How Much Does it Cost to Develop an On-Demand Fitness App?

Fitness apps are becoming mainstream on-demand type apps. According to a recent survey, the fitness app market expects to grow by $13 billion globally by the end of 2025. People use these apps to track their daily activities and fitness level. These apps must be attractive and user-friendly. 

Since you are reading this article, it means that you are looking for the cost of developing a fitness app. But unfortunately, the answer to your query is more complex than expected. The fitness app development cost depends on various factors, and in this guide by Vizteck, you will know about all of those factors.

What is an On-Demand Fitness App?

On-demand fitness apps are also known as fitness or personal trainer booking apps. These apps allow users to book a fitness trainer via appointments to get fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle. These apps give users a more personalized and affordable solution to their fitness needs. 

Top Fitness Apps in the Market,

The ultimate fitness apps in the market are

• Nike Training Club
• Fitbit Coach
• MyFitnessPal
• Lifesum

Step-By-Step Guide on Developing Fitness App

To develop a fitness app, the following are the four significant steps you need to follow:

Step 1: Do Market Research and Note Down the Required Features

Before diving into the app development process, you must conduct market research and study your target audience. Knowing about market trends and the needs and demands of your target audience is essential. While doing so, you must find answers to questions like:

• What are the goals of your fitness app?
• What is your target audience?
• What are the requirements and issues of your audience?
• What features must your app have to solve audience problems?
• How will you monetise your fitness app?

Once done with this research, you can list the required features for your app. After that, you can share this list with your development team to help you find the best solutions for them.

Step 2: Hiring a Development Team

Two options are available when hiring a development team, i.e., hiring an in-house developer or choosing a reliable outsourcing company.  

If you want a profitable solution, you can create your development team in case of an already-released product. However, this option is expensive in comparison to outsourcing a development team.

Outsourcing is effective in offering affordable hourly rates, talented developers, and high-quality end products. 

The cost to make a fitness app will vary depending on your chosen option. 

Step 3: Conduct Discovery Phase

In this step, you and your development team discuss the project requirements. It consists of components like

• Requirement analysis- Business analysts conduct several meetings with you to get detailed insight into your app requirements—usually, factors like app features, business goals, target audience, and monetisation strategy. 
• Specifications- This involves a detailed description of app features, required technologies, and their dependencies.
• Wireframe- It involves the systematic representation of the future interface. In this component, designers put elements of the app in a wireframe, including buttons, link forms, and others.
• Quality Assurance- Quality assurance engineers approve the wireframing and specifications, ensuring logical mistakes and guideline violations.
• Detailed estimate- This document involves final time and cost estimates to develop a fitness app based on your requirements. 

Step 4: Development Stage

Before developers start the actual development process, they should make all app screens and their conditions. These screens and conditions get approved by you. 

Later, the development process is divided into various parts to make it more structured. Two weeks are required to complete each sprint. App developers put the features into the app and get it tested by QA engineers.

Monetisation Models for Fitness Apps

Now you know the factors affecting fitness app development cost, it is time to decide the monetisation strategy for the app.

Paid Subscription

People can download many fitness apps for free but with limited functionality. To upgrade to the pro version and unlock all the features, you must pay for it. A paid subscription is the most effective monetisation strategy, but you have to provide a few free days to convince the user of your apps about the investment.  

In-App Purchases

You can use in-app purchases to keep your app accessible without any basic or pro version. It can include special workout programs, training videos, exclusive features, and guided lessons. Your app must offer something that your users will pay for. 

Others 

There are various ways of monetising your apps, such as advertising and pay-per-download. If you have adopted advertising, ensure they aren't interrupting your user’s training. Pay per download requires you to put more effort into marketing and PR. 

Must-Have Features for Your Fitness App

User App

Sign in/Register/Change Password

This feature allows users to create their accounts by registering into the app. They can even change the password of their account through this feature. The option to have social signup is also there, so the user does not have to go through the complete information-entering process.

Signup Credit Card Verification

Signup credit card verification is an optional feature where the user asks to enter his credit card information. If the user does not want to provide those details, he can skip the step.

Home Screen

This feature lets the user see various training categories from which he can select for booking. The user can click to get started or can search for them.

Multidevice Synchronization

Using Bluetooth, GPS and motion sensors, the user can sync with other devices like tablets, personal computers and wearable gadgets. 

Search Trainer

Search trainer is where the user searches for specific training categories or looks for the nearest trainer based on their current location. User can also choose the day he wants to have the training session. If there is no trainer near the user’s location, the app will show him relevant top-rated trainers available. 

Service Listing

This listing enables the user to see trainers based on ratings, time slots they are available at, their rates and photos. Users can see all these details once they click on a trainer’s profile.

Book Trainer (Transform)

Using this feature, a user can book a session with the trainer of choice, and if the user wants, he can book multiple sessions too in one order. The number of sessions to book depends on the availability of the trainer.

Users can also get to use the promo codes provided by users in this feature.

Messaging

Once done with the booking, the user gets to message the trainer for detailed sharing, updates, and other information.

Promo Codes

This feature allows the user to use the trainer's promo codes to give a specific discount percentage. One-time promo code can only be used once by the user. 

GPS Integration

GPS in on-demand fitness apps will allow users to connect with other users in their proximity. 

Meet Up

Create Event

Using create event feature, a user can create an event in which he can limit the number of people who can be a part of that event and add the prices.

