How to Build a Health Coaching App: Steps to Follow

The fitness app market is growing at a rapid rate. In the USA alone, the number of users raised from 68.7 million in 2019 to 86.3 million in 2022. This growth is driven by the increasing popularity of wearable technology and cloud-based services, which are driving down costs for both developers and users.

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However, there are still many challenges for app developers who want to enter this space. Building a fitness app requires extensive knowledge about how different pieces of technology work together — and learning them also requires time.

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In this guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about building a fitness app: from choosing the right goals and audience to making sure your user experience is top-notch. We'll also cover some of the most important features your app should include and how they can help your users achieve their goals faster!

What Goals a Fitness Application Should Bear in Itself?

Fitness applications are a perfect choice for those who wish to learn how to exercise or improve their current level of fitness. They provide guidance, motivation, and instruction in a convenient format that is easy to use at home or on the go.

Despite their popularity with users, fitness apps should not solely focus on advising about new exercises or diet tips. Instead, they should be concerned with helping users see results and achieve their goals through regular exercise sessions.

After the COVID-19 global outbreak in 2019, 22% of gyms had to close their doors to visitors in the USA alone. It made lots of people resort to fitness apps as an alternative way of staying fit. Here are some of the most popular reasons why people might want to choose a fitness app instead of a gym:

• Time and place flexibility. A lot of people don't have time to go to a gym, but they still want to stay fit. Fitness apps can help them by providing different exercises that they can do at home or on the go.
• Cost-effectiveness. Gyms often charge members an annual fee to use their facilities and services. Fitness apps can help you save money by providing free workouts that don’t require any equipment.  
• Progress recording. Many fitness apps have built-in features that allow you to track your progress and set goals. This can help motivate you to keep working out or provide inspiration for trying out new exercises.  

Those are only a few benefits that fitness apps can bring. Popular fitness apps like Strava and Nike Run Club also provide a wide range of training programs to follow and allow their users to socialize and find people with the same goals to train together.

Approaching Fitness App Development

The process of fitness app development is largely the same as other application development processes. Its audience, the demands of that audience, the technologies it implements, and solutions that work with them make it unique. We will look closely at the end-to-end process of fitness app development to define what mistakes to avoid and what to pay attention to.

Approve App Concept

The first step in developing a custom fitness app is to establish the concept. When you start the development of your fitness app, it is important to consider what exactly you want to create. A good idea is to focus on one function of an app, then deliver a high-quality product in that area. Scaling and adding more functionality can be done later if needed. There are several types of fitness apps that can be created:

Nutrition and Diet Planning App

These apps help users track what they eat and control their diet plans, so they can stay healthy. Calorie counting, nutrient tracking, and a food database are some of the features that can be included in this type of app.

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Weight Lose App

These apps are designed to help users lose weight by tracking their weight loss progress and offering tips on how to achieve their goals.

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Workout App

Workout apps provide online personalized training programs based on the user’s fitness level and goals. It can be used by beginners or those who are already working out.

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Gym Training App

This type of app helps users learn about weightlifting and other types of exercises that can be performed at the gym. It can also be used to monitor progress by tracking body measurements and stats (repetitions and sets).

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Fitness Tracking App

These apps can be used to track a variety of fitness-related metrics, including distance, calories burned, and heart rate. They can also assist in creating training plans based on the user's goals and current level of fitness.

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After choosing the app type, you should research competitors, think about the unique selling proposition (USP), and finalize the concept of the future app. You will also need to write down all your ideas in a document so that they can be shared with your team later on.

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Once you know what type of app you need to create, it's time to think about your target audience.

Identify Target Audience

Fitness apps have a plethora of uses. Сoaches and athletes and track their performance and devise strategies; people who want to get fit, maintain their fitness levels, and achieve their goals can benefit from them as well. Before you begin developing your fitness app, you need to figure out who will be using your product and those people’s needs. The best way to find out is by conducting market research. You can do this by surveying your audience or creating a focus group.

