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How to create an app like MyFitnessPal

Health, lifestyle, and fitness are among the highest-grossing app categories. The pandemic led to a significant rise in this trend as most people were stuck in their homes and were compelled to turn to their smartphones for health and fitness guidance.

Fitness app downloads and engagement continue to rise as people prefer achieving their health and fitness goals in the comfort of their homes. As apps ensure mobility and flexibility, most of us opt for the same. As a result, most fitness apps are giving goals in terms of engagement and success.

One such leading name in the fitness app industry is MyFitnessPal. If you are inspired by the app and aim to create a similar one for your own fitness business, then you have landed at the right place. Stay tuned and learn how you can develop a fitness app of your own.

In this blog

  1. Fitness app industry: Facts and statistics worth knowing
  2. Benefits of creating a fitness app like MyFitnessPal
  3. Salient features of a fitness app
  4. Advanced features for a premium fitness app
  5. How to build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal?
  6. How to build white-label fitness apps for customers?
  7. Popular apps similar to MyFitnessPal
  8. Frequently asked questions

Fitness app industry: Facts and statistics worth knowing

To enter the fitness app market with confidence, you should be aware of how the industry is performing and where it is headed in terms of customer engagement, revenue, and so on. This is where numbers can speak volumes and give you a fair idea of the same.

Therefore, we have compiled a list of some significant facts and statistics related to the fitness app industry. Scroll through them and know for yourself:

Fitness app market

Source

  • Fitness app downloads reached the count of 2,493 million in the year 2020. The number is expected to reach 4,239 million this year, and 5,534 million by the year 2027.
  • Revenue in the Fitness app market is estimated to reach 5 billion US dollars in 2023. Growing at a rate of 14.96% (CAGR 2023-2028), the revenue is expected to double and reach a volume of 10.04 billion US dollars by 2028.
  • MyFitnessPal was the top-grossing fitness app in 2020 and 2021. It has more than 200 million users, emerging as one of the most popular health and fitness apps.
  • MyFitnessPal generated 247 million US dollars in revenue in 2022. Subscriptions to its premium services are a major contributing factor. Strava and Fitbit bagged the second and third positions respectively.
  • About 50 percent of IAP (In-app purchases) revenue generated by fitness apps comes from the United States. It is the biggest market for fitness apps.

Fitness Apps are one of the highest-funded startups. Most investors believe in fitness apps and consider them a rewarding investment. The numbers above justify the same and show that the online fitness market is constantly increasing. This means that if you are planning to create a fitness app then you are headed in the right direction.

Benefits of creating a fitness app like MyFitnessPal

As established by the statistics discussed above, the fitness app industry is highly promising. Sedentary lifestyles and irregular food and sleep habits are affecting our physical and mental health. Moreover, healthcare is expensive for most of us, and staying healthy and active is the best way to avoid those colossal medical bills.

As a result, people are more concerned about their well-being and are turning to digital assets like smartphones and wearables for the desired health assistance. Therefore, it is clearly a favorable time to invest in fitness apps. In fact, you can open the doors to several new opportunities by launching your own fitness app.

Some of the obvious benefits of creating your own fitness app are as discussed below:

Leverage the growing app market

Mobile apps have become the most popular medium for business-consumer engagement. From eCommerce to education, and entertainment to fitness, apps are ruling in every realm. Similarly, fitness apps can ensure more engagement and conversions than your websites or maybe even your physical fitness outlets as they transcend beyond geographical and logistical limitations.

You can launch your app and ride the wave of the rising app market. Moreover, you can ensure remote accessibility for your clients and reach customers around the world. As a result, you can unlock many more new opportunities and make the most of them.

Enjoy financial freedom

Developing a physical fitness outlet from the ground up can be challenging and limiting. Moreover, you will have to open more than one store if you want to reach customers at different locations. Managing and maintaining these stores can also become extremely difficult and cumbersome with limited resources and budget.

However, apps have no such limitations. With advanced no-code app development technologies in the picture, app development has become extremely affordable and easy. You can start your app-based fitness startup on a lower budget and still unlock several opportunities for investment, sponsorships, and monetization.

Offer personalized solutions

Mobile apps give you access to detailed consumer information and data points. Moreover, you can connect with every user through various mediums like app notifications, in-app chat, and so on. This presents you with the opportunity to personalize the experience for your customers and earn their undivided attention and loyalty.

While customers enjoy their fitness and diet regimes in the comfort of their homes, you can make sure that they get an amazing experience. From selling fitness merchandise to uploading diet recommendations and workout tutorials, you can achieve everything under one roof. This also increases your revenue and engagement potential, making your business an overall success.

