.
First things first, before starting to develop a fitness app, think of your resources. Access whether you plan to create it with your in-house team or turn to vendors seasoned in app development. Such analysis will save time and effort at the beginning of your project and eliminate the risk of scope creep, an urgent need to hire specialists in the middle of the project cycle, and exceeding the budget.
However, if you hesitate to outsource your project and want to take control of the entire development process, here’s a short guide to help you with these intricacies.
Fitness mobile app development follows a standard pipeline. It can be broken down in four main stages: pre-development, development, launch, and post-launch.
At this stage, you need to conceptualize your product and plan how to build a fitness app. You need to do market research and analyze what niche is still unoccupied by your competitors. Then, you map out the concept and strategy of your product. Once you have both, you can proceed to wireframing and prototyping.
Checklist for pre-development stage
Now, it’s time to plan the tech stack, assemble the development team, and create the project’s roadmap. Once the preparations are done, you can start developing a fitness app — work on UI/UX design, as well as front-end and back-end development.
Checklist for development stage
The essential step of your project comes. Once your MVP is ready and tested by the QA team, you can conduct beta testing with potential users and collect feedback for necessary improvements.
Checklist for launch stage
This is the stage of adjustments, improvements, and optimization. All the customer feedback should be carefully gathered and analyzed for the main purpose — make your product even better.
Checklist for post-launch stage
Let’s review the core features that most fitness or health apps are supposed to have, both user-wise and business-wise.
The user profile is a personalized hub where customers can input details like age, weight, height, fitness goals, and preferred workout types. This information then serves as the basis for customizing the app's content, such as insights, recommendations, workout or diet plans, and push notifications. The more details you have about your product's user personas, the more unique value and experience you can deliver to the user.
Proper security measures are needed to protect user data and ensure seamless access. This starts with well-protected login options. Consider various ways users can authorize themselves, such as email, password, social media log in, biometric authentication (fingerprint, facial recognition), and two-factor authentication.
Activity trackers vary by purpose and app type. Applications like Strava, Nike Run Club, or Komoot use GPS to monitor speed, log distance and routes. They also calculate the calories burned during the activity. Often, such apps track and analyze your sleep data.
Weight loss apps like MyFitnessPal and Noom, as well as nutrition, diet, and fasting apps like Lifesum and Yazio, allow users to track calories and provide a detailed breakdown.
Customers usually expect exercise and training apps to act like intelligent personal coaches. Structured workouts, on-demand exercise videos, and personalized plans are the core functionality of such products. Mindfulness apps also need audio and video guidance.
To keep users motivated and boost retention, give them the possibility to set goals for muscle gain, distance, weight loss, or overall well-being. Goal-tracking tools, progress visualization, and rewards will further increase their engagement with the app.
After users set and achieve goals, they would like to see clear statistics on their activity. It could be monitored with wearable devices or simply displayed in the user profile. Daily, weekly, and monthly data can be turned into visually appealing dashboards and used for personalized insights and rewards.
When you create a fitness app, consider personalization and customization — core functionality that most users expect to see in a fitness or health app. These two should be differentiated.
Customization gives users more control; they choose what they would like to see in the app. Personalization uses the provided user data, sometimes backed by AI and ML technologies, to deliver tailored content.
Customization typically stems from onboarding, where users choose their goal and the type of content they would like to see. They can also opt for the time they receive notifications from the app or not receive them at all.
As said above, personalized recommendations are based on the user's data and preferences. Start by gathering this information early during onboarding, highlighting the reason you would need it.
After the user registers, you can offer them a more or less tailored plan, adapting it further when you get more statistics and interaction from the user. Workout plans, nutrition plans, daily health tips, reminders, and challenges are the formats that align well with personalization.
Push notifications, especially in mindfulness apps, should not be too pushy. Care and value should be the basis for sending push notifications, not a selling intent. Friendly reminders for upcoming workouts, personalized tips based on the mood or location logged by the user, and congratulations on achievements are but a few examples of how notifications can be used wisely.
Community can be a great booster for users, as they become more committed and log activities more regularly. Allow users to invite friends to the app, leave likes and comments, and share achievements or recommendations on social media.
Fitness apps can improve retention with workout challenges or leaderboards, like RunKeeper did. Female health apps like Flo can introduce forums; there, users may gain support from the community and, thus, become more loyal to the product.
