The global wellness market brought in $5.6 trillion

In 2022, the global wellness market brought in $5.6 trillion. It is anticipated that the sector will continue to develop steadily and reach $8.5 trillion by 2027. About 28% of Americans belong to a gym, 21% have made a commitment to increase their physical activity, and the use of fitness apps is expected to soar to a value of about $10 billion by 2028 (up from less than $7 billion in 2024). There has never been a more favorable moment to establish a presence in this lucrative industry.

As more and more modern exercisers look for specialized, useful healthcare and fitness maintenance solutions, the fitness app business is currently generating healthy profits. A lot of people use fitness applications as a practical way to track their exercises, set objectives, and receive customized plans. Fitness apps will keep growing in popularity because they make it easier to receive expert exercise and nutrition advice from anywhere.

Because both well-known companies and upstarts in the health and wellness space are investing in mobile development to obtain a distinct competitive edge, fitness app development is currently in great demand.

 

This post summarizes both our knowledge of the market's nuances and our experience developing fitness applications. This post is for you if you want to keep up with the latest trends or if you're prepared to create your own sports and health app. 

 

Market overview: Top fitness applications and widely used app categories

 

Let's take a closer look at the world of applications, where technology and sweat meet. Users' emphasis on physical fitness and health has increased globally, which has increased the "appetite" for applications that track food, teach meditation, and offer advice on how to get into or stay in shape.

Thus, the  current market offers a wide range of applications that appeal to diverse fitness preferences: from different calorie counters and trackers to dancing, yoga, and specialist platforms. You will find it easier to break into the market with a fresh idea that inspires consumers and yields noticeable outcomes if you have studied these types of fitness apps.

 

Running and cycling apps

They cater to outdoor enthusiasts, providing GPS-bottomed route planning and allowing athletes to navigate new paths. If this is the variety you are contemplating building a fitness app for, let users track their pace, elevation, and path length while also accessing features like audio cues, social sharing, interval training, and setting goals.

Plus, these apps can also monitor how many calories a user has burned and give an overall progress picture.

 

Gym apps

These types of fitness apps are usually free from GPS features. A plethora of exercise libraries with detailed instructions and demonstrations, customizable exercise plans, progress tracking, and integration with wearables distinguish them.

Using these apps, sport enthusiasts get the convenience of a gym membership and the expertise of professional trainers in one solution.

Examples: Gym Workout Tracker, Jefit, 8fit

 

Personal trainer apps

When creating a fitness app of this type, come up with a digital platform that lets users access highly personalized fitness guidance. Such applications usually offer an array of workout plans, virtual coaching sessions, nutrition tracking, exercise regimens (in both audio and video formats), and performance monitoring.

Plus, with these apps, the audience can have the possibility to schedule private classes with local trainers.

Examples: Aaptiv, Sworkit, Endomondo

 

Activity tracking apps

While activity monitoring capabilities are frequently found in many sports and health applications, some independent apps provide similar functionality separately.

Moreover, they are among the top fitness apps and are in demand. They evaluate many elements of physical activity and health-related behaviors, including step counting, workout journaling, calorie tracking, and more. They usually involve integration with smartwatches to obtain activity information and follow health statistics.

Examples: Google Fit, Apple Health, Garmin

 

Yoga apps

Apps for yogis use an approach similar to the one above. When building your own fitness app for this target audience, provide a collection of pre-planned programs for different levels of difficulty.

Your users must be able to access instructional videos, follow structured routines, and track their advancement. The applications often integrate features like community forums and meditation guidance or pair yoga practice with general physical exercise.

Examples: Daily Yoga, Asana Rebel, Yoga Studio

 

Must-have features of any fitness app

While the above-listed app types have certain specifics, they also have a number of common features. Moreover, you can combine key features of several app categories to create a fitness app.

Having analyzed a number of the most popular apps from various categories, we were able to identify the basic features for any sport and health app. These include the following:

• Personal account. This includes user info (age, gender, height, and weight), an activity log, personal settings, and custom goals.
• Hardware integration and compatibility. For the best user experience, make sure your app works with the most popular fitness wearables (e.g. Fitbit and Apple Watch) and can sync data with Google Health and Apple Health.
• Goal setting. It’s one of the integral parts of a fitness app that lets users plan ahead and set fitness goals.
• Health tracking and logging. Whether you integrate with a wearable to track the user’s vitals during the workout or simply allow them to make a log of their diets and workouts, health and activity data are core elements of any fitness app.
• Personalized workout/plan suggestions. Take advantage of user info and logs. Build an algorithm that can learn from the user’s specific needs and preferences. This can be used to suggest tailored plans/content for them.
• Geolocation. With this feature, users can create different routes for walking, running and cycling, as well as see and track the distance when they run or cycle with the map provided by the app.
• Community features. Help your users connect with other people using your app, share their achievements, and consult with specialists in real time.
• Content. Let users access educational content on health and fitness (video or audio materials) within your app or simply allow them to listen to some music while they work out.
• Notifications. A must-have engagement element of any app. They can serve as friendly reminders, prompting users to work out more or provide timely alerts on upcoming workouts.
• Barcode scanning. A convenient and fast way to add info about food and nutrition. ShopWell has a handy barcode scanning feature to help you get the info on the products you are about to buy.