Health and Fitness App Trends and Finding Your Development Niche

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Health and Fitness App Trends and Finding Your
Development Niche

• The interest in health and fitness is growing as
  awareness grows among individuals about the
  benefit of leading a healthy lifestyle. The
  interest in fitness aiding technologies is also
  on the rise, especially wearable devices such as
  a smartwatch. To aid these smart devices in
  becoming companions for individuals fitness and
  health-related activities, mobile applications
  are needed. Health and fitness applications can
  be divided into following categories
• Fitness Tracking, data storage and management
• Nutrition and diet guide
• Fitness activity
• Medical and general health companion

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Figure 1 Flurry Analytics, July, 2017 As per a
recent research by Flurry Analytics, demand for b
health and fitness apps has grown by 330 in 3
years, with 25 users accessing their fitness
apps more than 10 times a week. Notable Health
and Fitness App Trend Health and fitness app
users tend to show great brand loyalty. Once they
have found an application that matches their
fitness goals, they continue to use it. As per
Flurry Analytics findings, 96 users use only one
health and fitness app. workout and weight loss
apps are immensely popular and account for
nearly three-quarters of all fitness and health
app sessions. The growth in the usage of
wearables such as fitness bands may be attributed
to this trend as it encourages users to stay on
the move by tracking their weight and activity
levels daily. Understanding these trends For the
fitness enthusiast, it would not be far-fetched
to be saying that they are addicted to their
fitness applications. Also, for those who are
using health companion guides to keep track of
their diet or medication, they rely on these
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applications to send them reminders and to enable
them to make healthy choices.
Figure 2 Flurry Analytics, August, 2017 The
demand for studio and fitness apps is highest and
users have voiced their need for using their
mobile application through their workout session.
Due to this preference, gyms and studios are
offering an application that users can use
during their workout sessions. The health and
fitness app industry witnesses highest retention
rate, though there will be usage seasonal usage
fluctuation. For instance, people tend to use
this app lesser during the holiday seasons and
weekends. Users who use the application more
than 10 times per week are the ones who drive
constant engagement. A Gartner study forecast
suggests over 310 million wearables will be sold
in 2017 and a PwC study shows that health is the
primary motivation for people buying wearable
devices and hence there is substantial scope for
health and fitness application growth.
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• Understanding Fitness App Functions
• The various health and fitness apps segments can
  be combined and offered as a single app or they
  can be offered with individual features. Let us
  see what features will work for each segment.
• Fitness Activity Apps
• A fitness activity app is the broadest category
  though its focus is mainly on exercises. The
  application primarily shows different types of
  exercises and how to perform them. These can
  have features such as
• Personal trainer
• Logbook
• Audio video guides
• Timer
• Fitness apps to pair with devices
• Users seek apps that can be tailored to their
  needs and their proficiency levels. A simple
  option that allows a user to set their level of
  proficiency and gives them options to increase
  it as they progress is an essential feature of
  these apps.
• Fitness Tracking, Data Storage and management
• The primary function of these apps is to track
  and store information of workouts. Generally
  they are clubbed with apps of all categories, but
  it can be created as a standalone application
  for users who do not rely on apps for their
  regime but only want to keep track of their
  activities. These apps are often designed for
  wearable devices and currently enjoy great market
  demand.
• Even people who do not go the gym or pursue any
  form of sports can use these applications to
  keep track of their movements. They can get data
  such
• as a number of steps taken, calories burnt, heart
  rate, pulse rate, and blood pressure among other
  things. Integrating the geolocation feature helps
  track distance covered and add fun facts such as
  where they could have reached. Smart alarm clock
  integration can be used by a user to wake up
  during the
• REM sleep phase, improving their productivity.

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• Nutrition and diet guide
• These apps are geared to assist in weight loss by
  counting calories consumed and burned,
  controlling water balance and encouraging healthy
  eating habits. A log book can be used to note
  down amount details of food and drinks consumed
  throughout the day to calculate total calories
  consumed. These apps can have a level of
  complexity by having functions that will
  calculate BMR and inform the user how long it
  will take them to burn the calories consumed
  based on their activity levels. It can create
  grocery shopping list for the user and help them
  stick to a healthy nutrition.
• Medical and general health companion
• These applications are designed for niche markets
  such as users who are suffering from an illness
  such as heart ailments, blood pressure, and
  diabetes etc. They may be designed for the smart
  device or for specialised medical devices that
  are designed for these purposes and will be in
  demand among hospitals and medical
  practitioners. Applications can perform
  activities such as giving alerts for medication
  time or sending a warning when any activity is
  leading to rising in blood pressure or sugar
  levels. It can also send SOS signal to people
  whose details are listed as emergency contact.
• Features for these apps
• Account creation
• The user has to create an account since these
  apps have access across users mobile and desktop
  devices so that they can keep round the clock
  track of their activities. Furthermore, they
  will log their profile which is imperative in
  tracking and recording their progress.
• Social media integration
• This has become a primary requisite as a user can
  share details of their
• progress and workout session with friends and
  stay motivated to achieve their target. The app
  can have logged in feature via social media
  credentials.

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• Personal Infor page
• Personal information will include
• Age
• Gender
• Height
• Weight
• Dietary preferences (Veg, non-veg, vegan)
• Profile picture
• Imperial or metric units
• Notifications and In-app messages
• Notifications can be pushed as motivational
  messages informing users of their achievement
  and how much more they can achieve. In-app
  messages can inform a user about their workout
  plan for the day, cheat day or change in regime.
  It is important to make these messages friendly
  and have the option to be adjusted as per user
  preference so that they do not find it intrusive
  or annoying.
• Target setting
• The foundation of fitness and nutrition app is in
  setting targets. For activity apps it will be to
  count the number of steps, for nutrition apps it
  will be to count
• the amount of calories consumed and for exercise
  apps to count the activity performed. Targets
  are elementary for enabling the user to stay
  motivated.
• Gamification
• Gamification will make the entire diet or workout
  regime a game through competitions, rewards and
  result comparisons with friends or people with
  similar goals.

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• Wearable device integration
• There are multiple manufacturers of wearable
  devices, some that cater
• exclusively to the health and fitness market and
  many that have a broader use, it is important to
  use their APIs and cover as many devices as
  possible.
• Number of activities
• A basic activity tracking app should cover
  walking, running, swimming, yoga, and cycling.
  It must have access to all sensors including
  accelerometer, compass, geolocation and
  gyroscope.
• There are different ways to capitalize on fitness
  application. In-app advertising
• is common, but it may be intrusive for the user.
  Other options are selling merchandise, creating
  a donation page or monetary fee n not achieving a
  target. The market is vast and with some unique
  features a new app can create its own market.