This feature is widely used, mostly by workout and activity applications. By integrating GPS technology and maps, you can encourage users to track their outdoor workouts and routes or create guided ones. Sharing geolocation can be a strong community-driving feature, which became true for Strava users, who share their running tracks shaped differently and challenge fellows to repeat.
Users' expectations are raising the bar for digital health products. They wish to reach sessions and all the functionality across different devices with equal ease and value. For instance, they can start an activity on one device and keep it on another without losing progress or data. So, for a consistent experience, you'd need to think of seamless multi-device synchronization.
Although health and fitness apps share many similarities in use and purpose, there are features that vary, depending on the product type. We’ve broken down the core and extra functionalities for developing a fitness app — check what hits the spot for you.
Your tech stack should match your app’s complexity, type, platform on which you build the app (iOS, Android, or web), budget, and scalability needs. In all cases, the essential components include front-end and back-end technologies, databases, APIs and Integrations, and cloud and hosting capabilities.
It is crucial for user interface and smooth experience, so it must be intuitive, fast, and visually appealing.
For mobile apps, choose:
For web apps, choose:
The back-end handles data storage and processing, user authentication, real-time data processing, and API connections. For these purposes, use:
Storing user profiles, workout history, sleep patterns, dietary logs, other activity-related data, and the app content requires a reliable database.
Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs, will help you seamlessly integrate third-party services and features like wearables, AI-driven insights, and payment processing systems. They will save you development resources that you can allocate to enhance the user experience.
For tracking use:
Stack for AI and ML features:
For payment gateways, there are several options, such as Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. They all support secure transactions for subscriptions, in-app purchases, and premium content.
To enable push notifications apply:
As you aim for your fitness app to grow, you need to handle scalability and ensure high uptime, while the amount of your users and data loads increases. These are technologies that will help your application work efficiently:
As fitness and health apps collect sensitive user data, following security and compliance guidelines is a critical point. Think of allocating the budget for the specific tech stack at an early stage. Let’s elaborate on what stack you might need below.
Sensitive user data requires transparency and responsibility from fitness app developers. Protecting data is important for maintaining trust among users and avoiding legal risks. In both cases, the company’s budget and reputation are at stake.
Depending on the app’s features, target audience, and geographic reach, various laws, as well as industry standards, must be considered. The main points to consider are data security measures (including HIPPA, GDPR, and others), accessibility standards, medical and fitness claims regulations, and payment and subscription compliance.
Ignoring these aspects can lead to harmful consequences both for users and business, such as data breaches and fraud. Eventually, this can lead to loss of user trust and even removal from the app stores.
Here’s what you need to consider to prevent such issues:
Fitness apps collect sensitive user data like location, health metrics, and personal details (name, age, gender, weight, medical conditions). These personal identifiers should be carefully protected, as expected. Key compliance guidelines related to data are:
If you are developing a mindfulness product, like a sleep tracker, meditation, or habit app, your users might be vulnerable groups of people with ADHD, insomnia, anxiety, or other conditions.
Well-thought usability is both a good practice for your users and a requirement according to these guidelines:
Voice assistance, readable fonts, and screen reader compatibility are the guidelines recommended to fitness and health apps by this regulation.
Ensures digital accessibility in products, including color contrast, text resizing, and keyboard navigation.
The content you provide in your app — recommendations, personalized insights, telehealth consultations, diet plans — must be scientifically backed, accompanied by disclaimers, and advisory rather than mandatory medical prescriptions. Also, make sure to align it with the following guidelines.
For US:
For EU:
MDR (Medical Device Regulation) is often required for apps offering clinical assessments, telemedicine, or tracking.
Most fitness apps rely on subscriptions, in-app purchases, or premium plans. If improperly handled, payments may cause fraudulent transactions and chargebacks, removal from app stores, and legal risks. Here are the guidelines to keep in mind:
Apple and Google enforce strict guidelines for in-app purchases and subscriptions. They require transparency in billing and refund policies, and cancellation options for auto-renewal must be clearly described. Unclear policies may be considered violations and might result in app removal.
If handling credit card transactions, apps must encrypt payment details and use secure gateways, following this standard.
The EU Digital Services Act and US Fair Billing Laws require clear pricing, easy cancellations, and fair refund policies. For instance, a recent requirement in the DSA requires app developers to provide their ’trader status’ (address, phone number, and email information) when submitting new apps or app updates for distribution in this market. Otherwise, the app will be deleted by the App Store.
