Have you ever used any fitness app on your device? If yes, then you are one of the new-gen users who is leveraging the technology for health benefits, and it is such a great thing.

There are multiple apps in the market where popular fitness apps like Fitbit are top-demandable due to the increasing consciousness about healthcare and personal body fitness.

If you have an idea to develop a Fitbit clone app, then here is a great guide that will take you to the various aspects of fitness app development.

Then, you can refer to it for your upcoming app. In addition to it, you can also hire on-demand app development experts to take it to the next level.

Introduction

Health is such a thing that we can’t compare it with anything that exists in the universe. If we are fit and healthy, then we can achieve any desired item in our life. There are various ways to achieve fitness goals that include workouts, exercises, therapies, etc.

Now, there is a massive influence of mobile technology in our lives, and the positive thing is that it can also help us meet our fitness goals. Yes, you have guessed it right. These are fitness apps that are working as significant healthcare guides for many persons.

The best thing is that you only need an internet-enabled device and motivation to use the app for using app like Fitbit. Several things make a mobile app enjoyable, and the same is applied to a fitness app. Before we proceed to discuss various aspects related to it, let’s look at the following statistics.

• In 2018, only 62.7 million users used at least one fitness app and the number reached 84 million in 2021.
• During Q1, 2020, the total fitness app download was 593 million, and by the end of Q2, it reached 656 million.
• The virus outbreak made people more conscious about their health; as a result, the number of fitness app users increased.
• On Jan, 18 the monthly download of fitness apps was only 3.22 million, and in Jan 2021, monthly downloads reached 16.2 million which is a notable figure.

One thing is clear from the above statistics there is much need for more mobile fitness app solutions and wearables. Regarding the same fitness app development, companies are focusing on developing the apps like Fitbit.

What is Fitbit App?

The Fitbit app belongs to the company Fitbit, which deals in smartwatches, trackers, accessories such as smart designer bracelets, and others. The company recently launched its new product called “Luxe” which works as a fashion and fitness wristband. Its founder members are James Park and Eric N. Friedman.

If we specifically talk about the Fitbit app, the following are the points that you would love to read-

• It is a free app that tracks your activity throughout the day. It includes calories burned, pulse rate, etc.,
• While using this app, you can find workouts, diet plans, meditation guidance, sleep tools, and many more features.
• You can also share your health stats with your friends or join communities.
• A user can set fitness goals.
• The user data can be synced automatically to the partner apps, which are more than 3000+.
• It works with all Fitbit devices.

In, 2019 there were 29 million active users counted on the Fitbit platform, so, in addition to it, you would also like to read the following statistics-

• In 2020, the revenue generated by Fitbit was 1.13 million, and they sold 10.6 million devices.
• To date, over 30 million users use the Fitbit app.

There are some other exciting things also exist about Fitbit that you can find on the internet. One of the exciting things about this app is that it captures the data from device sensors. It is such an inspirational app for developers who think to develop app for fitness and healthcare.

How Does Fitbit App Works?  

The Fitbit app is known to deliver a personalized experience to the user regarding fitness tracking and stats. It also provides excellent insights so the user can use them to progress toward a fitness goal. You can customize the app also for seeing the desired stats accordingly.

Here are some steps that will take you to the steps involved in setting Fitbit app quickly.

• Download the app from the Google Play Store or App Store in case of iOS device

Install the app and once the installation is complete, tap – Join Fitbit

• As the next step, select your tracker device and tap on the setup option.
• After asking for some permission, the app is ready for use.

It is such an easy process to set up this app for use. In addition to it, you should know also about the tabs available in the app, which are the following-

1.  Today Tab: This tab facilitates the user to observe their daily status which includes stats regarding pulse rate, burning calories, sleep hours, weight status, and even how many hours they have exercised in the current week.
2. Discover Tab: Under this tab, you can find various fitness challenges that you can follow to stay and become fit.
3. Community: It is also a powerful feature that allows users to connect with other users. Here they can interact with other community members and participate in ongoing fitness discussions or post their queries on the community portals.

Additional Info: The Fitbit device counts your steps and active zone minutes, and as additional stats, it also senses the data related to the water & food intake and weight.

Fitness Tracking App Development Cost and Features

Features Need To Consider While Developing Fitness App Like Fitbit

The Fitness app market was $4.4 billion in 2020, and by 2028, it is projected to reach $20.76 billion that will be a huge difference. The point is, if you are planning to generate revenue via launching a fitness app like Fitbit, then you are thinking in the right direction. Although, it would be best to know about the essential features you must consider for developing Healthcare IT Solutions or a mobile fitness application.

