How To Create A Fitness App Like MyFitnessPal?

Do you want to build a Fitness App like MyFitnessPal? This blog is for you.

The fitness app market is lucrative. It’s risky but a rewarding one which is why it has attracted many businesses to invest in it. Also, the numbers say the same, the fitness apps market will show a growth of CAGR 9.99% (2924-2028), showing a market volume of $10.04 bn by 2028.

Even a lot of us already use fitness & nutrition apps, as more than 19% have at least one health-related app on their phone.

Among those apps, one of the most popular fitness apps is “MyFitnessPal”. Besides user, it is also an inspiration for businesses to dip their toe in this industry with a clone app.

Also, if you are ready to create a Fitness app like MyFitnessPal, it’d be wise to gather all the necessary information. And this is exactly what we should be doing with this guide to create a fitness app like MyFitnessPal.

MyFitnessPal – Virtual Diet Tracker & Fitness App

There are thousands of fitness and health apps in the market. So why is everyone talking about MyFitnessPal? Well, Available on both iOS and Android, this platform allows the user to track their nutrition, create a diet plan, and reach their fitness goal in no time.

Focused on fitness and nutrition, the platform was founded back in the year 2005. It was developed by brothers Mike Lee and Albert Lee.

It comes with various amazing features like scan bar code on products which aids in weight loss or gain journey. MyFitnessPal has a database of 14 million food items. But users can always create their own database. The app gamifies the process and makes the user experience that much more enjoyable.

Fast forward to today, it has more than 200+ million registered users worldwide and many have already benefitted from the platform. What makes this platform stand out from the rest is its focus on “nutrition”. After all, this is just as important as a workout.

In the words of Jack LaLane “Exercise is king, Nutrition is queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.”

Nevertheless, the platform offers its workout reign and can sync with other fitness apps like Garmin Connect, Fitbit, Samsung Health, Apple Watch, and so on. For such features, it has gained immense popularity and placed itself at the top among the best fitness apps.

Consequently, businesses look forward to develop a fitness app like MyFitnesPal. Let’s see if the market popularity is worth the investment or not.

Overview of the Fitness Apps Market

The worthiness of any market is understood through fitness industry statistics which is why we brought them below:

With the above pic, it is clear that the market is growing at a tremendous rate and is expected to see a growth from $4.9 billion in 2023 to $25.9 billion by 2033 growing at a CAGR OF 18% during the forecast period.

It is believed that the growing demand is due to increased attention to health & well-being. It is no wonder that business owners are looking forward to mobile app development to leverage the appropriate share of the market.

But, why do they want to do this? Let’s answer this in the next section.

Reasons to Develop a Fitness App Like MyFitnessPal

You SHOULD Create A Fitness App Like MyFitnessPal.

“Why?”

This is the first question an investor or client asks and rightfully so.

Mobile app development doesn’t come cheap, let alone complex solutions like Fitness Apps. And no one wants to invest thousands of dollars, without learning about a reason to do so.

When it comes to Fitness Apps, there are various reasons to consider them. Let’s look at some of these reasons below:

1. Make Millions in Revenue

In 2020, apps like MyFitnessPal as a whole were worth more than 4.4 billion. And in 2023, the industry is generating $19.33 Billion in revenue. And, 2024 it is going to be bigger than ever.

Now, this is a lot of money, making it one of the big reasons to invest in fitness & workout app development. After all, who doesn’t want to make millions or billions in revenue? If you do, then create a fitness app like MyFitnessPal today.

2. Small Investments and BIG Returns

There are a lot of businesses and start-ups trying to make it big. If you are one of them, a fitness app just might be the opportunity for you.

Here’s why:

You can make an app like MyFitnessPal at a relatively low cost. Yes, it will take some hard work and time, but after a certain period, the fitness platform can give big returns.

This can mean MILLIONS or even BILLIONS.

3. This is What People Want!

Another big reason for you to consider and build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal is that this is what people want.

And history is a witness: when a business delivers what people want, it hits skyrocketing success. This is why everyone and we mean EVERYONE wants to launch an App like MyFitnessPal for their business.

