Fitness App Development: 6 Crucial Steps for Building a User-Centric Product

Fitness App Development and Health technology are two fields that have seen tremendous growth in the wake of the global health crisis.

The global fitness app market grew by 54% in 2021, mainly due to lockdowns. It was valued at USD 5,1 billion.

If you thought that the market would slow down when it reopens in the morning, think again.

The fitness market is expected to continue growing.

According to Market Growth Reports’ study, the fitness applications market is expected to reach USD 18,374 billion in 2028. The CAGR (compound annual growth rate) during the forecast period was 30.63%.

If you are considering creating your fitness app, this is the perfect time to crunch.

This article will discuss the main steps in creating a fitness application that users will love to use.

Before we do, let’s take a look at some of the most popular fitness apps.

Fitness App Types

If you are looking for fitness apps, here are a few ideas:

• Workout Apps
• Apps for health and fitness
• Apps for diet and nutrition
• Apps for yoga and meditation
• Apps for tracking activity
• Calorie counter apps
• Apps for Personal Trainers
• Fitness trackers

How to create a fitness app that users will love to use and flex

Validate your ideas

CB Insights conducted a study that found the lack of a product-market match is one of the main reasons for startup failure.

We get it. We get it.

It’s pointless to create a fitness application that nobody will use. When creating a fitness application or any other product, you should always ask yourself, “What pain point or problem does my idea solve?”

You don’t need to conduct a large-scale, heavily funded market study. Ask your friends, or people at your local gym about any fitness-related problems they’re experiencing, and what they do to solve them. Use their answers to create an app that will solve the problem.

You should start thinking about funding and monetization strategies as early as possible in your journey. As you can see, app development is a significant investment.

Even if you plan to create a free app for fitness, your business model should allow monetization.

This article will provide you with some useful tips on how to make money from your fitness, nutrition, or health app.

Market research

Fitness app development, as you can see from the above data, is a very fertile field. Many players around the world want a piece of the action. Survival of the fittest is key.

You must differentiate your product or offer something different to thrive in a competitive industry. You can only do this if you are aware of what is already available.

It’s important to note that I am not suggesting you avoid developing a fitness application with the same features your competitors have. It’s fine. We tell our clients all the time that having competitors validates the market.

You need to determine your unique selling proposition. What would be your positioning of the product in comparison to competitors? Is it less expensive? Does it provide a premium experience for users or use the latest tech? Why would someone choose your solution, in other words?

You can then determine if your app idea is even viable.

The Artoon Solutions team was contacted by Australian Ballet Star Claudia Dean to create her ballet training application.

The former Royal Ballet Dancer — one of the few to have graduated from the Royal Ballet Company – came to us with an idea for an app to reflect her position in the dance world and to help others get the training they need.

We spent a lot of time understanding Claudia’s values and what makes her unique. We were rewarded for our efforts with the successful launch and 10,000 downloads of Claudia Dean World, a ballet training application.

Browse our portfolio to find similar success stories.

What are the essential features of your fitness or health app?

Focusing on the basic features is important when it comes to developing your fitness or health app. By taking the time to prioritize and identify which features of a fitness app development are most important, you can create an app that will improve user experience and engagement.

It is important to understand what a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), or your app, means before you begin extensive development. The MVP should have enough features to allow your audience to interact meaningfully with your application.

You can save money and time by focusing first on the most important elements. Once you have a better understanding of how your users interact with the app, it is possible to add more features.

How can you tell which features and functions are essential for an MVP fitness application?

• When consulting with potential partners it is helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
• What can users do with this feature?
• This feature is essential or desirable?

Will my app’s core functionality still be available if I don’t prioritize this feature?

It is also a good idea to do some research and consult industry experts on the development of apps and minimum-viable products.

Appetizers’ designers and product strategists work with clients in the early stages of ideation to help them prioritize and keep things lean.

We were able to empower many partners in this way, allowing them to launch their apps on average within 4.5 months – significantly faster than competitors – and still keep the cost of investment low.

Our experience has shown that most basic fitness apps, such as a calorie counter or activity tracker, can be launched with a lean MVP.

• Sign up and login
• Profile
• Third-party Device Integration
• Activity Monitoring
• Notifications

If your app’s USP is premium features such as personalized coaching, then you may also need more complex features such as video hosting and streaming.

