We live in a world highly driven by apps that are revolutionizing how we live, access, and interact with things unprecedentedly. And just like the intersection of technology with every other field or sector fostering the trend of apps, that of technology and well-being has given rise to a burgeoning field of health and wellness apps.
These health and wellness apps have transformed access to healthcare delivery to be hassle-free and remote; for instance, you can take remote consultations, track health, and have easy access to medical records. Therefore, this blog delves into the intricacies of developing such wellness apps, providing you with a pathway to creating not just functional apps but transformative experiences.
We are not going to cover the technicalities, you know, choosing the best programming language and tech stack, type of application, etc.; rather, we will cut right to the chase, diving into defining a clear purpose, must-knows, navigating compliance-related stuff and the regulatory landscape, challenges that come with competition, types of health and wellness apps, security, the latest trends, etc., that will help you make an app that will resonate with users extraordinarily.
Apart from this, we will touch on the aspect of the estimated cost to make an app of this kind. So, without further delay, let’s unravel the contributing elements to building such health and wellness apps.
Define Your App’s Purpose
If you search the app stores, you will find a gazillion health and wellness apps. There are so many that half of them never bore witness to the light of day and are languishing in a pool of forgotten and supposedly dead apps.
So it is paramount for your app’s success that you do not right away jump into the sea and start developing but rather do thorough market research to identify specific health and wellness needs for which there are not many apps; in other words, niches that are not saturated.
If you are targeting an area with high saturation, try to compete in accuracy, features, or any weak areas identified. Another way to narrow down the purpose of your app is to segment your target audience based on demographics, health conditions, fitness goals, or any other factor and create a robust, accurate, and feature-packed app.
Need tip? Remember the old days when we would be taught on whiteboards? Just adopt the digital version of that, i.e., online canvas, and sit with your team and clearly outline the unique value proposition your app will offer while addressing these needs.
Research and Compliance
Every country has set some regulations you have to comply with when dealing with sensitive data. If you just want to take one name, take the example of HIPAA, an act enacted by the US Congress. Apart from this, ensure you are in compliance with other general and region-specific regulations on information privacy, such as GDPR for data protection and user privacy.
Just like you engage a lawyer for legal matters, you can collaborate with legal experts to ensure you are in compliance with local and international laws. Being in compliance with such regulations not only keeps you safe from potential legal issues but also bolsters user trust in you when they see you emphasizing their privacy.
User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)
If there is one thing that can outplay other health and wellness apps after accuracy and security, it is the user interface and user experience, so prioritize them both in your development, ensure it fits all mobile phones of all sizes, and give seamless experiences across devices.
With nerds and your potential users, you can conduct a usability test that helps you refine your app’s navigation and layout before it goes public or is developed further to the point that reversing and rebuilding starts to seem hectic and time-consuming.
So, the gist? Make the navigation super easy so that it feels like strolling to different sections within the app; you know, everything is just one or two taps away from users as they don’t get entangled in complexities.
Core Features
Your app can be based on all of the following, or it can be entirely based on one of the following. One other thing: you can make an app that not only garners users who are health conscious but also attracts experts to join your platform and make money; you can create a channel within your app where users buy expert help or consultancy by paying them in the app, and you can take some percent.
Health Tracking
Your app can revolve around tracking everything you go to the hospital and clinics to get checked. You can achieve this by integrating with APIs from health devices and wearables for real-time data or leveraging sensors like accelerometers and heart rate monitors for accurate tracking. With robust machine learning algorithms, you can build a system that can predict health trends and offer personalized insights.
So yes, one direction you can use your app is to help people with meal and nutrition planning and tracking.
Nutritional Guidance
For this, you would need extensive food databases and nutritional APIs. You would need cuisines from across the world with calorific and nutritional breakdowns that permit people to set meal reminders and nutrition goals and monitor the intake of water and specific ingredients, helping them with their diet.
Just like experts are required for legal matters, you can collaborate with nutritionists to develop algorithms for personalized dietary recommendations. Apart from this, you can implement image recognition for food logging and integrate meal-planning features so people can plan diets for weeks or months.
Fitness Programs
Pour hours and curate diverse workout routines comprising different fitness levels and challenging users for different goals. Videos engage well, so you can include video tutorials for each exercise so that everything is done properly. If you want to have an edge over your competitors, incorporate augmented reality for immersive guided workouts that progress based on user progress.
Mental Health Support
More people today need help with mental issues than ever, so you can cater to that specific niche alone, and that would be enough. You just have to collaborate with mental health professionals and experts to create evidence-based features. You can integrate things like mood tracking, guided meditation sessions, stress-relief exercises, etc. Amid the hype of AI, explore AI-driven emotional intelligence features and partner with mindfulness experts for specialized content.
Pregnancy apps
Pregnancy apps equip moms with everything essential to them and their little ones, from guides to exercises, etc. It helps users track blood pressure, weight gain, tummy growth, etc.