4. Become a BRAND

Every business that is currently in the market wants to be a BRAND in their niche.

And the secret to being one is to understand the market gaps, find untapped opportunities, and cater to a specific niche. Be it bringing a breathwork app or developing a fitness app, you will surely be able to become a user favorite.

Once you provide users with what they need, it will increase user engagement and word-of-mouth recommendation, paving your way to becoming a top brand.

5. Best for Scalability

If you look around, the craze for mobile apps is something else, which is why every business is trying to interact with their customers through an app. For example, even traditional gyms are opting for gym management software.

Similarly, if you implement the best features to create a fitness app like MyFitnessPal, you might be able to target a global audience with your app, offering the potential to increase your user base & earnings.

6. Get Recurring Revenue Streams

A fitness app can be a great way for you to enjoy repetitive revenue streams. For that, you can incorporate different monetization strategies. Offer them different models such as premium, in-app purchase, consultation with nutritionist/dietician, and subscription models.

This will open ways for them to access exclusive content or coaching. Also, for you to enjoy a recurring revenue.

Now, if you want to do the same, all you need to do is reach out to an on-demand app development company. But before that, let’s look at the types of fitness apps in the section below.

Types of Fitness Mobile Apps

“Fitness App” is an umbrella term. The scope of a fitness app can be huge. And that’s the reason why there are different types of the same.

In this section of the blog, we shall be going through these different types of fitness mobile apps. You can build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal based on these trends.

These are, as mentioned below:

Type 1: Activity Tracking

Getting fit, and working out, involves a lot of activity. And people who are into fitness want to know how many calories they burn, how long they have been working out, their heartbeat, and that kind of data.

This is where activity-tracking fitness apps come in. As the name suggests, these mobile apps use a range of sensors on phones and wearables to acquire and calculate data.

Therefore, it usually comes with a wearable mobile app.

Type 2: Diet and Nutrition Apps

Diet and nutrition tracking app or in other words, an app like MyFitnessPal.

These mobile apps are more focused on the diet part of fitness. And, based on their goals as well as the workout capacity of a person, the platform creates a plan for them.

This plan will help the user reach their fitness goal as soon as possible.

Now, there are a lot of people who want to create apps better than MyFitnessPal. And, if you are one of them, this just might be the type you want to create.

Type 3: Personal Fitness Trainer Apps

Working out is no joke. If you want to hit your fitness target, you need to do the right things and eat the right things.

For some people, this can be a lot of work. That’s why they opt for personal trainers. And that’s why there’s a fitness app based around the same.

PT You is a good example of a personal trainer mobile application.

Type 4: Custom Fitness Mobile App

Fitness App Ideas aren’t bound to limitations. And that’s why for a unique idea that doesn’t fit in any type, custom mobile app development is just what you need.

Here, you can combine two or more types of fitness apps and create something unique.

To create this idea into a successful platform, you need to fill it with the right features.

Let’s discuss this in detail in the section below.

Essential Features to Create a Fitness App Like MyFitnessPal

Want to create a successful fitness mobile app? Fill it with the right fitness app features! It’s as simple as that.

Let’s look at some essential features that every fitness app should have. These are, as mentioned below:

1. For User Panel

User-panel features are crucial for a better user experience. We’d suggest you take a look at these features and use them to create a fitness app like MyFitnessPal.

2. For Admin Panel

Here are some of the features to incorporate into your Admin Panel.

To make your own fitness app that provides you a massive success, consider adding such features to your app. This might affect the cost to make a fitness app but it sure is worth the investment.

How to Build a Fitness App like MyFitnessPal?

One of the important questions that clients often ask is “how to build a Fitness App like MyFitnessPal”.

And, in this section, we will be talking exactly about that with other necessary aspects to build a fitness app that helps you grow your business & generate millions.

Without any delay, let’s get right into it:

Step 1: Fitness App Ideas

One of the first things you need to do is gather fitness app ideas.

The reason we said “ideas” is to ensure that you evaluate a few and then come up with the best. Starting with more than one idea will be a smart choice as you move out you can cross out a few; this will also help you to know about the backup plans to fall back to.