Create your fitness app

It can be time-consuming and expensive to develop a fitness app. You do not want to spend a penny or a second on an unnecessary feature.

A well-organized design will help you to focus your energy and resources on the right areas and achieve satisfactory results. A good design is the basis for a product’s usability, user experience, and ultimately its market success.

Sketching and wireframing are essential parts of the design process for a fitness application.

Sketching

It helps us visualize ideas, create different designs, and eliminates the guesswork in design decisions. We can also scope the project, estimate timeframes and costs and give you a rough estimate.

The cost of developing your fitness app will depend on its size, complexity, and requirements. It is therefore impossible to give an exact figure during the planning phase.

Our experience has shown that your preferences and needs change almost immediately once your idea becomes a reality. Sketching out your concept as much as you can will help you get a sense of what the user experience should be. You should be able to visualize the general feel and look of your fitness app, along with its main sections.

Wireframing

Wireframing, on the other hand, allows you to test out various features and functions to achieve optimal performance. It also gives our developers an excellent starting point when developing the actual functionality of the app.

Our designers start by creating different flows. They then begin to think about secondary sections, flow, and screens. Our designers create a first interactive prototype that allows you to visualize the flow of each screen and gives you a better idea of what will be delivered at the end.

Sketching and wireframing are two tools that designers can use to create a fitness app that puts the needs of users first.

Develop your fitness app

The next step is to choose which feature you want to build first.

Artoon follows the Kanban method. This is an agile method of project management that defines what needs to get done and when. It also determines how much work will be needed to complete the product.

In an agile environment, a team consisting of project managers, product managers, coders, and programmers must work together to create features in short cycles. They then integrate feedback and repeat the cycle for another feature.

Let me explain our process in more detail:

Our business analyst will create a roadmap for you based on your project scope after you have approved the final prototype. This roadmap contains:

• Platform and team structure
• Backlog of MVP features
• Dates and launch months
• If there is a monetization strategy

We will prioritize the most important features that we have identified together and work to clear as much of the backlog as we can each month. You can adjust the priorities and budget as you wish.

We conduct quality assurance tests as we go to make sure that all features are up to our standards of product quality. Our QA process is based on test cases or positive and negative scenario testing.

Weekly reports will show you the progress of your fitness application.

You can use and test your app to provide us with feedback even while the development process is underway.

Our product manager suggests that you find a small group of users who will be the first to use your app. You could, for example, focus on a single city or community.

Fitness app developers can use these agile techniques to create applications that are efficient and users will want to continue using over time. Agile tools and creative problem-solving are the ideal combinations to get the most from developing a fitness application.

Launch your fitness and well-being app

You must know how to optimize your app for the app store to boost its success.

App Store Optimization is crucial to increasing the visibility of fitness and wellness apps so that users can find them amongst all the others.

ASO is the process of creating a description and title that are keyword-rich for your app store and designing an app icon, images, and videos visually appealing to attract potential users. This will help your fitness app to stand out from similar apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Pre-launch and after-launch marketing is also critical component of any fitness app. Even the most successful fitness app development company find that their efforts only pay off when they implement effective marketing strategies.

Pre-launch marketing involves building anticipation in your target audience. It can be done through email campaigns, social advertising or even broadcasting to fitness communities.

The post-launch marketing phase is also important. It includes tasks such as content creation, paid acquisitions, and tapping into influencers that have engaged fitness audiences. It is important to engage existing users, retain them and attract new ones.

In the end, using successful marketing strategies before and after launching a fitness application can set up brands for long-term growth.

Keep growing and moving forward

Consistency is key to your success as you develop your fitness, wellness, and health app.

It’s important to continue working out even after you’ve lost weight or gained muscle. You must remain committed to your exercise routines and be consistent to maintain momentum and strength.

App development for mobile or web is no different. The journey to continuous improvement and optimization begins long before your product is launched.

Artoon Solutions’ development process does not end when your app is published in the App Store. We offer growth-planning solutions, as well as optional support and maintenance (retainers) to keep your momentum and boost your success.

If you are looking for a partner who can help you create your own health and fitness app, whether it’s a workout app, an exercise app, or another type of app, and make it a brand, contact us today.