Tips
The cost of development can range from a basic to a premium app and depends on many factors, from the app's complexity to its purpose. Building an app with basic features would cost around USD 20,000 to USD 30,000. For a tentative estimate, to create a fitness app with advanced and personalized features like Strava or Yazio, you would need a budget of $40,000 – $80,000 and counting.
Here’s a cost breakdown of features for all development stages:
You can cut the costs of fitness app development without compromising quality in several ways. Ultimately, the key is making smarter choices in development, technology, and feature prioritization.
Instead of building a fully featured app, start with a version with only the core features needed to test the market.
Example
In a workout app, workout sessions, tracking, and AI personalized recommendations need to be built in the first place, while community forums, social challenges, and live workout classes can be launched later.
Tech tip: For an MVP, use Flutter or React Native for cross-platform development to save resources instead of developing separate iOS and Android apps.
Rather than adding every possible feature upfront, conduct UX research to understand what users truly need. Features like social leaderboards, gamification, or premium AI coaching might be better suited for later updates.
Example
Features for a meditation app may come in three stages:
Choose a development framework that allows scalable architecture. As your app grows and so does the user base, you won’t have to spend extra resources on redevelopment.
Example
If you’re building a habit-tracking app, store only recent habit logs on the user’s device while archiving older data in cloud storage to reduce load times.
Instead of coding everything from scratch, use additional AI tools and low-code platforms. They might help you automate processes and accelerate development.
AI and low-code tools for cost-effective development:
Example
A diet-tracking app can use AI image recognition to allow users to scan meals instead of manually entering calorie data, saving development time and improving user experience.
The idea of developing a fitness app may seem too challenging as you start. Bringing all the requirements together may require additional expertise that your in-house team lacks. Here’s when a trusted vendor like NEKLO can offer a helping hand and develop a custom product for you. In the end, you are saving money and time without involving a specific tech stack and hiring new developers with the needed skills.
The way you will monetize your fitness app is the question to think of from the start. Test monetization strategies at MVP stage, to see which model resonates best with your audience and will become your bread and butter. After testing, you can finetune your strategy and balance long-term profitability and user satisfaction.
You can validate your monetization model with A/B testing, limited-time trials, or try basic paid features to measure conversion rates. Below we’re describing the models you can test.
A very popular model for fitness and health apps allows users to explore the basic features for free, while advanced features are behind a paywall. For instance, you can offer a limited number of meditations, sessions, or training for different states, moods, or parts of the day. Functionality, engaging complex technologies, or massive content production are better left to premium.
This is when you can give your customers value and show how your product can change their lives. As these activities stick to users’ daily routines, they might need an upgrade with an extended pack. Try reaching users via push notifications, emails, or in-app banners to give them a special offer or discount.
Example from the industry
MyFitnessPal offers features like calorie tracking, basic nutrition insights, and workout logging for free and advanced analytics, meal plans, and macronutrient tracking as premium features.
You can offer users full access to the app or provide them with exclusive content on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis for a recurring fee. If you know your audience is not solid and includes different groups with different goals and payment capacity, think of several subscription levels.
This model might prove itself thanks to a high retention rate and predictable revenue. Thus, you have a quicker return on investments in feature and content production, which makes your business financially sustainable.
Example from the industry
Freeletics offers AI-powered personalized workout coaching for a three-month or annual subscription and customized training plans based on user goals.
Free applications can be monetized by offering one-time payments for specific upgrades. These can be premium content, like courses or a personalized meal plan, additional features, or virtual goods, like online consultation or coaching within the app. Such a model gives users more control over spending and allows them to test new features and content.
Example from the industry
While Strava operates on a subscription model, users can buy specific training packs or race analysis tools as in-app purchases without subscribing to the full service.
Fitness apps with large user bases can generate revenue through in-app ads, including banners, video ads, and sponsored content. However, there is a thin line between ads that are engaging and starting to become intrusive, hindering user experience.
Therefore, here are some recommendations for your ads to hit the spot, not irritate:
Example from the industry
Within their free version, Adidas Running (formerly Runtastic) displays targeted fitness-related ads and includes partner promotions, offering exclusive discounts on fitness gear.
