How to Build the Wellness App Users to Actually Use?

The popularity of smartphones, an escalating interest in health and wellness, accessibility, and personalization have all contributed to wellness apps becoming the largest segment of the digital health market.

As a matter of fact, the digital fitness and well-being app market is projected to reach $47.70 billion by 2027, growing at a rate of 13.32% annually. Investing in wellness apps pays off according to these impressive statistics. However, what are they? To develop a well-being solution that attracts users, what are the best ways to go about it? We are prepared to share our insights based on our deep expertise in developing healthcare solutions.

Key Wellness App Categories & Their Features

Wellness apps refer to mobile applications that aim to assist users in enhancing their mental and physical health and overall well-being. The primary objective of wellness apps is to equip users with the necessary tools and resources to achieve their health and wellness objectives, enabling them to lead a more balanced, healthier life. Fitness, nutrition, meditation, mindfulness, mental health, sleep tracking, and similar categories are some of the most widely used wellness apps.

Fitness Apps

Fitness apps have become increasingly popular as more people recognize the importance of regular exercise and healthy lifestyles. These mobile applications are designed to help users achieve their fitness goals, and in 2021, for example, they were downloaded more than 400 million times, according to statistics. In the United States, tracking physical activity is the primary reason why citizens download health and medical apps. The most commonly sought-after features in fitness apps include tracking physical activity, workout routines, step tracking, calorie counting, and progress monitoring. To differentiate yourself from competitors, consider offering personalized recommendations and guidance based on users’ fitness goals, fitness levels, personal preferences, and access to communities of like-minded individuals working towards similar sports goals.

Nutrition Apps

At present, nearly half of the global population is making an effort to lose weight. To assist people in keeping track of their food intake and nutritional habits, there are various nutrition apps designed for this purpose. These apps are highly sought after as a means of maintaining a healthy diet, which is essential for successful weight loss. Additionally, many patients are required to use nutrition apps as part of their treatment plans for certain medical conditions, indicating that they serve a wider purpose beyond weight loss.

The majority of diet and nutrition apps come equipped with essential features such as personal accounts, food tracking and logging, calorie counting, meal planning, statistics, personalized recommendations, and push notifications. Additional features that would be advantageous include multi-device synchronization, community joining opportunities, and blogging functionalities to share the latest nutritional news, research, and health tips.

Meditation & Mindfulness Apps

According to research by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, around 8% or 18 million adults in the United States use meditation as a tool to improve their mental health. This practice has been found to enhance concentration, increase creativity, and boost overall mental well-being. Due to this growing interest in meditation, the market for meditation apps is on the rise. According to GlobalNewswire, the market size is expected to grow from $533.2 million in 2022 to $2.6 billion by 2028.

Meditation and mindfulness apps offer guided exercises to help users improve their mental health. While each app has its own unique features and concepts, there are several key elements that every app should offer to ensure the best possible user experience. These include user profiles, guided meditations, mindfulness exercises, breathing techniques, favorite sounds, sleep aids, progress tracking, daily reminders, push notifications, and offline playback.

Sleep-Tracking Apps

Sleep apps have been designed primarily to assist users in monitoring and analyzing their sleep patterns. Some of these apps provide relaxing sounds that can help individuals fall asleep, while others offer tutorials on calming activities such as yoga or meditation, and coaching sessions with sleep experts.

Sleep-tracking apps offer a range of features that are aimed at helping users improve the quality of their sleep. These features include relaxing music and sounds, smart alarm clocks, sleep stories, sleep stage tracking, meditation and guided breathing exercises, sleep advice and tips, and data analysis.

Pregnancy & Motherhood

In the world of femtech, there are a wide variety of products and services aimed at supporting women through different stages of their reproductive health journey. One specific type of femtech product is pregnancy and motherhood apps, which are designed to assist women from the moment they conceive through the postnatal period.

These apps offer a range of features and tools to help women make informed decisions about their maternity care, track their health and wellness, connect with other moms, and more. Some apps may provide resources on nutrition and exercise during pregnancy, while others may offer guidance on preparing for childbirth and managing the challenges of the postpartum period.

Overall, pregnancy and motherhood apps are an important resource for many women seeking to navigate the complex and often overwhelming world of pregnancy and early motherhood. By offering support, education, and community, these apps help empower women to take control of their reproductive health and build a strong foundation for themselves and their families.

