Fitness App Development

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By admin Mobile Apps May 6, 2017

Fitness apps are ruling the Google Playstore and Apple AppStore for quite a long time now. Part of the reason as to why pursuing a fitness app development project is a great idea lies in the fact that people are increasingly health and fitness centered. Looking at the numbers, the fitness segment amounts to US $ 3,463m in 2018 for US alone and is projected to reach US $ 4,093m by 2022. So, do you think creating your own fitness app is a great idea?

Well, we assure you it is. However, doing it the right way couldn’t exactly be called a cakewalk.

[Also, we are going to discuss some elements which can make your fitness app go viral at the end of this blog. Make sure you check it out!]

Another reason as to why fitness app development to create your own platform is the fact that these smartphone-based fitness apps have caused a massive dip in the customer base of the bigger players like that of Apple and FitBit. When the smart phone fitness apps were being launched in the market, it led the fitbit stocks to take a nosedive to half the amount. Have a look:

The fitness and workout application market is rapidly growing. The apps are enjoying fame because their activity tracking capabilities are improving. The smartphones are now motivating the people to lead a healthy and active life.

The growth in the fitness and workout app sector is 87% more than any other field. In 2017, 30% of people are using the applications to keep track of their performance in order to enjoy the healthy life. This year new technologies have been introduced in fitness app development to provide people with a better experience. You can also have a look at our blog where we discussed personal trainer app development.

Compatibility and Integrity

It is essential for the fitness application to be compatible with as many wearable fitness devices as possible. It makes it easier to handle the data from different tracking devices. So the developers utilize several tools for the integration of the workout app development. Not only this, the major wearable device providers make sure that their devices are compatible with even their competitors too. The same is true with the mobile apps that are crushing the app stores. Most successful apps like Strava, Endomondo, RunKeeper, and MapMyFitness are able to handle data from almost every tracking device. There are tools available for making a fitness app more compatible. Here’s a list of some of them.

Tools to Integrate Fitness and Wellness Apps with Wearables:

Jawbone UP – It is an open-source platform that is used by the fitness apps developers across the world for integrating their fitness and wellness apps to the various wearable devices and even mobile apps which collect data. They even have their own app too which tracks sleep, movement, and eating patterns, with the intent of helping users apply that information to improve their lives.
Garmin – Garmin provides a number of APIs and SDKs which the app developers and designers who are a part of any fitness app development project can easily use to create the perfectly compatible fitness tracking apps.
Fitbit API – Fitbit has been providing their APIs and software development kits for the developers to create fitness apps on top of them which can be used in the fitbit OS devices. If you are looking for improving the compatibility of your fitness app development, this could be a great option.

Hardware

There are various sensors in the smartphone that transmit the data from the mobile to the application regarding the physical activity of the user. The smartphone applications have been stacked with the motion trackers like:

Compass
Gyroscope
Accelerometer

The gyroscope will help in the determination of the orientation of the object. Cardinal direction is dedicated by the compass and accelerometer will measure the acceleration. The application can be used to track all types of activities like running, walking, swimming and cycling.

The GPS technology has been embedded in the workout applications. It allows the users to map their routes that will help to know their position and measure the performance. The barometric altimeter is a more reliable technology that is utilized in the fitness applications. It collects the data regarding the elevation and the atmospheric pressure when the user is on the stairs or elevated track.

The latest innovation introduced in the fitness application is the ECG sensors and the optical sensors that will monitor the heart rate during a workout. They will measure the pulse and heart rate so the user will know when to stop. Apart from that, some of the apps have been developed with the sensors that will measure the temperature and identify the level of stress on the body during physical activity

Key features

In order to gain traction, the fitness applications are using the behavioral changes techniques. So the key features included in the apps are:

Tracking activity
Goals and challenges
Social features
Videos with workout sessions
Workout Calendar
Personalised plans
Visualization of progress
Sync with fitness devices

Upgrades required

Despite the variety of data that can be collected and analyzed by the fitness application, there are many up gradations that can be improved. Motivation, the accuracy of data and security are some of the issues that the fitness app development has to resolve.

There are many opportunities for the application developers in the field of fitness app development because of the sudden rise in the HealthCare market.

Also Read: Using Healthkit and GoogleKit to build fitness apps.

Things you could do to make your Fitness App go Viral!

There are literally hundreds of fitness apps at the appstores competing for the users to download and use as a tool to achieve the holy grail of ultimate fitness and wellness. Afterall, the purpose of your fitness app too must be millions of downloads and great user retention. But barely adding all the same features that every fitness app ever without anything substantially valuable isn’t gonna cut it, right? There needs to be a combination of features and elements which will differentiate your apps from the unsuccessful lot. Here’s a list of things that you must work really worked upon to perfect, which will, in turn, your app truly viral:

Accuracy – We couldn’t stress more about the importance of accuracy for the success of your fitness apps. Afterall, the whole point of tracking and documenting each and every physical activity is to have insights as accurate as possible. Sensor-based programmes are written in a fitness app development project for tracking and measuring human activities such as sleeping activity, skipping activity, walking, running and even heart/pulse rates, a certain level of error is bound to happen. However, making sure that the accuracy is maintained at all levels would help you to build trust and reliability among the users. Robust and extensive testing of these mobile apps in all possible combinations of surrounding and environment has also proven out to be helpful while increasing the accuracy in any fitness app development project.

Social Factor – Have you ever noticed how people share their progress in fitness over social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram? Well, they’re sharing the progress that they’ve made. Or maybe showing it off, which isn’t a problem. But have you ever wondered what does it mean for that particular app? I’ll tell you! FREE PROMOTION.
Also, this is a very good kind of promotion as the person who’s sharing the progress must be in good shape or getting better. Which means he or she is a person who’s turning fit, and anyone who wishes to be fitter would sure wanna know their secret. There it is, the app they’re using. It’s amazing how it works.
You can also add this feature into your fitness app development project. The users must be able to share their progress and activities in such a way that allows exposure for you over their Facebook walls or Instagram stories.

Motivation – Simply downloading your app and keeping it in the phone using up space won’t make your users fitter, no more than a gym you don’t hit after taking a membership. The users must use the app, perform different physical activities and make progress.
You can make it possible by motivating them from time to time. Push Notifications could be a great tool for doing this. Not only this, you can also add features like alarm and reminders for your app that will help the users not forget their training and fitness regime. Also, the users will have your motivational attitude to thank once the users start making progress. Make sure your app makes an impact, and virality will follow.

Security – Security, saved it for the last because of how important a factor it is for every fitness app ever. Your fitness app development should also put a tremendous amount of efforts into making your own fitness app more secure than ever. As you must have seen with the advent of regulations such as GDPR and the kind of scrutiny that big tech firms like Google and Facebook are under, the importance of security in your fitness app development project can not be possibly overstated. Not only this, even the users are more and more savvy about the protection and security of their private data. If you manage to prove that your security is beyond the glitches and goof-ups to the users, they will make sure that they never uninstall your fitness app.

Bottom line

We at SODIO Technologies have helped Fitness Tech Entrepreneurs with their product development by providing them end to end solution with their Tech platform. Do you have an idea for building a fitness app or a yoga app?

Feel free to let us know!