Roy Rahul 
Health and Fitness Application
We cannot deny that our generation has seen a much higher incidence of health risks and diseases than the previous generation. And due to the increasing number of health problems around the world, people have become more and more health conscious.
People have now realized the importance of physical exercise and a healthy balanced diet to prevent health problems. Being healthy and fit has become a sought-after trend for everyone. People all over the world consider a healthy person to be desirable, successful and fit.
Another thing that has appeared in our time is the use of mobile phones. Almost every task can be handled by a mobile phone these days. With technologically sophisticated applications in the market, functions such as heart rate scanning, fingerprint scanning, etc. can also be performed on mobile phones.
This popularity of mobile apps has created opportunities for software developers to create apps that could cater to the growing trend in health and fitness. As a result, apps can help people achieve their fitness goals, monitor their sleep cycle, create meal plans, aid in weight loss, and more.
Basically, these health and fitness applications act as virtual personal trainers to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle and. And now the app world is flooded with such apps.
But while there are a number of health and fitness applications available in the market, only a few stand out from the crowd. They are the ones who understand the needs of their target groups and include the desired features and functions accordingly.
So what are the features that Health and Fitness Applications should include?
A well-designed health and fitness application must be up-to-date with the latest trends to determine a successful wellness app in this fast-paced and ever-changing environment. It must offer unique features above the standard core features.
Here are 10 features every health and fitness application should offer
1. Compatibility and synchronization
The first thing any health and fitness application should have is compatibility with most devices available in the market. They should be able to run on the most popular platforms, i.e. Android and IOS.
With the development of wellness apps, various manufacturers have also started producing wearable devices such as the Apple Watch, which makes the process of tracking health and fitness much easier. Health and fitness applications should provide compatibility with most of these devices.
Good health and fitness applications should have the ability to sync with multiple devices, as most people prefer to sync their wearables with their phones.
2. Pedometer/Pedometer
The step counting feature is a guaranteed way to motivate users to move. It works by tracking the number of steps a user has taken in a day. And when they get a numerical representation of the steps they’ve taken, they’ll be motivated to walk every day.
This feature can also help estimate the number of calories burned. It will allow the user to set daily goals and track their progress.
Additionally, health and fitness applications can create walkathons for its users to compete in with a gamification feature.
3. Food Tracker/Calorie Counter
This feature allows users to enter the food items they eat and calculate the calories and nutrients in them. This is a standard feature of the most popular health and fitness applications on the market.
This is beneficial for people who are trying to gain or lose weight, as it helps them track calories consumed and adjust accordingly. Additionally, this feature helps users in adopting good nutritional habits by informing them about the nutritional value of various foods.
As an additional feature, apps can also provide healthy recipes for the convenience of users.
4. Monitoring water intake
We all know how important water is for our bodies to function optimally. But in our hectic everyday life, we usually forget to monitor the amount of water we drink during the day.
This is where a wellness app can step in and take advantage of the situation with a water tracking feature.
The water intake tracking feature of health and fitness applications can never go wrong. It will help users stay properly hydrated by reminding them to drink enough water throughout the day.
5. Sleep tracking
Sleep helps recharge our minds and body so we can function optimally. But in our stressful and busy lives, it is quite difficult to get a good night’s sleep regularly. It would be very helpful if there was something to help us track the time we spent sleeping and the time we were active while sleeping.
Fortunately, a wellness app with a sleep tracking feature can help us with the same. It can alert us when we don’t get enough sleep so we make up for it later. Wearable devices with newer technologies can even tell us when we are in the heaviest or lightest sleep.
As such, the sleep tracking feature could prove to be a hit for health and fitness applications. However, users will need to wear the wearable and then go to sleep with it activated in order to take advantage of the feature. Otherwise, the data may not be accurate or reliable.
6. Location Tracking
The ability to track a user’s location is a must in all health and fitness applications. It will help track the distances of walking, running, or cycling. Users will also be able to log and record the distance they have covered and set a guideline for future workouts.
So the location tracking feature is indispensable as it will help users share the distance they have traveled on the map with other users and help them track their progress over a longer period of time.
7. Personalization
A key feature mHealth apps should include right from the start is the ability to customize and personalize your workouts and goals to your preferences.
Right from the start, the app should collect data from the user such as height, weight, age, gender and fitness. After registering data, the app should ask users about their goals and training preferences and then recommend what they should do to reach their goals.
This ability to personalize and customize is very important as users may have different goals and preferences and will want to train according to their requirements. Moreover, this capability will make the app absolutely essential for the users as it caters to their personal needs.
8. Gamification
A gamification feature in health and fitness applications is a surefire way to improve engagement. Users can be rewarded for tasks and goals they complete with prizes and incentives with a gamification feature.
For example, there may be a challenge to exercise 30 minutes every day for a week, and those who complete it will be rewarded with prizes. Rewards can be monetary or non-monetary, such as gym memberships, free lunch coupons, etc.
When a reward is in place, users are more likely to pursue their goals.
9. Leaderboard and Chat
The leaderboard feature is a very powerful feature for health and fitness applications. It encourages users to be active in real life and forces them to log in and engage. This feature can take advantage of a user’s innate competitive edge and show them how they stack up against friends, colleagues, and family.
Competing with people for ranking can make users work harder to achieve their goals. Being able to track the progress of other users is also more likely to inspire and motivate people.
Additionally, the chat feature can also be very useful as it allows users to share their progress and workouts with each other.
10. Push Notifications
A health and fitness application should have a feature that reminds users of their workouts or meals using push notifications. Such a feature can be very beneficial for extremely busy people who may forget to exercise or eat.
This feature can be a game-changer for app developers to increase user engagement with their apps, but it can also be a game-changer.
If the notifications are too frequent, it can annoy users and make them switch to other alternatives. So developers have to keep in mind that this feature doesn’t repeat itself too much so that it doesn’t become annoying for users.