Step 2: Market Research

Moving forward with mobile app market research.

A fuel to the success of your app where you need to gather complete information about your competitor & target audience. Find out about their pain points, challenges & untapped opportunities and you can use them to develop a fitness app that boasts its success easily.

Step 3. Choose a Platform

To create a Fitness and Nutrition App like MyFitnessPal, it is necessary to know which platform you want to target. Well, you get two choices one is native, and the second one is hybrid app development. Through native app development, you can choose:

• iOS App Development.
• Android App Development.

Otherwise, you can also go for hybrid app development. All of these have their advantages and disadvantages; we will not go deep into that.

It’s time to hire developers.

Step 4: Hire Developers

To create a fitness app, you have to find an app developer.

Experienced fitness app developers can help you kick off your vision into a successful app. There are various ways to hire mobile app developers at the current time. Such as:

• Hire freelancers.
• Outsources to Development Company.
• Assemble In-house team.
• Staff Augmentation.

Although, In-house vs outsourced has been a topic of discussion for a long time. But, we will suggest taking the help of a market-leading company that has experience in the same niche.

Step 5: Choosing Tech-stack

Picking the right tech stack is necessary.

The mobile tech stack lays the foundation of your fitness apps such as security, user experience, and others which is why it has a significant place in knowing how to build a fitness app.

Here is a small breakdown that we would like to share with you that is of use:

Step 6: Create UI/UX Design

It’s time to move to UI/UX Design. It’s one of the important steps in how to build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal. Known as client-side, it helps in driving user engagement as well as retention.

So, ensure to make the app aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and hassle-free to ensure that the app works well & delivers a good user experience.

Step 7: App Development

One of the longest & important steps to make a fitness app like MyFitnessPal is where developers combine front-end & back-end development. Another requirement is to maintain a communication channel with the development team for better execution.

This is where your app idea turns into a successful reality. Right after that, we test & deploy the app.

Step 8: App Testing

Moving forward with Mobile App Testing.

This is where your app goes through different types of testing including functional, unit, app security testing, performance, etc. to ensure the app doesn’t have any technical issues.

If any bugs or issues are found, they are resolved immediately before sending it for launch.

Step 9: App Deployment

Once the final app version is ready, this is the part where you send your app to your preferred store to make it available to the users. Simply put, you can publish your Android App in the Google Play Store or Submit your app to the App Store.

Understand that it will take up to 2 weeks to get approval from them. Until then, you can prepare marketing strategies for your app to target your audience.

Step 10: Maintenance

Of course, you don’t want an app that no one downloads anymore. So, make sure to utilize support & maintenance services. You can ensure to fix bugs & technical issues and add new releases. Continuous updates on the app will keep it functional & relevant to users.

We hope you understand how to build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal. Now, time to check out the cost of making a fitness app.

Cost to Make a Fitness App Like MyFitnessPal

Wondering, what is the cost to make a fitness app like MyFitnessPal?

MyFitnessPal like app development costs $20,000 to $50,000+. This may increase or decrease as per the features and complexity of your project. The cost to develop a mobile app is affected by various factors.

Let’s get to more about MyFitnessPal like app development cost through a small breakdown:

With this, our Guide to Build an App like MyFitnessPal has come to an end. With thorough consideration & planning, you can make a fitness app like MyFitnessPal with the help of an experienced company about which we will talk in the next section.

Ready to Build a Fitness App with Nimble Appgenie?

The prospects of fitness apps are still bright, so if you are looking forward to build a fitness app like MyFitnessPal, it is the right time to invest.

For the best fitness app development company, Nimble AppGenie can be your best bet. We have the right skills & experience to make your idea a successful reality.

If you have an idea, we are right here to help. Contact us.

Conclusion

With the recent rise in the use of fitness and health-related applications and the revenue it has been generating, a lot of companies want to develop an app like MyFitnessPal.

This is certainly a good fitness app idea if done right. Now, in this blog, we discussed all you need to know about creating such an app.

If you want to convert this concept to a working platform, we highly recommend you consult a mobile app development company that will help you with the same.

FAQ

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.