Salient features of a fitness app

Eye-catching UI/UX, user-friendly features, and advanced functionalities can together make the app experience smooth and interactive. In fact, features play a deciding role in the success of every app.

While the final list of features depends on your app’s purpose and goals, some of the underlying factors remain the same across all niches. Here’s a list of key features and functionalities that you can consider for your fitness app:

  • Multi-channel user onboarding (login via Facebook, Gmail, Apple, etc.)
  • Client profile management
  • Client subscription management
  • Smooth navigation, UI & UX
  • Smart search and filter options
  • Video lessons and fitness blogs
  • Diet recommendations and recipes
  • Workout schedule & progress tracking
  • Fitness merchandise shopping
  • Multiple payment gateways
  • Customer rating, review & feedback collection
  • Loyalty program, referral, and coupon support
  • Push notification support
  • Usage data analytics
  • Multilingual support
  • In-app chat support
  • Monetization support

You can use the above points as a checklist and guide when finalizing the features of your fitness app. Make sure to incorporate your app’s goals, customers’ expectations, and the latest trends in the market when you curate the final list of your fitness app features. 

Advanced features for a premium fitness app

While the aforementioned list of features is essential for fitness apps, there are some advanced functionalities you can add to make it more powerful. Some of these advanced features have been covered below –

  • Calorie tracking features: Many fitness apps have calorie calculators. This tool enables app users to input their diet and training regime, using which they can understand their overall calorie intake. 
  • Video conferencing features: Trainers often offer video lessons to their clients. By integrating video conferencing features into the app, you can expand your brand’s ecosystem and ensure all features are available within your application. 
  • AR features: Using AR features, your app can track whether users are maintaining proper posture during fitness sessions. This can be a great feature to automate fitness sessions and reduce regular dependence on trainer availability.

How to build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal?

MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular fitness apps in several regions. You are not alone if you are inspired by its features and functionalities. From offering dietary and nutritional information to guiding users during their workout sessions, it has all the properties of a wholesome fitness app.

Stay tuned and learn how you can develop a fitness app of your own and entice fitness freaks. Follow the steps listed below and get concise guidance on fitness app development:

Step 1: Conduct thorough research

No app becomes a success overnight. Creating an app like MyFitnessPal takes months of research and planning. A lot of effort goes into the pre-production phase where businesses study the market and chalk out the blueprint of their app.

We recommend you do the same. Conduct thorough research and study the market before getting into development. Analyze your competition and study the factors that lead to their success and failures.

Similarly, study your audiences and understand their needs and pain points. Try to offer something unique to your competitors and stand out from the competition. Meanwhile, do not forget to ensure customer satisfaction and retention.

A strategic start will help you get the desired momentum and channel your efforts and investments in the right direction. Make yourself aware of the latest trends in fitness app development and the app market in general and move ahead accordingly.

Suggested read: How to conduct mobile app market research?

Step 2: Prototype your app idea

Mobile app designing is not as simple as it sounds. UI/UX acts like the skeleton of the app and plays a significant role in the overall success of your app. While the right design can earn you more engagement and conversions, a poor one can damage the whole experience and affect your customer’s navigational journey.

Therefore, it is best to create wireframes, prototypes, and mockups of your app before you take it to development. Create frameworks for your app design and scale it to create interactive demos. You can use these mockups to help your development team visualize the app project and remain on the same page.

Prototypes can also help those who want to raise funding for their fitness apps as it allows you to share your app idea and vision with your investors and stakeholders. Overall, it plays a critical role in ensuring that your project is headed in the right direction.

Step 3: Develop and deploy 

AppMySite Mobile app builder

Once the app idea and design are finalized, you can proceed to develop the app. If you are familiar with coding and programming, you can start developing your app with the help of app development frameworks and tools. For this, you may need to hire some people for professional help and assistance. Else, you can also hire freelancers or agencies to do the job for you.

However, this process is time-consuming and costly and takes away the control from your hands. Therefore, it is best to go for no-code app builders that enable you to design and develop your app without any coding or programming.

For instance, you can sign up for AppMySite’s no-code fitness app builder and create your own app in minutes. This is the smarter and more optimized way to build apps. Here, you can manage everything from development to deployment like a breeze and create app-store-ready apps in minutes.

