A Guide To Create The Best Fitness App

A Guide To Create The Best Fitness App
Healthcare App Development
The fitness industry is flourishing with the growing awareness regarding health and fitness. Consumers are driven towards fitness apps for their ease of use and personalized approach. Many apps have made their way into the market as the best fitness apps on the pretext of offering personalized diet and exercise regimes. The global fitness app market size which was estimated to value around $1.1 Billion in the year 2021 is expected to grow at a steady rate of 17.6% CAGR between the years 2022 and 2030.
Fitness providers are constantly looking for opportunities to monetize their offerings. Fitness apps are the perfect solution for fitness providers to reach a large consumer segment on a global level. With the help of healthcare app development companies, developing a fitness app has become very easy today.

Types of Fitness Apps

Anyone planning to launch a fitness app must first decide on the kind of app they want to associate with. Let us take a look at the different types of fitness apps.

Fitness tracking app

Such apps can be integrated with smartphones to track the calories with every fitness exercise. Many apps such as Fitbit and Nokia Health have already made their mark in this segment. These apps also track fitness goals and send reminders to the users to keep them on track.

Fitness workout apps

Workout apps are best for newbies unaware of the different methods and exercises to achieve their physical goals. Many apps offer 5-7 minutes quick workout routines which can be followed anytime even in a busy schedule.

Social fitness app

This app will empower you with connectivity. You can share your workout details and goals with your friends on social media and stay motivated. You can create and participate in challenges to keep up your interest in a workout.

Competitive fitness app

Many fitness apps are dedicated to competitions. It can be about cycling, running, or any other competitive workout. You can participate in the competitions and share your goals.

Altruistic fitness apps

Such apps are associated with charities and causes. It has tie-up with different corporate sponsors who donate a certain amount for a cause for every milestone achieved by a participant.

How to Create a Fitness App?

fitness app development

Finalize the application type

The very first step is to decide the kind of app you want to create. Who should it cater to and what are the issues that it can solve. Conduct market research to understand your target market and the scope of introducing an application into it. Brainstorm ideas about the app and its USP.

Choose a monetization model

Mobile app development
Now that you have the basic idea of the app in mind, choose a monetization model. The monetization model is the business model using which you are going to earn revenue from the application. You have different types to choose from:
  • Paid apps: The user has to pay to use such apps and the price varies for different platforms, remote devices, and content.
  • Freemium: The basic features of such apps can be used for free. The user has to pay to use the premium features.
  • In-app purchases: The user can download and use the app for free. They are motivated to make some purchases on the app such as a diet plan or some health drink.
  • Ads and sponsored content: The app company sells the space on their apps to third parties for their advertisements and sponsored content, and earns on a pay-per-click model.

Decide the basic features

You have to decide which features you are going to offer on your fitness app. Some of the common features are:
    • User profile
This profile option captures the current physical characteristics and goals of the user. The users can check their profile to check their weight, body dimensions, and other details along with the transformation they have been through.
    • Goal tracking
This option allows the user to see the upcoming fitness milestones and the actions required from their end. Accordingly, they can plan their daily activity.
    • Social sharing
You can boost the morale of the users by allowing them to share their daily activities and goals on social media.
    • Reminders
Reminders can help the users in getting notified about the workouts required to reach the nearest fitness milestone. There are many other fitness features as well, that you can take up once your basic version is up.

Develop the prototype

The prototype allows you to materialize your visualizations of the app. Multiple wireframes can be created to arrive at the basic design that houses all the features of the application. Create the basic version of your app and keep it ready to test.

Design

Once a successful prototype is developed, it is ready to enter the final design. You can hire a UX design team to create the best fitness app designs. Pay heed to the user experience as it’s primarily going to decide the success of your app.

Decide on Tech Stack

This is the time you need to choose the tech stack. The technology you choose should support all the features, scalability, multiple operating systems, and remote devices. Again, you can think about making a native app, cross-platform app, progressive web app, or any other type of fitness app. The technology will be responsible for the cross-platform compatibility and responsiveness of the fitness app. The focus should be on making higher penetration in the target market.
Develop and Test
The development and testing cycle starts from here. You can start adding changes in design, and code, and then test each addition. From User testing, unit testing, to functional testing, every type of testing is important.
  • Check the security and compliance
  • Run security tests to ensure that the fitness app is secure and there are no chances of data theft. Find out if you need a license or approval to run the app.
  • Release and support
  • This is the last step. You have to release the fitness app and make sure it performs. Check the app performance using the mobile analytics tools. Monitor the reviews and feedback. Keep making the changes and modifications in the app and release it as a different version.

How Much Will Fitness App Development Cost?

Developing a fitness app may cost you between $25000 and $60000. No fixed amount can be stated. It depends on the different factors including features to be developed, design, management, testing, and quality assurance. All of these elements are going to cost you. A customized app will cost more than an off-the-shelf app.

Conclusion

Fitness app development can be challenging if the development is not well planned. You have to first decide the type of fitness app you want to create. Then chalk out the entire development plan in steps. The cost of app development is also important. Keep it in consideration while finalizing the different app development steps. You can escape this step of estimating cost and finalizing development by hiring a healthcare app development company. You can contact us to create the fitness app from scratch. We have an in-house design team that can provide you with the best UX designs. As a leading software development company, we are dedicated to developing highly responsive and user-friendly apps. Contact us today to develop the best fitness app in your budget.

Ionic vs Flutter: A useful guide to app creators!