Let’s have a look at the following features-

1. User Login

Yes, fitness is also a personal matter, so in terms of signing up in a fitness app, it first required a feature where the user will have a safe and separate account. To make user onboarding smooth, you can include a social media login feature that helps the user log in fast.

2. My Profile

This is one of the essential features that you can consider for your fitness app. It allows users to feed their age, weight, name, and other personal data, including fitness goals. So, since they will start using the app, they can track their performance. Therefore, it is advisable that users must be able to create their profile smoothly so they can enjoy the app.

3. Social Media Sharing

It is an exciting feature, and you must have it in your Fitbit app clone. When users share their achievements on the social media platforms they use. It will motivate them more to achieve what they want regarding their fitness.

4. Designing

More than 60% of users uninstall the mobile apps if they found them poorly designed, so it would be best to ensure that you have a creative, responsive, and interactive design. The user will love it, and in turn, your fitness app will get the mouth publicity. 

5. Data Security

It is a prime responsibility of every app developer to ensure users’ data privacy and security, so you need to follow it to generate trust among users. The top fitness app development firms always take care of it because user input their personal information on these apps and the fitness app has accurate location data. However, if there will be any whole loop insecurity, then the results may be hazardous.

6. App Personalization 

Every user has specific fitness goals, different body specifications, and requirements. So, instead of offering the same diet and fitness plan, navigating them to achieve the same fitness goal will never be fair. The customized fitness app must entertain the users to use the personalization feature as per their specific requirements.

7. Gamification

Although users utilize the fitness app for healthcare, it does not mean that they want to use it in a boring or ordinary way. So for creating interest Gamification of an app is a great idea. You can add fitness and healthcare-oriented quizzes and puzzles that include exercise details or diet-related questions. You can also develop the functionality for providing badges, rewards, and progress certificates to the users.

#8. Notification

The user will love it if they get some exercises hacks, diet hacks, and workout reminders via notifications. It is a much-needed feature in each healthcare app specifically designed for health benefits and all age groups. You can also add the functionality that sends push notifications to the users if they are not using the app for a long time.

#9. Geolocation Feature 

The apps like Fitbit sense users’ activity via sensor but do not have Geolocation feature or have limited Geolocation feature. So, to make your app different and unique from others, you can integrate the Geolocation feature that tells the user statistics about the traffic and path. It will be loved by the users who used to do exercise outside.

#10. Integration With Wearable

If you plan to develop a fitness app clone and target a large audience base, then it will be a great feature to include in the app. The integration with a wearable is the new age technology on which many app developers are now focusing. It facilitates the users to synchronize the app with their fitness tracker devices. It would be an innovative idea if your app must be compatible with all kinds of fitness devices.

11. Chat Feature

In-app chat features such a nice feature, and most of the newly launched apps have these features. For example, it allows users to chat with their fitness trainer or diet experts. In addition to it, two users can also share their experiences about their fitness goals.

 12. Video & Image Guide

Some users may not be able to find or take services from personal fitness trainers, so your app can become a savior for them by providing the facility to access the video, animation, and image guide regarding exercises, fitness plans, and diet plans. It can also create interest among other users who are in search of an excellent fitness app.

Cost and Features To Develop A Fitness App

13. Diet Tracker

This feature tracks the food and water intake that helps the user decide on their diet plan and what they should exclude and include in their daily diet to stay fit and healthy. It also notifies the user to stay hydrated.

14. Multiple Device Synchronization

Here you need to develop apps in such a way that after launching and installing, the user must be able to synchronize multiple devices to efficiently experience the app.

15. Review and Ratings  

If you want to improve your mobile app, then implementing a review and rating feature will be best where users can comment honestly about their likes and dislikes. Later you can analyze these ratings for improvement and overcoming the existing challenges. 

Types of Fitness Apps

There are various aspects of fitness apps as it guides the user about workout and includes education to users regarding diet and other information. So, before putting your first step to develop Fitbit clone, it will be excellent to know about the type of fitness apps that can be categorized into three-

1. Workout and Exercise App

Now, individuals are focusing on the workouts to keep their fitness & health fine. There are several mediums they follow where a workout app can solve their problems a lot. It is such an excellent idea to develop an app for fitness in 2021. It will work as a multipurpose solution for fitness lovers where they can primarily refer to it to learn and train themselves with exercises and customized workout plans. While developing this app, the features like a workout for full-body, upper body, lower body, and fat loss can be included.

