Got the next big app idea in fitness or health?

Health and Fitness is a major contender in the app space at the moment. If you’re thinking of building an app in this niche, be prepared for some fierce competition. Millions of users are looking to self-improve and they are looking to apps to help them do it.

If you’re going to develop the next big health, fitness, or recipe app — you’ll first need to learn from what’s already out there. Learning about what these apps are doing right is an essential part of your early app development research.

Noom

Noom is not merely a diet app; it uses tried-and-true psychological methods, based on comprehensive research, to help you eat better, and, more substantially, change your fundamental relationship to food. Run by a team of experienced psychologists, doctors, personal trainers, and nutritionists, Noom has helped people lose, on average, 18 pounds in only 16 weeks.

Noom starts by locating your assumptions about food and your triggers. From there, it builds you a plan to ‘trick’ your body into quickly developing—and eventually mastering—healthy eating habits.

Moreover, Noom tracks your blood pressure, exercise, meals, and weight. It assigns you a personal trainer who interacts with you daily, guiding your short- and long-term progress. It allows you to customize the meal and workout plan that fits you best. And it offers daily challenges and short articles to keep you motivated and informed.

If you’re looking to build an app in the fitness space, Noom teaches that connection is key, and having access to diet and fitness regimens as well as personal trainers at your disposal, is a great first step toward building a great app.

Nike Training Club

Nike Training Club’s workout and nutritional programs are custom-made by Nike Master Trainers, who tailor programs to your particular wellness goals.

With over 200 workouts ranging from 15 minutes to an hour, the app’s multi-week programs include exercises you can do at home, in the gym, and even on the road. Nike Training Club offers cardio, yoga, strength training, and mobility workouts featuring elite Nike Master Trainers and athletes.

But the app isn’t only about exercise. Like Noom, Nike Training Club helps you build healthier habits by guiding and changing your relationship with food, nutrition, mindfulness, and sleep. Best of all, the app is now available on the Apple Watch, making it even easier to check in on reps or time trials during a drill.

Putting the app on the Apple Watch allows users to focus less on their phone, and more on the drill at hand, and it monitors heart rate in real-time.

If you want to focus on designing and developing a mobile app with Apple Watch capabilities, you’ll need to find the right developer — such as Guarana-Technologies.com, a company that understands the unique challenges and rewards of working in the Apple space, and who understands how wearables differ from traditional tech niches.

MyFitnessPal

Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal app has the largest database of foods, both packaged and homemade, off all recipe apps, allowing you to track your calories with confidence and precision.

Studies have shown that if you keep track of your food intake and daily exercise activities, you are more likely to lose weight and get fitter. On your own, doing so is difficult and time-consuming. MyFitnessPal provides all the right tools for you to track your food intake and activates with ease.

MyFitnessPal is simple and straightforward to use. By logging your meals in your app, you quickly learn how to master your diet and lose weight in a healthy way. Plus, unlike most nutrition apps, MyFitnessPal is free to try.

If you’re looking to build an app on the premium model, MyFitnessPal makes for great early research.

Lifesum

Similar to MyFitnessPal, Lifesum lets you track your diet. But it also offers a different feature: it allows you to use your phone to scan the barcode of foods in order to identify their nutritional content.

Lifesum also helps users first find a diet they love and then turn it into a seven to 21-day meal plan. There are vegan, non-vegan, Keto, and other options, making it appeal to a wide variety of health-conscious consumers.

Lifesum is a cookbook, too. The app is full of easy-to-make recipes, and each recipe includes comprehensive information about its nutritional content. If you want to create a health and fitness app with a heavy emphasis on recipes, begin your research with Lifesum to learn how to do it right.