Even before COVID-19, there was a growing awareness amongst people regarding their physical fitness as well as mental wellbeing. More people are taking their health and fitness seriously after the pandemic. Businesses and professionals in the health and fitness industry are looking to develop a fitness app with different goals so as to satiate the needs of various app users. And, thus the idea to develop an app for tracking diet and nutrition came into the picture.
The growing interest of people and the market size is attracting a lot of interest from entrepreneurs willing to develop a diet and nutrition mobile app. The first question that entrepreneurs have is “how much does it cost to build a diet and nutrition app?” And along with that, there will be other questions like the important features to include, how’s the market, and options to earn a better profit. We will address all these pointers here one-by-one.
As more people realize the importance of staying fit and healthy to boost their immunity, the demand for diet and nutrition tracking mobile apps is growing. The World Economic Forum reports a 46% increase in app downloads related to fitness and health till September 2020. The phenomenal rise in downloads of health and fitness apps shows that people are warming up to the idea of fitness, and the market is big enough to accommodate more fitness apps.
What is the need to develop a diet and nutrition app?
Experts value the global fitness app market size to be around $4.4 billion in 2020. The expected CAGR is 21.6% from 2021 to 2028. Covid-19 has changed people’s fitness habits, and the transition from traditional gyms to virtual fitness has truly begun. Thus, developing health and nutrition apps are significant beneficiaries of this change in trend.
Here are some other interesting stats
- The share of fitness apps in the US market is expected to be $50 billion by 2025.
- The global mHealth market is expected to reach $236 billion by 2026.
- Globally, there was a 51% rise in downloads from Q1 to Q2 in 2020.
- India saw the largest increase in diet tracking app downloads with 58 million new active users.
- India also saw a significant increase in average session duration with a 21% growth from Q1 to Q2 in 2020.
- 60% of the Americans who use fitness and nutrition tracking apps feel more motivated to workout on their own and plan on canceling their gym membership.
Demand for Food and Nutrition apps
As more people realize the importance of staying fit to boost their immunity, the demand for diet &nutrition apps is growing. The World Economic Forum reports a 46% increase in app downloads related to fitness and health till September 2020. The phenomenal rise in downloads of fitness apps shows that people are warming up to the idea of fitness, and the market is big enough to accommodate more fitness apps.
Advantages of developing a nutrition planning app
The following are the significant advantages of a diet tracking mobile app.
- The diet app helps people think and consider their food choice before taking a bite.
- Users can identify the patterns in their eating behavior and tweak their diet plan according to their diet pattern.
- The food and fitness apps provide general awareness about the various nutrients in food.
- The diet & nutrition tracking app is a targeted way to focus on health.
- The diet planning application would suggest healthy food options to the users and help them build a healthy grocery list.
Most popular diet and nutrition apps
MyFitnessPal
The editor’s choice of PC magazine for fitness apps, MyFitnessPal, helps the users keep a detailed log of the food they eat and their activities. MyFitnessPal has the following features.
- A database of 11+ million foods
- Calorie counter
- Step counter
- An extensive database of 350+ exercises for weight loss
- Nutrient tracker according to different types of nutrients like carbs, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and sugar
MyFitnessPal has a large supportive community that allows users to share their accomplishments with others.
Argus
Argus is an app that creates beautiful health charts for users. The app has a unique display method in which various tiles like water intake, steps, and calories feed information to the users.
Features of Argus
- Barcode scanner to know the nutrient value of packaged foods
- Palo and Keto meal plans and a wide range of recipes
- Advanced sleep tracker
- Custom HD workouts
- Step counter
- Personalized training and weight loss plans
Lose it!
Since its launch in 2008, Lose it! has helped users in losing 80 million-plus pounds. Lose it! has a unique, customized system where the user inputs the profile details, sets weight goals, and then the app calculates the daily calorie intake to help the user achieve the goal.
The features of Lose it!
- More than 27 million foods to search from
- Nutrient tracker which tracks the protein, carb, sugar, and fat content in each food
- A barcode scanner
- Meal planner and targets to find out the ideal amount of calories per meal
- A vast library of workouts
- Recipes for healthy food
How much does it cost to develop a diet and nutrition app for iOS and Android?
The cost to develop a food and nutrition tracking app depends on various factors of which the complexity of the nutrition app is an essential one. As the number of diet app features and third-party integrations increases, so will the cost.
A basic food and nutrition app will cost you around $20,000 to $65,000, while the price will increase as the number of features increase. App features like wearable device integration, real-time display of calories burnt, on-demand consultation with dieticians, and data analytics will take the cost of developing a diet and nutrition app to around $125,000 and beyond.
Another critical factor on which the development cost for a food planning app depends is the location of the health and nutrition app development company. If you will search from Western Europe and North America most of the app development companies charges three times those located in Asian countries like India.
How to generate revenue from a nutrition and diet planning app?
A diet &nutrition planning mobile app can offer plenty of monetization opportunities. Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent ones.
Subscription
By creating a nutrition tracking app, you can earn revenue by providing subscription services to the users. Customized diet plans, personal video meetings with dietitians, and trending information about food and nutrition are some of the services that might interest users.
E-Commerce
Developing a diet & nutrition mobile app can earn revenue by acting as an e-commerce platform. The app could sell various products and services related to diet control and weight loss like dietary supplements, diet plans, and personal one-to-one sessions with dietitians. The e-commerce platform could be an aggregator platform or a platform selling only one particular brand’s products and services.
Commissions
In the aggregator business model, the businesses related to fitness and nutrition can advertise on the app platform. The app can ask for a commission on each sale happening on its platform.
In-apps advertisements
In-app advertisements can prove to be a significant source of revenue for a food and nutrition tracker app. The app can offer advertisement space to businesses related to the health and fitness industry. While selling advertisement space, the app management should take care that it does not spoil the user experience.
Below mentioned are some of the most common types of ads in a diet planning app.
- Banner ads
- Interstitial ads
- Native ads
- Affiliate ads
- Reward ads
