18 Feb 7 steps guide to develop a popular fitness app like Healthify and Blogilates

Technology is encompassed into every part of our professional and personal life. From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, we are surrounded by it. When it comes to our health and fitness, things are no different.

As per the latest Statista report, the revenue in the ‘Fitness apps’ segment will reach USD 950m with over 42.6m app users in the year 2022. With the popularity of Fitness Apps on the steady rise, this is a great time for any entrepreneur to jump onboard onto this growing sector.

How to create a Fitness App: the step-by-step guide

Transform your abstract app idea into a visual platform  by following the steps described below:

STEP 1. Choose the monetization model

Before getting into the development, technicality, and functionality, you must frame the revenue model for the application. Here are a few ways you can explore as viable ways to monetize your app.

Paid Apps

In-app purchases

You can launch a free fitness app but make it more profitable, by encouraging users to buy a premium subscription after the installation of your app. There are many types of in-app purchases like the premium account purchase and the advanced fitness plans or the personal coaching services etc.

Ads

For the high revenue returns from your application, advertisement is the facile option. You can collaborate with other fitness-oriented businesses and allow them to run advertising campaigns in your app. You can charge as a cost-per-click or a cost-per-mile commission.

STEP 2. Design Basic features

There are numerous basic features in every layout of an application. These features make your application enticing and interactive.

User profiles –  A personal account is necessary for every fitness app. It enables the user to switch between different devices without re-entering the data again and again.

Notifications–  Notifications play a pivotal role in every application. Push notifications acquaint users with new workout routines and upcoming events. In-app notifications in nutrition and diet apps act as a call to action, motivates the users to get off the couch and burn some calories to achieve their goal.

Social media sharing – This not only allows users to share their achievements on any social platforms and create a network but also contributes a lot to the promotion of your application.

STEP 3. Hire a development team

An app development team usually consists of 5–7 professionals. Hence, this is the most expensive and time-consuming variant. The development phase requires large investments. The average rate to hire a developer in the US ranges from $100-$150 per hour making a total of around $100,000+ per-app project. The average costs vary from country to country.

STEP 4. Inception phase

Every development phase initiates with the product discovery phase.  During this stage, you and your development team will :

• Define the demographics of your project

• Create the project roadmap

• Plan resources and set the minimum viable product(MVP) budget.

The discovery phase usually takes 4-6 weeks. It includes a functional specification development, formation of UX/UI design, and a visual prototype of your app to give you a clear vision of the end product.

STEP 5. Technical documentation

A Technical writer is a person who is responsible for the technical documentation of your fitness application. He prepares the product’s technical specifications based on the client’s requirements. This includes use cases, platforms, and all other critical information for the fitness app developers to start working out the solutions.

 STEP 6. Design

At this stage, the developer will design the individual screens called “skins” of your application. The design team takes around 160 hours to create the design for the fitness app – both UX as well as UI segments. It’s just a high-resolution format of the prototype which designers will develop through wireframe tools.

STEP 7. Quality Assurance

Once the design is completed, the application can go for another round of testing. It assists in identification the bugs, crashes and missing features. Later these issues will be fixed in the next development phase.

All set to release!

Now your application is all set to release in the app market. Submit your app before 3–4 weeks of your launch date because different app stores follow different publishing policies. Before setting your launch date, go through the guidelines published by IOS and Android.

Finally, you’ve accomplished your goal of developing a fitness application. But the task does not end here. Once your app has listed on the app store, you must implement effective marketing strategies to make your app popular. Remember, app development isn’t a one time process, you need to upgrade the features based on the feedback from your users and leverage your marketing strategies to make more and more people download and use your app.