The following steps explain how to build a fitness and nutrition app like MyFitnessPal –

  • Get started with an AppMySite account. Give your app a name and choose your app type. 
  • Personalize your app with premade design templates and customizable icons, elements, and graphics. 
  • Add menus to your app. You can add a bottom bar and side menu to improve in-app navigation. 
  • Preview your app on Android and iOS device emulators. You can fully test how your app looks and works. 
  • Download the app from your AppMySite account and publish it on the app stores. 

AppMySite’s mobile app creator enables you to create a fitness app like MyFitnessPal without writing a single line of code. 

How to build white-label fitness apps for customers?

Fitness app development is not just for those who own a fitness-centric business or physical fitness outlet. Alternatively, you can start your very own fitness app development company and create fitness apps for other businesses.

For this, you do not have to go through the traditional route of setting up a huge app development ecosystem and hiring a team of professionals and experts. All you have to do is become a white-label app reseller and sign up for a platform that offers the same.

For instance, AppMySite has a white-label app builder for agencies and resellers who want to extend our DIY app development solution to their customers. You get access to a readymade and reliable solution that makes app development fast, easy, and affordable.

You can add your own logo and branding elements and make our platform your own. Go on to resell the app development solutions to your clientele and enable them to build fitness apps or any other type of app with ease. For more details, you can check out our blog recommended below.

Suggested Read: How to start an app development company?

Popular apps similar to MyFitnessPal

While MyFitnessPal is a popular fitness and nutrition app, there are other similar apps you can use as a reference to build your fitness app. Here are a few fitness apps similar to MyFitnessPal that include features like calorie tracking, diet planning, and overall health management – 

  • Fitbit 
  • Calorie Counter by Lose It!
  • Noom 
  • Yazio
  • Cronometer
  • MyPlate by LiveStrong
  • Lifesum
  • JEFIT
  • Carb Manager
  • SparkPeople

While the features of these apps vary, they find a lot of customers interested in fitness and health-related services and products. Their high number of installs highlights the popularity of fitness apps and the success you can achieve with your fitness app.

In conclusion

That was all from our end. Hope you got answers to all your questions related to fitness app development. If you are ready to create an app like MyFitnessPal or turn your own unique fitness app idea into a reality, then AppMySite is the way to go.

AppMySite enables all kinds of Android and iPhone app development without coding. Here, you can create your apps in a code-free and DIY environment. It only takes a few minutes to watch your app idea come to life. You can try out the platform for free and learn for yourself. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is fitness app development beneficial?

As per Statista, ‘Health & Fitness’ is one of the most popular app segments. The number of app downloads in this category has been constantly increasing. There were around 2,493 million health & fitness app downloads in the year 2020 and the number reached 4,239 million this year. Moreover, the number of downloads is expected to reach 5,534 million by the year 2027. As evident, the fitness app industry is evolving rapidly, and it can be beneficial to launch fitness apps of your own and ride the wave.

How much does it cost to build an app like MyFitnessPal?

The app development market is quite divided when it comes to pricing. It depends on several factors like the type of development (custom, low-code, no-code, etc.), availability of resources (infrastructure, talent pool, etc.), complexity of design and features, timeline of app development, and so on. However, the average cost of full-scale app development can be around 100,000 US dollars or higher. If you need complex and high-end features in your app then the expense can go further up. If you skimp on the budget, it may affect the quality of your app. Alternatively, if you want an affordable but reliable solution, you can create your app with AppMySite which ensures competitive pricing.

What types of fitness apps can I create?

The best thing about the fitness app development industry is that there are a plethora of options and niches that you can aim for. You can create different types of fitness apps like sports apps, yoga apps, gym apps, fitness merchandise shopping apps, workout training apps, mental fitness apps, and so on. For more options, you can also check out our blog on powerful fitness app ideas and launch your app accordingly.

How long does it take to build a fitness app?

Traditional methods of app development can take around six months. Moreover, if your app has complicated features and functionalities then it can take longer to build. Implementing changes and features that align with the newest trends can further delay the final delivery of the app. If time is money for you, then custom app development might not be a feasible option. Alternatively, you can create your app with AppMySite which enables fast and no-code DIY app development. You can go from idea to app in minutes and save unlimited time and resources.

How can I develop a fitness app like FitPro or MyFitnessPal?

Creating a complicated fitness app like FitPro or MyFitnessPal is not a cakewalk. It takes time, effort, and resources. Moreover, you will need a huge team of professionals to accomplish tasks like research, design, development, testing, and more. However, if you avoid the traditional methods of app development and take the modern route, you can develop your fitness app in record time and budget. For instance, you can create your app with a no-code app builder like AppMySite. It is the easiest way to build your own app from scratch and reach your customers in no time. 

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