IoT Fitness Apps: Top 3 features in 2022

Updated October 6, 2023
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These days the popularity of IoT solutions is continuously growing. One of the brightest examples of the wide adoption of the Internet of Things is the fitness industry. Lockdowns and other COVID-19 measures have demonstrated the value of this technology in wellness centers and gyms. As it was noted in the Forbes article, the pandemic has shifted clients’ focus to digital solutions, such as fitness apps. And in this post, we are going to talk about the most popular features of modern IoT fitness applications.

Training programs

iOT Fitness Apps

Training programs help users to monitor their daily activity. It is possible to add different types of physical activities and exercises that a user like. An app can analyze this list in order to plan activities per day/week. Moreover, such solutions can be connected with such devices as intelligent weights. They can also make automated suggestions for training sessions and workouts based on your current sports routine and weight.

If you have an idea for a fitness app you can find a company that is an expert in developing custom mobile applications, enrich your solution with any functionality that you believe will be valuable for users. For example, you can also add a tracker of consumed and burnt calories.

Tracking steps

This function is probably the most well-known one. Even those users who do not have regular sports activity are keen on calculating the number of steps made during the day. The tracking feature also allows adding different types of activities like running, walking, hiking, and cycling. As a result, it is possible to estimate the number of burnt calories more accurately.

Usually, such trackers are worn as fitness bands. These solutions can be connected to smartphones so that users can view health data in a convenient format and get access to analytics. Many fitness software solutions can also monitor the quality of sleep and heart rate.

Individual diet plan

Fitness apps sometimes can even replace communication with personal trainers as modern software solutions can provide users with personalized diet plans. Apps that have this functionality analyze users’ body parameters and needs and create diets based on this information. Applications can also offer recommendations for recipes and products that can be beneficial for a person.

Thanks to the achievements in tech development, it is possible to connect smart scales that will provide data for calculating the calories of each ingredient or dish. With such features, users will be able to achieve their goals (such as losing weight, for example) much faster.

Health monitoring

We all know that fitness helps us to keep fit and healthy. However, it is also a well-known fact that sometimes sports can do us harm when we do not have a proper health state for training and physical exercises. IoT devices and software solutions can help us to make our sports experience in particular and the entire sports industry in general safer and more accessible.

Thanks to various connected sensors that are available today, we can track activity and performance in real time. If some dangerous conditions for doing sports are detected, a user will be immediately notified. These solutions can help to save lives, especially for those people who suffer from diabetes, heart problems, and other diseases.

Moreover, IoT apps can accumulate data related to different health parameters during training like breathing and heart rate for further analysis. This information can be useful for improving and optimizing training strategies and making workouts more efficient and less dangerous for people’s health.

Social features

Gamification, competition as well as praise, and social respect are among the best motivators for people who go in for sports. When you can track your results, compare them with others and get rewards (even virtual), the entire training process can become significantly more interesting and involving. You can create your own profile, add your photos, tell other participants about your progress, describe your goals and celebrate your achievements.

Moreover, some modern apps allow finding people who share similar interests, uniting into groups, discussing common issues, and getting inspiration from the results achieved by other fitness lovers.

How to create a fitness app that will be bound to succeed

If you are seriously considering the option of launching an IoT application for the fitness industry, you should think not only about the required features that your potential users will benefit from but also about different details that will help your app stand out from the crowd of competitors.

So, what do you need to bear in mind when you are planning the development of your own IoT fitness app? Below you will see a list of the points to think about.

1. How are you going to monetize your app?

That’s a very important question that you should answer from the very beginning. The simplest way to monetize your application is either to offer a subscription for some advanced features or to set a fee for downloading your app. However, such options may look not very attractive to potential users. That’s why you can also consider such variants as in-app purchases, commercial partnerships, etc.

2. What users’ needs will be satisfied with the help of your app?

When you are building a software product, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the exact set of functions that it will have and, consequently, of the tasks that it will solve. It’s even better to start with the pains that potential users have and decide on how your app will help them to overcome the existing issues or to fill in the existing gaps.

3. Who will build your app?

If you have an in-house team of developers with all the necessary skills, everything is quite simple. But if you need to look for external specialists, please be very attentive. There are a lot of freelancers and outsourcing companies that you can work with but you should be absolutely sure that you will establish cooperation with really reliable experts.

4. How will the work be organized?

This is a question that should be discussed with your developers. You need to understand from the very beginning when and what part of the work will be done.

5. What will make your app unique?

Today there are so many apps available in the market that you need to offer really something unique. Your app should have something that will make it a preferable option for future users.

6. How are you going to promote your app?

Even if you have built the best fitness app ever, without a proper promotion strategy, it has few chances to attract the attention of potential users. Today, there are so many marketing tools and approaches to promoting mobile software products, that it can be a very exciting process. For example, it can be a good idea to collaborate with bloggers and influencers who have built a reputation as fitness experts and sports lovers.

Final thoughts

The future of software solutions for the sports and fitness industry looks quite promising, given all the benefits that users can enjoy. Fitness apps help gyms to bring visitor experience to a completely new level thanks to providing users with a wide range of personalized options. It is obvious that fitness centers are interested in such solutions that will help them to increase client satisfaction, retain existing visitors and attract new ones. That’s why if you have an idea for such an app, it can be exactly a very good time to transform it into a real product that will rock the market.

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