Examples of Best Wellness Apps Worth Noting

To create a mobile app that effectively encourages people to stay motivated, the key areas to prioritize are onboarding, retention, and integration with connected devices.

Onboarding

The initial onboarding process should be user-friendly and straightforward, without excessive complexity. Additionally, it ought to incorporate high degrees of personalization, thereby enhancing the app experience for the user and making it more meaningful.

Apps Worth Noting:

• MyFitnessPal: It is an app that can help people gain, maintain, or lose weight by keeping track of their calorie intake and providing diet plans. The app has many features and a good starting process. Users can sign up with Facebook or email and then set their weight goal. For example, if someone wants to gain weight, the app will ask for their height, current weight, and desired weight.
  The only small issue during sign-up is when the app asks for a username and password even if the user has already signed up with Facebook. Once the goal is set, MyFitnessPal will guide users through the app's functions step by step. Users can enter their daily diet and water consumption to begin tracking their fitness progress.

• Fabulous: It is a remarkable accountability app that leverages behavioral science to assist you in establishing healthy daily routines. The app’s onboarding experience is exquisitely crafted, prompting users with straightforward multiple-choice questions about their current daily habits and feelings toward them. These questions may relate to the user’s sleep patterns, energy levels, and physical fitness, among other areas. The app subsequently inquires about the user’s improvement goals and general interests, which allows for the creation of a personalized daily habit plan. With an onboarding process lasting about two minutes, Fabulous collects enough information to customize the experience and comprehend the user’s motivations.

Retention

To ensure retention, developers must tailor the app experience to meet the unique needs of each user, while also ensuring that the app is user-friendly and accessible for daily service.

Apps Worth Noting:

• Ovia Pregnancy Tracker: Pregnancy involves significant changes in nutritional requirements, which can be a daunting task to navigate. Fortunately, Ovia simplifies the process of meeting a woman’s personal dietary needs for a healthy pregnancy. The app offers a range of features, including a food and activity diary, a repository of recipes, medication alerts, and a guide to ensuring food safety. Additionally, it provides valuable resources, expert advice, and comprehensive updates on the development of pregnancy.

• JEFIT Workout Planner Gym Log: The JEFIT Workout Planner Gym Log is a mobile and web-based application that can assist individuals who encounter challenges when adhering to their fitness goals. The app builds upon the evidence-based principles of progress tracking and peer support to promote physical activity and sustain motivation. Users can design custom weight-training routines and monitor their workouts with the help of their friends.

The application allows individuals to bring it along to the gym and document their exercise regimen in a step-by-step manner. The app also includes a useful feature that automatically times rest periods between sets, which is especially beneficial for weight training. The information is transferred to the JEFIT server to produce comprehensive analytical insights into the workout, making it an enjoyable feature for individuals who appreciate examining the minute details of their physical activity in the form of quantifiable data.

Connected Devices

As we've previously discussed, apps can serve as a potent source of motivation. However, when combined with a physical device, they can become the ultimate tool for enhancing health and wellness. In the past decade, we’ve witnessed the introduction of various beneficial devices such as exercise equipment, glucose monitors, wearables, and more. Although these devices can be useful on their own, their integration with an app can significantly boost their effectiveness by empowering and motivating users.

Apps Worth Noting:

• Zones for Training: The app is designed to help users maintain the appropriate heart rate zone during their workouts by utilizing the Apple Watch to monitor their pulse. The Zones for Training feature meticulously tracks the user’s resting and active heart rate and then establishes specific parameters to determine when the individual is burning fat or has reached the peak activity level.
  The app is an excellent companion to the Apple Watch, with an exceptional heart rate monitor. It is particularly useful for individuals with prior workout experience who require more comprehensive data to assist them in achieving their fitness objectives. Additionally, it is beneficial for those who seek bonus heart-monitoring features and seamless integration with their Apple Watch.

• Droplette: With the Droplette Micro-Infuser, individuals can give their skincare routine a personalized touch by following recommended regimens. The device allows users to monitor their usage of both the Droplette and serum, and to optimize the serum delivery by switching between modes. Upon syncing the Droplette device with the app, users gain access to enhanced tracking capabilities and new features.

If your goal is to create an app that sustains user motivation, concentrate on these fundamental characteristics.

Bottom Line

In light of the growing demand, market potential, wide-ranging offerings, and technological advancements in the wellness app sector, investing in such an app can be a prudent choice. Nonetheless, developing a wellness app with the aid of a tech-savvy partner can make the process smoother.