May 24, 2023

Fitness App Development in 2023: A Step-by-Step Guide

The fitness industry has been revolutionized by the rise of mobile apps. With the increasing awareness of health and fitness, more and more people are turning to fitness apps to help them achieve their goals. They have become a staple on almost every smartphone, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend. With limited access to gyms and in-person training, people are turning to virtual classes provided by fitness apps to stay motivated and fit.

This blog post will provide a step-by-step guide to developing a fitness app in 2023, including the most significant trends, the top 5 most successful apps, fitness app features, and how to create your own fitness app.

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Estimated market size

The global fitness app market is booming thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • around $3.5 billion in 2020
  • expected to reach around $14 billion by 2026
  • counts 87.4 million users in the US
Image credit: Statista (all rights belong to Statista Inc.)

The Biggest Trends in Fitness Apps

  • Personalization: Fitness apps that offer personalized workout plans and nutrition recommendations based on the user's goals, fitness level, and preferences are becoming increasingly popular.
  • Wearables Integration: Fitness apps that integrate with wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers are gaining popularity as they provide users with real-time data and insights into their workouts.
  • Social Features: Fitness apps that offer social features such as sharing workouts and progress with friends, joining groups, and participating in challenges are gaining popularity as they provide users with motivation and accountability.
  • Gamification: Fitness apps that use gamification elements such as rewards, badges, and challenges to motivate users to achieve their fitness goals are becoming increasingly popular.
  • Virtual Coaching: Fitness apps that offer virtual coaching and personal training sessions are gaining popularity as they provide users with access to professional trainers and personalized guidance.


Top 5 Most Successful Fitness Apps

We gather information on the top fitness apps that have been in the spotlight for the past months in both the Apple Store and Google Play store based on the Forbes's list of the top 4 performing fitness apps, all of which are free to use.

MyFitnessPal: A calorie-tracking app that helps users track their food intake and exercise. This nutrition and workouts application has so much food data, workout exercises, recipes, blogs, and whatnot that its 180 million users are still coping with this interface:

Nike Training Club: A fitness app that offers personalized workout plans and training sessions. The app provides the flexibility to customize your running goals by setting a desired time, distance, or speed to maintain. For added motivation, you can participate in weekly or monthly challenges. This app caters to runners of all levels, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned runner.

Nike Pro Bra Fitter on Behance

Peloton: A virtual fitness app that offers live and on-demand workout classes led by professional trainers.

Peloton offers a unique fitness solution that allows individuals to exercise from the comfort of their own home while still enjoying the competitive atmosphere of a gym. The platform live-streams a variety of workouts and exercises, which has helped to drive sales of their cycling and running hardware. Coupled with their subscription services, Peloton's revenue is expected to reach $1.8 billion in 2020.


Hands-On With the Peloton iOS Cycling App | SMART Bike Trainers

Sweat: Entrepreneurs are likely aiming to replicate the success of SWEAT training app, created by Australian fitness celebrity Kayla Itsines. This mobile product is generating millions of dollars each month by offering highly specialized workouts tailored to women.

Fitness App Features

1. Personalized workout plans and nutrition recommendations based on the user's goals, fitness level, and preferences.

Nice-to-have options for a workout feature:

  • provide sufficient meta-data for all exercises (at least time & equipment)
  • have an easy way to navigate back and forth within an exercise
  • add a text-to-speech engine that supports multiple languages for voice tips
  • A workout calendar to help with planning workouts better

2. Real-time data and insights into workouts, including calories burned, distance covered, and heart rate.

3. Social features such as sharing workouts and progress with friends, joining groups, and participating in challenges.

4. Gamification elements such as rewards, badges, and challenges to motivate users to achieve their fitness goals.

5. Virtual coaching and personal training sessions with professional trainers.

How to Create Your Own Fitness App

1. Define your target audience and their fitness goals.

2. Research the competition and identify what features and functionalities are missing in the market.

Some of the questions you’ll need to answer at this step include:

  • What’s my USP?
  • What mobile (and other) platforms do I need to cover?
  • How exactly do I envision people using the application?

3. Choose a development platform and tech stack

4. Design the app's user interface and user experience to provide a seamless and intuitive experience.

5. Develop and test the app's features and functionalities.

Although market research can be conducted independently, when it comes to prototyping, it is recommended to engage an agency with the necessary expertise in UX/UI.

6. Launch the app and market it to your target audience.

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In conclusion, the fitness app industry is booming, and there has never been a better time to develop your own fitness app. By following the steps outlined in this guide and incorporating the latest trends and features, you can create a successful fitness app that helps users achieve their fitness goals.

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Our experience in fitness app development

Appsgem has had the privilege of working on various fitness projects, including a recent one where we developed a workout app as a progressive web application.

As a web application at its core, the workout app we developed at Appsgem is designed to seamlessly adapt to various screen sizes. This means that users can enjoy the solution on their smartphones, tablets, and laptops without the need to install separate apps for each platform. To learn more about our experience in custom fitness application development, reach out today!

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