After reading our research on the fitness app market, you might be itching to join the race and put out a health-oriented sports app of your own. So let’s discuss how such an app is made, what kind of features it must have, and how you can refine your product to stand out among the competition.
Choosing Your Fitness App Type
There are plenty of options when it comes to fitness apps and, though their name seems to imply workout-related features, you can stretch the definition pretty far. For example, do diet apps count as sports apps? If you said yes, you’re totally right. Yes, an app that helps people track their calorie intake (here’s a cool example with a custom design) and calculate a healthy diet, especially for medical reasons, is most certainly part of the fitness app group.
There’s also, of course, the basic workout app – a solution with some workout regiment tips and reminders to exercise according to the user’s routine. This type can offer varied training steps for people who want to improve their body, lose weight, or exercise on their doctor’s orders.
Similar to these but a bit tougher are high-intensity interval training apps. These prompt users to do quick bursts of exercise on regular intervals throughout the day. While they are quite similar to regular workout apps, they do aim at a smaller userbase. If you want a quick chance to gain an audience, try to go for a basic workout app first.
Some of the most popular sports apps, though, are activity trackers. These will help users see the impact their daily activities have on their bodies. From walking to jogging and carrying groceries, these apps track the user’s steps walked, calories burned, and distance traveled. These are pretty simple but their widespread appeal makes them a great choice for your first fitness app.
Design Philosophy of Fitness Apps
You don’t necessarily have to follow all trends of design used by the top fitness apps but it at least helps to know what they are and why they work. So let’s go step by step through design aspects of fitness apps that make them successful. For some illustrations on what we suggest, take a look at our Dribble page.
The first thing that you should know is that bright colors are a big point for sports apps concerned with nutrition, meditation, or light exercise. And, like it or not, but apps aimed at a predominantly female demographic tend to win big with the classic combo of pink and white.
Yellows, greens, and blues can also be used pretty well to get the users coming back. Eye-catching colors like that make it easier for users to associate the app with something pleasant. This should take the mild irritation of having to do exercise (let’s be honest, sticking to the routine is tough) off of their minds.
What might surprise you, though, is that black is a great choice as well, especially for apps aimed at high-intensity training and apps with male demographics. Black is still largely seen as a highly masculine color and encourages users to feel like a big strong guy as they do their exercises and log activity.
In terms of UI elements, it’s best to stick to rounded edges on interactable elements but keep the fonts bold and striking. Similarly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go for a minimalistic look as fitness apps are designed to be used in short bursts many times per day. The user must feel comfortable going in and out in a matter of seconds, logging exercise or calorie intake with just a few taps.
Features for Your Sports Apps
It’s impossible to list every single thing that one could implement in their fitness app. However, some MVP features are essential and will be required no matter how ambitious your project is going to be. For an example of many of these, including social integration and profile functionality, as in one of our projects Clustory.
Firstly, you need a user profile and login features. Something that the user can personalize and set up however they see fit. Plus, you need to have that profile offer some info beyond just a name. It’s a great idea to add badges or achievements of some kind if you want to boost user engagement. That’s a step above MVP but it’s a very smart feature to have.
Another essential these days is integration with social networks. Giving users the option to post their progress updates on Twitter or Facebook or a variety of other networks is a must. It encourages people to do more and boast about their accomplishments. Moreover, it can lead new eyes to your app as people will spot their friends’ progress and want to join in.
For any serious sports app, it’s also key to provide device integration. FitBits and similar smartwear are very popular and it’s impossible to find a popular fitness app that doesn’t connect with these. You need to have this functionality if you’re going up against the top competitors.
It’s also impossible to have a sports app with a respectable level of quality if you don’t implement notifications. These will serve to help users remember their workouts, inform them of progress milestones, or lead them back to the app should they miss a day or two of their fitness regiment.
Another essential is geolocation. It’s what’s going to help apps track user steps and distance traveled so you can’t really go without it. It can also serve as a social element, encouraging users who live close to each other to group up for morning runs or workout sessions.
There are also typical things like settings and knowledge bases but if you’re planning to make a top fitness app, you already know all about those.
In Conclusion
With some design philosophy and essential features, you can get a headstart on your first fitness app. If you want more help and a boost to get your product to the top, come talk to Incode Group’s experts for a free consultation. Together, we can make your fitness the best in business.