2. Nutrition Guiding App

Although the exercises can help you get a fit body if you are missing the nutrition, it is a mistake because as per the principles of medical sciences with workout, a person also needs to take care of diets and supplements. A person can consult the dietitian for a nutrition plan, but it is not affordable for all due to some issues. So, if a nutrition guiding app can work as a personal nutritionist for a user, they will be happy to use it. It is really a worthy idea to create a nutrition guiding app.

3. Activity Tracking App

The activity tracking apps are a new generation of fitness & healthcare mobile apps like Fitbit that track physical activity chosen by users, including cycling, walking, running, and even hardcore workouts. It can count the steps, distance covered, number of climbed stairs, and amount of burned calories. The users can observe all the statistics via UI.

How to Develop The Best Fitness or Workout App

Cost To Develop Fitness App Like Fitbit

Having fitness apps like Fitbit is such an outstanding idea, and when it comes to the cost, it takes the US $20,000- the US $60,000 with the basic version. Still, if you want to include some advanced features, the cost will be a little high. In addition, the following are some factors that affect the cost of fitness app development.

• Platform: Android and iOS both platforms are best to launch the healthcare industry solutions that include fitness applications. Worldwide there are 72.81% Android platform users and 26.96% iOS platform users. If we specifically talk about the USA, there are 57.33% iOS users, and the rest, 42.33% users, use Android mobile phones. The point is to be noted that there is a difference between the cost of iOS fitness apps and Android apps. Generally, iPhone app development is costlier than Android, so you can decide accordingly on which platform you want to focus on.
• Team Size: If there is a requirement to add more features and functionality, then a large team is required, so the cost will be accordingly high. However, one manager, one team leader, two developers, and one designer is enough for the basic version. That can cost you up to $60,000 for having a fitness app like Fitbit.
• Designing: Front-end development is as crucial as backend development so, if there is a cost for it, then it is advised that you do not compromise with the design to save the price because it is an investment for the success of a fitness app.
• Tech Stack: for any app development, the tech stack is a much-required thing that includes programming languages, framework, UI/UX tools, database, server requirement, and all. These all required individual costs. Following are the details of the tech stack needed for fitness app development.
• Deployment Platforms: iOS, Android
• Programming Languages: Node.js, Swift, Kotlin, PHP
• IDE: Android Studio, Xcode
• Cloud Storage: AmazonS3, Microsoft Azure
• Database: MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL
• Analytics: Google, Mixpanel
• Payment Gateways: Stripe, Braintree, PayPal
• Messaging Platform: Twilio
• Location: The mobile app developers from different locations charge differently on an hourly basis. If we specifically talk about the fitness app developer, USA, they usually charge $50 to $250 per hour, and the rest depend upon the project requirement.

The Monetization Model of Fitness Apps

If you are in the search that how to make a fitness app profitable then you would love to read the following points-

1. Subscription-Based App

It is one of the finest answers to the question that how to earn from the fitness apps like Fitbit. Following this model, you can include various subscription plans that users can choose accordingly as per their needs. It works with more features, high subscription cost accordingly.

2. In–App Purchase

As per this fitness app monetization model you can launch your app for free. Still, you can offer several items for purchase that includes diet supplements, protein supplements, exercise equipment, healthcare devices, yoga mats, sportswear and all. It can also include paid diet plan that you can charge few dollars for it.

3. Freemium Version

Although it will be free for use for experiencing more features users have to purchase the premium version with full functionality. It directly means that the free version of the fitness app will have limited functionality and if a user wants to go with the advanced features then they have to pay for it.

4. Ads

Under this model, you can allow third parties deals in healthcare industry solutions can display their ads that include health supplement providers, exercise equipment dealers etc. Here your earning will be based on per ad and the time duration of an ad campaign.

Wrapping It Up!

Developing fitness apps like Fitbit is a fantastic idea; on the other hand, you need expertise that includes in-depth knowledge of app development to develop it. If you have only basic knowledge, you can take consultation from an experienced mobile app development company instead of developing your own. With this option, you will have services from experienced professionals who will help launch your fitness app.

The fitness app industry is such a big industry where revenue is generated in millions of dollars. In Q1 -2019, health and fitness app worldwide download was 488 million, and in Q2 2020 it reached 656 million downloads with exponential growth. If we specifically observe the statistics regarding the number of health and fitness users in the USA, then in 2018, they were 62.7 million.

That figure is expected to reach 86.3 million in 2022. Among all fitness apps, Fitbit is on the top with 27.4 million users so, if you are focusing on the features to implement that could make your fitness app popular like Fitbit, then you are in the right direction. So, go ahead and enjoy it.