Invite People

Users can send invites to specific people within 10 to 12 km of the event location. Invite will be sent to the trainer. Admin gets notified of the event.

Payments

The admin processes all the payments by the users and trainers using the payment feature. Payments are processed when the user joins the event and the trainer has conducted the session.

View Booking History

The user can check all the payments and the sessions he has taken in the past.

Job Notifications

Job notification is a feature where the user gets to see details of his booked training session and gets reminders. It also sends a notification to the user when his training session gets completed. The trainer also gets to leave his reviews and comments. These comments will only be available to the user and admin. 

Cancellation

Users can cancel their training session/ appointment using the cancellation feature. However, the cancellation must be made x hours before the meeting.

Refund

The user can ask for a refund which will be processed manually in stripe. However, the admin can see refund requests in the admin app.

Trainer App

Job Notification

This feature sends the trainer booking notifications.

Add Training Services

The trainer can add his professional pictures and experience certificates through this feature. The trainer enlists all the services that he can provide to the users. A trainer can specify the distance he can deliver his services.

Job History

The trainer gets to see details about his job, the transactions made, and the balance he has been left with since the last payout. He can also get to know the date he got last paid.

Signup/ Sign in/ Change Password/ Change Profile

Tainers get to signup or sign in to their accounts and can also change their profile information. This feature will also allow them to update their profile picture and professional license. 

Cancellation

The trainer will also be able to cancel the appointment.

Admin App

Dashboard

The dashboard is where the admin gets to see all the vital stats of the app, including the bookings done on a daily/weekly or monthly basis, along with earnings.

Promo Codes

Admin can generate promo codes, set time for their validity and disable them.

Configurations

Using this feature, the admin can change the booking percentage to a service fee and the cancellation fee for the user and the trainer.

User’s Listing

This is where the admin gets to see the list of users signed up and their transactions and appointments and edit their details or disable them.

Trainer’s Listing

Admin can view all trainers, filter trainers, approve trainers and check their stats, including total bookings and earnings. 

Technology Stack for Fitness App

For developing an on-demand fitness training app, it is required to combine and use different technologies to create a functional app. The quality and durability of your app depend entirely on the choice of your technology stack. Some of the available options are:

• Programming language- PHP, Node.js, Swift, Kotlin
• Cloud Storage- Amazon S3, Azure Cloud Services
• Utilities- Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Visual Website Optimizer 
• Database- PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, MySQL
• Payment Gateways- Braintree, Stripe, Paypal
• Deployment Platforms- Android, iOS, Cloud
• Libraries- Google Maps, Socket
• Messaging- Twilio, RestComm, Sinch, Nexmo 

Factors Affecting the Cost of Fitness App Development

The overall cost of making fitness app development depends on various factors. To accurately get the overall development cost, you must understand the individual cost of all of these factors. Following are all of those factors that are affecting the cost of fitness app development:

Platform Choice

One of the decisive factors in determining the cost of an app is deciding the platform for which you are developing the app. Android and iOS are two dominant platforms for running mobile applications. No matter which platform you go for, it will impact your fitness app development cost in one way or another.

Location of Development Company

The country from which your development team belongs will impact your app's cost. Hiring professional developers from different countries will cost differently, depending on their hourly rates. Countries like the US, UK, and Canada offer high-cost developers, whereas countries like India, Pakistan, and Ukraine have low prices. 

Cost and Hours of Development

Any feature you are adding to your app will add to its overall cost and development hours. If you want a functional and high-performing app, its cost will be much higher than an app with simple functions. 

Marketing 

After all your efforts, time and money on app creation, you want it to hit the right market. To do so, you need to develop a marketing plan with the help of your marketing team. To implement it, you need to set a budget that adds to your fitness app development cost. 

Maintenance and Support

Once you have released your app in the market, you are still working on your app development here. Instead, you had a team who continuously looked into its maintenance that kept fixing the bugs and errors. 

Fitness App Development Cost

So, how much does it cost to make an app? The fitness on-demand app development cost depends on various factors like its features, UI/UX design, QA service, project management, and Development operation services. 

The common practice is launching an MVP version of your app to get feedback before investing more money. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product, which involves an app with basic features. Once thriving, you can add more features. 

Moving on to the real deal, i.e. the cost, if you take services from us, Vizteck Solutions, the complete project will be around $15,000, and the delivery time is 12 weeks. However, hosting will not be a part of it, but it will include complete UI and graphics. 

Final Thoughts!

Since intense competition exists in the fitness app development market, you must ensure that your app has impeccable design and outstanding features and functionalities. If you want your app to pay off well, your investment in it should be well thought out. There is currently a lot of space in the market for new fitness apps that bring serious cash flow for their owners. 

FAQs

What Is The Cost Of Making A Fitness App?

The cost of developing a fitness app depends on various factors like features, platform, development team, and the like. However, Vizteck is offering you the complete project at $15,000. The price will increase if you want to get a cross-platform application.

What Are The Significant Factors Affecting The Cost Of Fitness App Development?

The significant factors affecting the cost of fitness app development are:

• Features
• Platform
• Development team
• Design
• Testing
• Tech stacks
• DevOps 

What Are The Main Features A Fitness App Should Have?

Features of a fitness app differ from type to type. However, some basic features that any fitness app must have are:

• Registration and login
• Workouts
• Nutrition
• Fitness routine tracking
• User profile
• Push notifications
• payments