Ionic vs Flutter: A useful guide to app creators!
Ionic and Flutter app development frameworks
The digital revolution has gifted the software industry with a plethora of outstanding app development frameworks. As a consequence, choosing the right framework for app development has become a herculean task for app creators. Ionic and Flutter are two such frameworks that utterly confuse the app creators striving hard to pick a framework for architecting cross-platform applications. Picking one out of these frameworks becomes all the more intriguing since they appear quite similar, but are in reality way different from each other. However, both Flutter and Ionic app development come with novel offerings and cater to specific project requirements. Hence, you need to be well versed in their similarities as well as differences to pick the right one.
This blog compares Ionic and Flutter based on certain parameters, to provide the entrepreneurs with clear visibility about their strengths as well as drawbacks and help them decide the perfect pick for their project.
Before we move on to compare Ionic and Flutter, let me provide you a brief introduction to these frameworks.

Introducing the Ionic Framework

The Ionic framework was coined by Ben Sperry, Adam Bradley, and Max Lynch of the Drifty Co. in the year 2013 and its first stable version was launched in March 2014. Ionic is an open-sourced UI toolkit that uses web technologies like JavaScript, CSS and HTML; to architect top-notch desktop, mobile and progressive web applications. Ionic primarily focuses on the front-end UX and UI interaction and hence plays a vital role in handling the look and feel of an app. Not only is it capable of easily integrating with other frameworks and libraries like Cordova, Angular, etc. but also can be used independently without the support of a front-end framework.

Introducing the Flutter Framework

Flutter, Google’s brainchild, is a relatively newer framework as compared to Ionic and is still evolving. It was created in May 2017 and is currently managed by Google with the help of an ECMA standard. Flutter is a UI toolkit that employs Dart programming languages to build swift, attractive and natively compiled cross-platform apps. Flutter was introduced as a Software Development Kit (SDK) intended to build modern apps for Android and iOS. In the case of Android Studio, integration is done with inbuilt Java, while Swift and Objective C integration is done in the case of iOS.

Similarities between Flutter and Ionic app development services

Flutter and Ionic may be way different from each other but share certain similarities too. They are as follows:
  • Both build cross-platform applications that run on desktops, mobiles as well as the web.
  • Both employ a single codebase to create interactive and high-performing apps.
  • Both impart an incredible native look and feel as their primary focus lies in creating UI frameworks for native platforms.
  • Both frameworks have a well-organized documentation for developers.

Differences between Ionic and Flutter app development services

Ionic and Flutter app development services
Now let’s explore the differences between Ionic and Flutter based on the following parameters.
Skillset: Market value
The skillset required to use Ionic involves learning JavaScript and other general web technologies that are needed for any web app development project regardless of the framework used. But, learning Dart for using Flutter will not prove useful for projects involving other frameworks. Moreover, Flutter posseses a highly-custom environment. Hence, a Flutter app developer needs to master certain unique methodologies that are time-consuming and applicable to Flutter app development only. Furthermore, the requirement for Dart developers in the coming years largely depends on whether the newbie Flutter, will succeed as a viable solution in the future.
Hence, acquiring an Ionic skillset proves to be a safer bet for a developer. Besides, its more convenient to hire Ionic app developers as this kind of skillset is easier to find.
Portability of the code
Let’s have a look at how the codes of Flutter and Ionic behave in various eco-systems, OS and processors. Flutter development leads to the creation of visually appealing Android and iOS apps. It is a great choice for mobile apps but encounters limitations when deployed on the web. Ionic, on the other hand, creates fairly good mobile apps and exceptionally good web apps. Therefore, if you are planning to build PWAs or web apps, picking Ionic is advisable.
User Interface
Flutter has attractive user interface in comparison to Ionic because Ionic uses HTML and CSS for rendering. Flutter has widgets as part of UI elements whereas Ionic has Web Components.
Performance
Flutter fares well if your application requires exclusive animation whereas Ionic serves better if you intend to architect an app that is more consumer-facing. Ionic employs primitives and the runtimes of the standard browser, hence the bundle size is 2991 bytes whereas Flutter requires a heavy code for building even a basic application.
Flutter uses Dart language and since it does require JavaScript Bridge for interactions between the app, the performance is far better. Ionic uses Web technologies for rendering, and hence the performance is much lower.
Mobile performance is better in Flutter in comparison to Ionic. Web performance is poorer in Flutter than Ionic.
Free usage of libraries
The Flutter app developers can use Flutter’s libraries and system technologies free of cost. In Ionic, several libraries are free but a paid Pro Development Environment is needed for speeding up the developmental cycle.
Community support
As far as community support is concerned, Ionic surpasses Flutter. Flutter being a newbie lacks strong community support while Ionic enjoys the support from a dynamic global community that assists Ionic app developers to solve problems. However, owing to Google’s continual effort, Flutter also may develop a vibrant community in the years to come.
Future-friendliness
Now let’s discuss these frameworks from the perspective of the flexibility and freedom offered once the app matures. Flutter app development may turn out to be a bit risky. The reason is, if by any chance Google shuns Flutter, a Flutter app Development Company will be left with a code base and skillset that are homeless, though such a situation is least likely. Ionic mobile app development on the other hand is based on open web standards and relies on web components. So, it can be used with any existing JS framework or compatible future framework if the app creators choose to create apps for other platforms or use the code for other projects.

Conclusion

I hope this blog has enlightened you about how the custom-based approach of Flutter differs from the web-based approach of Ionic. Both of these cross-platform app development frameworks are distinctive in their way. Therefore, whether to opt for an Ionic mobile app development company or a Flutter app development company solely depends on your project requirement.
Please do let us know in the comments section below if you have any further queries. We would be glad to assist you!