No matter what direction you take, here is a list of features you can incorporate into your health or wellness apps:
- Tracking of daily progress and goals
- Gamified elements for better user engagement
- Online health consultations and suggestions
- Availability of a huge database of learning resources
- Audio Streaming Integration
- Tracking Maps and Routes
- Workouts
- Health risk assessment and analysis
- Greater social media support and sharing
- Educational Content
- Meal and Nutritional Plan
- Push Notification
- Synchronization across multiple devices and wearables
- App and service personalization
- Incentives and reward systems are in place
- Customized push notifications
- User Profile
- Payment
Data Security
Implement end-to-end encryption to ensure user data is jumbled into alphanumeric characters. Also, you have to be clear and overt about your data-sharing policies. Keep everything visible, and let them customize the app as per their preferences. With tight security implemented in your app, you easily win the trust of potential users, and they are ready to confide in you with information.
Personalization
If it is impersonal, it is an insult. By harnessing the power of machine learning algorithms, you can implement adaptive personalization that caters to your users. Also, make the environment customizable so users can set preferences and customize their health and wellness plans.
Gamification
Just simple guides and workouts do not quench the thirst of users; you can integrate game-like elements such as rewards, badges, and challenges that entice your users. Implement algorithms and behavioral psychology principles to enhance user motivation.
Social Features
Create a community-type environment in your app where all the users can interact and share their progress. Such community building increases retention rates and engagement on the platform.
Analytics and Insights
You can leverage advanced analytics tools for in-depth user behavior analysis. To make your app more engaging, generate comprehensive reports through tools to provide users with actionable insights so your app does not look like a static, pixaled picture. Apart from this, you can implement predictive analytics for personalized future health and fitness recommendations and leverage AI for continuous improvement of insights.
Continuous Improvement
If you have ended up making something really cool or unique, don’t get overexcited and complacent with your app. Rather, establish an agile development process for regular feature updates. Not only users but app stores also prefer and value regular updates and new feature inclusion, as it gives the impression that there is a team of experts working behind an app.
Gather, from time to time, user feedback through surveys, either in-app or manually designed, that quickly allow users to submit quick responses that come in handy for future enhancements.
Testing
Testing can turn out to be a deal-breaker or deal-maker. Well-being-conscious people don’t want to run into slowdowns, app crashes, loading taking an eternity, etc. So, conduct usability testing with diverse user groups. Take things to the next level and conduct regression testing to ensure the whole app is sleek, seamless, and smooth to use.
One other thing that you can’t compromise on is security, so perform rigorous and thorough security testing, including penetration testing, to identify vulnerabilities.
Marketing and Launch
Amidst the deluge of health and wellness apps, it is hard to rank higher up in the search results in the app stores, so it becomes indispensable to accrue users directly from other platforms through different platforms, so develop a pre-launch marketing strategy to build anticipation and make a buzz prior to deployment of the app on the right platforms. What can you do? Run paid ads, leverage influencer marketing, form partnerships with fitness experts, etc.
We know it all comes at a cost, but if your app has substance, you will, over time, recover the whole investment.
Support and Maintenance
It would be a plus point if you leave an in-app support system that will act as a channel between you and your users, and they will put the discrepancies, or whatever, on the desk with you rather than give a low rating and an adverse review that repulsive the potential users. Be very mindful of the fact that people are very inflexible when it comes to their privacy.
Also, promptly address the issues your users are facing so they feel valued. Apart from this, release regular updates and do patching and fixing on a regular basis.
Trends
The trends seen in most fitness and wellness apps are the following:
- You can inculcate features like offering personalized treatment, spotting health care issues, etc., on the spot in your app with AI and ML integration that absorb data as they assimilate extremely large, complex datasets.
- The new trend gaining traction is telehealth services, where people can have consultations with healthcare professionals without stepping out of their homes.
- The proliferation of mental health and wellness apps addresses the growing need for stress management, meditation, and emotional well-being, providing users with tools to support their mental health.
- With the incorporation of blockchain, you can take your security to the next level, ensuring the app is secure and has tamper-proof storage of sensitive patient data.
Ways to Monetize Health and Wellness Apps
There are numerous ways to monetize the platform. You can make it completely closed-loop and ask people to pay, and people will pay as they are highly uncompromising when it comes to their data.
- Ads
- Sponsored Content
- Subscription
- Freemium
- Paid Application
- In-app Purchases
Cost to Make an App of Such Kind
It totally depends on the features, how seamless UI/UX design you get made, and who you are getting it developed from, as its cost varies from region to region. The cost would range between $10,000 and $80,000, primarily depending on what you integrated and incorporated.
Conclusion
People are very uncompromising, sensitive, and concerned about their health data, especially women, as they don’t want you to track their data and cash out and profit from their personal details. They do not want you to plot their menstrual cycle, monitor their sleep, connect with a community, and share their health progress, either deterioration or improvement, with the world. It is reasonable that people don’t want you to broadcast your health data to the world or use it for marketing purposes, so build user trust with tight security and be transparent. And one thing you can’t forget is that it is mandated to deliver as much accuracy as possible. Last but not least, if you want to outshine your competitors, the cost to make an app would go higher and higher, so before you delve into this industry, be cautious of everything, be it competition or something monetary.