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You should consider what devices your customers are likely to use. Will they be checking their nutrition plan via mobile app? Or will they prefer using a web platform with their laptop? Or will they want to record training metrics with the help of a smartwatch? The answers to these questions will help you determine what type of platform you need to develop. For example, if you're building an application that allows people to record their training metrics via smartwatch, then you would probably want to focus on customers who own smartwatches or other wearables like Garmin and Apple Watch.

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The functions and features of your fitness application should also be considered before development. Your customers' needs must be satisfied by the app for them to stay with it long-term — so make sure that whatever features you decide on are relevant and useful.

Define Must-Have Features

The features depend on the type and target audience of the application, so once we decide on a concept and determine the audience, defining these features becomes much easier. To make sure that your app will get traction and become popular, you need to consider some key features:

• easy registration on a website or within the application;
• personalized training program;
• possibility to upload photos and videos from workouts;
• ability to share your achievements on social media channels;
• integration with wearable devices.

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For Trainees and Athletes

There are several features that can make your application more attractive to trainees and athletes. These include:

• support for various types of sports (running, swimming, cycling);
• ability to track progress;
• customizable profile;
• detailed statistics and charts;
• connection to external devices;
• online coaching,
• payment methods;
• personal bests and other achievements.

Athletes and trainees need an application that is smooth, easy to use, and provides them with accurate information about their performance.

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For Trainers and Coaches

The application should provide a platform for trainers and coaches to manage their clients and customize their workout and diet plans. The features you might want to implement are:    

• scheduled online fitness sessions;
• live-streaming of classes;
• monitor performance statistics over time;
• make adjustments to custom workout plans based on client feedback;
• ability to attach videos, instructions, and post content;
• export data for analysis;  
• notifications and reminders;
• in-app messenger for trainers and coaches to communicate with their clients.

The features can vary depending on the goal of your application.

Build a Prototype

A prototype is one of the most important parts of developing a fitness app. It helps you visualize your app and make sure that it's user-friendly, with all the necessary buttons and tabs included in the interface. It also ensures that the app is easily navigated by its users.

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To build a prototype, you need to have a clear idea of what features you want your application to have. You can create a flow chart to show how users will interact with different parts of your product. It's time for you to start sketching out how each screen of your app will look and build simple prototypes using HTML or CSS code.

Decide on Tech Stack

After the prototype is ready, we need to specify the tech stack to use during development. With so many options available, you must make an informed decision about which tech stack best suits your mobile product. The choice of technology stack can affect the budget for custom app development and also may impose certain limitations on your mobile product's capabilities.

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There are a variety of different types of apps that can be built using various tech stacks:

• Native apps. These are written in a language specific to each platform (Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android).
• Hybrid apps. These are apps that have a native UI layer and a web-based back end, so they can be used on both iOS and Android devices (React Native, Flutter).
• Cross-platform app. These are apps that can run on multiple platforms with a single code base (Xamarin).
• Platform-based app. These apps are built for a specific platform and can't be used on other devices (Apple Watch, Blackberry).  
• Progressive web app (PWA). These are apps that can be accessed through a browser and are indistinguishable from native apps.

Many factors go into choosing a technology stack for your custom workout app. You might want your solution to be easily integrated with sensors, Apple Health, Google Fit, and Samsung Health for better data extraction capabilities. To have a wider audience reach, you can consider integrating your app with mobile solutions like Fitbit.

Initiate Development Process

This process usually involves coding the UI/UX of your app and then moving on to backend development. One of the most crucial aspects of this process is designing a wireframe that illustrates how users will interact with your product.

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Coding is the process of writing the code that makes your app work. This phase can take a while, depending on how complicated your fitness app is. In most cases, it takes about two months to develop a minimum viable product (MVP).

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Once that process is complete, the app will be tested and reviewed by a team of experts. This will ensure that it is ready to be released into the wild and used by actual users. You'll receive feedback from the team so that you know what they'd like to see changed or added before it's launched publicly.