One more way to monetize your app is to collaborate with brands to create sponsored content or partner with influencers or athletes to reach a wider audience. Brands benefit from product placements, and your app can earn revenue without charging users directly.
Example from the industry
Fitbit collaborates with insurance companies. They offer corporate wellness programs for companies who are ready to subsidize Fitbit Premium for their employees.
To stay ahead in the race, you need to foresee the trends in the fitness and health apps industry. According to a fitness app market analysis by Grand View Research, the majority of wearable tech startups are focusing on mHealth categories such as personal safety, women's health, and hydration monitoring. The application of technologies like AI, ML, VR, and integration with wearables are also quickly evolving trends.
The latest trend in fitness app development is acknowledging mental wellness as a core component of healthcare. As Sensor Tower's reports for 2024 show, 50% of fitness app users expect stress relief and mindfulness features alongside workouts. Therefore, more and more fitness apps are applying a holistic approach, adding guided meditations, breathing exercises, and sleep improvement programs.
At the same time, mindfulness products like Headspace introduce fitness programs (Headspace Move), offering users the opportunity to care for their physical endurance and mental health.
Women make up nearly 60% of fitness app users and this number is projected to grow further. This means a growing demand for a variety of fitness exercises and personalization. For instance, Sweat, a fitness app designed for women, features female trainers and goal-specific programs. HARNA helps women optimize their fitness routines by offering workouts based on menstrual cycle phases.
AI and ML technologies are transforming fitness apps into intelligent personal trainers. These trainers track data, learn from it, and then adjust fitness plans to users' goals, current state, level of fatigue, and mood. Here are some real-life examples.
First, they track users' progress, suggest activities based on previous performance and tailor experience person by person.
Secondly, they use predictive analytics to detect patterns and suggest workout schedules, recovery routines, diet plans, and other activities (Freeletics).
Thirdly, AI technologies can enhance challenges and community leaderboards, pushing users to new achievements, like in MyFitnessPal.
Last but not least, empowered with AI, apps like Future can provide coaching that mimics a personal trainer, with real-time feedback and support. In the end, AI and ML make workouts more adaptive and engaging.
VR and AR revolutionize fitness by making workouts an immersive and engaging experience. Instead of staring at a screen, users can cycle through 3D landscapes (Zwift) or boxes in an interactive arena (Liteboxer VR).
Backed with real-time coaching, such products can stay competitive with offline gyms and traditional workout apps. Great potential also lies in the ability of such apps to reach a large audience across the entire globe.
Fitness apps and wearables come into a synergy and extend the functionality beyond mere exercise trackers. The growing adoption of wearable devices like Fitbit and Apple Watch will further support the market’s growth.
For example, Whoop got on the list of highest-growth products of 2024.This wearable health-tracking device captures users' biometric data, such as sleep quality, heart rate, recovery, and exertion levels, to help them meet their fitness goals.
Gamification strategies are widely used in fitness app development. Levels, points, challenges, and rewards engage users, especially those who see training as a monotonous routine. Gamification also promotes a sense of community and social interaction.
Vivid examples are Strava's leaderboards, which encourage runners and cyclists to challenge each other, and Nike Run Club's badges for hitting goals.
COVID restrictions boosted in-house workouts and the rise of on-demand and live-streaming workouts. Such activities are popular as they easily fit into people's busy schedules.
Subscription-based fitness platforms like Peloton and Apple Fitness+ are growing rapidly, as they give users what they need: structured workout plans, diverse workout styles, professional trainers, and a cross-device experience.
Users, especially Gen Z, are increasingly looking for eco-conscious products, and fitness apps are no exception. Low-carbon workouts, partnerships with green brands, and tracking environmental impact are a few examples of what a fitness app can incorporate. Plogga encourages runners to pick up litter while exercising, while Ecosia Active rewards workouts with tree-planting contributions.
Brands that include such sustainable options receive higher engagement and loyalty from customers, which is beneficial for both users and the planet.
Creating a fitness app goes beyond just coding. To succeed, you need a clear vision, thorough market research, and the right product and development approach. Partnering with an experienced tech team can help you navigate the process, optimize costs, and build an app that stands out among similar brands.
Do you want to create your own fitness app yet don’t know where to start? NEKLO will assist you with the right expertise and tech stack!
US-based and operating globally, NEKLO spearheads digital transformation initiatives for businesses worldwide. We deliver software solutions complying with your market and legislation.
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