Healthcare and fitness are the trending industries these days. If you are in the business of healthcare and fitness-related products and services, you must develop an app. These apps can be a great way to interact with your patients.
According to Statista, health and fitness apps’ user penetration will grow by 9.67% in 2023. This growth will reach up to 12.21% in 2027. In terms of revenue, health and fitness mobile apps will project a market value of US $33.04 billion by 2027.
If you plan to build such an app for your business, this blog will take you through the development process.
Build Your Own Health and Fitness App: Step-by-Step Guide
Even though it might be possible for you to hire a developer to develop your health & fitness app, you must have all the information about the development process.
The following are steps to build a health and fitness app:
- Market Research & Analyze Your Target Audience
There are many health and fitness mobile apps in the market. What makes your app different from others?
Think of an idea that makes your app unique. List all the features you want in your app. Go through the review of various health and fitness apps currently working in the market and find their positive and negative points according to the customer.
Depending on the customer’s review, you can customize your features list with usual healthcare and fitness app features, like sign-in, user profile, monitoring your physical activity, sleep patterns, tracking medications, etc.
After choosing the core idea, you should analyze what your target audience wants. We all know the audience is the most crucial part of the healthcare business. Everyone demands something different. Conduct surveys to analyze the demands of your audience.
- Choose the Platform
With the emerging use of technologies, everyone has mobile phones. It can be Android, iOS, etc. Before developing an app, you must explore which platform you want to work for. You can create an app for either of these platforms or for all.
The selection of an app development platform can impact the percentage of users. So, if you are choosing only one platform, examine the ratio of users on priority.
- Choose the Tech Stack
For developing your app, choose suitable technologies, frameworks, and tools. Consider cross-platform compatibility, maintenance, scalability, etc., to select the right tech stack for your app.
Front-End Development: For Front-end, developers can use HTML, CSS, React Native, Angular, Flutter, etc.
Back-End Development: You can use back-end software like Java, Spring Framework, Angular, MySQL, and more.
You can also integrate various trending technologies, i.e., AI, Blockchain, AR, IoMT, and so on. You can connect to a health & fitness app development company to get more details of the tech stack.
- Design UI/UX
In this phase, developers work on the part of the app which the user interacts with. The interface can increase the engagement rate of your app. The design of the interface must be simple to provide users with easy navigation through the app without getting confused.
- Develop the MVP
After collecting the required information, start working on the MVP (Minimum Viable Product). It is the first version of your app, consisting of all the core functionalities. MVP will help you to identify the issues with the functionality of your fitness app. For better outcomes, you can test your app with your potential customers. Their feedback will validate your efforts, and you can further utilize your time in the right direction.
- Finalize Your Product
After conducting market research on your MVP product, you can embed your app with all the complex features and functionalities you have idealized. You can create a more structured app.
- Testing & Improvement
After the final development of your app, the next step is testing. In this phase, the quality team examines whether your app is bug-free, operating seamlessly, compatible with cross platforms, etc. If they find an error, the team debugs that error and again goes for the testing process. This iteration process continues until there are no errors found.
- App Deployment & Maintenance
Deployment is the final phase of building your health and fitness app. The top mobile app development company you chose to create your app will launch your app on the app store. The development company knows all the scenarios of launching an app to the Google Play Store or Apple Store. Some companies also provide free maintenance of the app for a limited time.
Monetizing Your Health & Fitness App
Various health and fitness apps are free to install and use up to a certain point. Then how can you increase your revenue? It is crucial to equalize the business model to make it profitable. You can add some paid features to your app. You can generate revenue from your app with the followings:
- In-app Ads
In-app ads are the simplest way to make revenue. While creating the app, developers stuff ads that will help you get paid. Ads are the usual monetization model for a fitness app.
- Subscriptions
A subscription is a fixed amount of money users pay to enjoy the services of an app. You can provide various services under the subscription model, like live workout sessions, customized diet plans, etc.
- Expert Consultation
You can add a feature for expert consultation in the monetization model. In this section, users can consult any healthcare expert by paying a consultation fee. Various users utilize this feature, as it provides the freedom to consult a healthcare expert from home.
- In-app Purchases
You can utilize the monetization model of your app by providing in-app purchases. You can sell virtual or physical products within the app. Before going for this option, you must know that the Google Play Store and Apple Store charge 30% for each in-app purchase of your app.
- Sponsorship
You can collaborate with several fitness brands, product manufacturers, etc., to promote their products or services on your app in exchange for a sponsorship fee.
Conclusion
In conclusion, building your app for health and fitness from scratch can be a rewarding and empowering journey. By following the steps outlined in the guide, you can create a user-friendly and effective app that caters to the specific needs of your target audience.
When developing your health and fitness app, it’s essential to refer to a reliable healthcare app development services provider. Their expertise and experience will save you time and ensure a smoother development process.