Launch and Maintain the App

Once the app is released into the wild, you'll need to maintain it. This means providing users with updates and bug fixes as they become available. You'll also want to keep track of how many people are using your fitness app and what kinds of activities they're doing with it. Their feedback and reviews along the way will indicate the weak points of your product, and you will be able to respond to the criticism with timely fixes.

Don't Forget About Monetization Strategy for Your App

It's important that the app not only has a good user experience but also a monetization strategy. If you have decided to create an application, you should have a clear idea of how much money you want to earn. There are many ways to monetize an app. Let's take a look at some of the most popular app strategies.

Free Applications

Free applications are a great way to get users on board. The only problem with this model is that it's hard to generate revenue because you have to rely on advertisements or in-app purchases.

Apps with Advertisements

The most popular monetisation model is to have a free application with advertisements. This strategy works well if you're planning to have a large audience, but it can be hard to scale if your app is only targeting a niche market.

In-App Purchases

Another popular way to monetise an app is by offering in-app purchases. This can be anything from virtual currency to premium content.  

Paid Apps or Subscriptions

If you're building a high-quality app, the best way to monetise it is by charging users. You can launch your app as a paid application or set up a subscription service. In both cases, you'll need to make sure that your users feel that they get value from using your product so that they're willing to pay for it.

What Costs to Expect When Building a Fitness App?

The cost of building a fitness application depends on your project requirements and features. The price range for full-featured fitness product app development may fall within the $60,000 to $160,000 price range. Factors that influence the price include:

• Team. The team size is one of the most important factors when it comes to the cost of your product. The more people work on it, the higher will be its price. Whether you hire a dev agency, freelancers, or an internal IT team — it will play a key role in estimating a budget.
• Development stages and services. The more stages you need, the higher will be the cost of development. If you need full cycle development, including business model development, design, and monetisation strategy creation, then it will cost more than just ordering prototype and app development separately.
• App's complexity. The more features and platforms you want to cover, the higher the cost will be.
• Technologies and integrations. If you need to integrate third-party systems, then it will cost more than just developing a standalone app. The same story is with customising your app for different platforms.
• Time. If you need to speed up the development, then it will cost more.

All of these elements come together to create an estimate of how long it will take before your final product is ready — and how much it'll cost along the way!

Diversido's Experience with Fitness Applications

Our team has designed and developed health and wellness applications for various purposes. We have been involved in the development of Health Mentor, Visual Gains, and Eatiquette fitness apps.

Health Mentor

This application is designed to help coaches, trainers, and dieticians lead their clients more efficiently through the health improvement process. They monitor their clients' progress by tracking data from their smartphones and wearable devices. It provides coaches with detailed information about their clients' diets, sleep patterns, and exercise habits. Read more about it here.

Visual Gains

We've helped Visual Gains develop their apps for Android and iOS using Xamarin software. The application connects to a special XLFlex strap via Bluetooth 4.0 and monitors muscle growth and exercise activity in real time during the workout session. It helps bodybuilders control their training schedule, learn about different exercises and methods for achieving the desired result, track their progress, and organize their workouts in the most efficient way.

Eatiquette

Nutrition apps like Eatiquette help users make healthier choices while shopping. It uses keyword search and a camera to scan barcodes, identifying the ingredients and nutritional value of various products. You can use Eatiquette to search for foods with low-fat or sugar content or figure out whether the products you want to buy contain anything that might cause an allergic reaction.

Time to Build Your Perfect App for Coaches

Building and launching a fitness app requires some time and effort. If you are willing to go the extra mile, then there is nothing stopping you from creating your perfect fitness application for coaches and trainees.

In this article, we have explained all that you need to know about building an app for health and wellness, including how to get started with the development process. To create your perfect fitness application, you need to understand what features and functionality it should contain. We are here to help you with this process: we have extensive experience in creating health coaching apps for clients worldwide.

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