An Insight on How to Develop a Best Intermittent Fasting App
The tough times that the world has seen in 2020 due to the pandemic act as an eye-opener for many. A year that helped us realize how important our health and fitness can prove to be. Millennials nowadays like investing in playing sports, gym, yoga, and meditation practices, and much more. This wave of fitness has given a platform to the health and fitness industry and started a healthy revenue stream.
The concept of ‘Intermittent Fasting’ has taken the spotlight since apps like ‘Zero’ received success. Intermittent fasting or IF is a process of improving one’s physical and mental health by introducing patterns in the way one eats. It focuses more on ‘when to eat’ rather than on ‘what to eat’.
What is Intermittent Fasting App?
Fasting has been a part of human evolution. In the hunter-gatherer phase, we didn’t have the luxuries of a refrigerator, ready-to-eat foods or supermarkets. The availability of year-round food was also scarce. This tuned our bodies to stay hungry for longer hours. Fasting also holds religious importance in Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.
Intermittent fasting can be carried out by trying several combinations of eating and fasting. For example, one can choose the conventional 16:8 schedule. Here the individual would have to practice a fast for 16 hours while s/he can eat their desired meals in the remaining 8 hour period. Different fasting regimes can be inculcated by people as their bodies start getting used to the fasting process.
Several IF apps have experienced unprecedented success in recent years. Let’s learn the statistics that would help paint a clearer picture.
Statistics
Statistics provide us with numbers that portray the way customers respond to a particular service. Here are some intriguing stats for health and fitness apps.
- At the start of 2019, the number of health and fitness apps on Google Play had reached 37, 154.
- In 2018, the global health funding for digital platforms amounted to 14.6 billion USD.
- In 2018, a survey concluded that 42% of US citizens agreed to use digital applications that help improve their fitness.
- According to Business Wire, between the years 2020-24, the health and fitness industry predicts a CAGR growth of 12%.
- An app named ‘MyFitnessPal’ amounted to a revenue total of 1.46 billion USD making it the 2nd most successful health and fitness app.
While the numbers predict an investable future it’s also important that we learn how we benefit by using an IF app.
Different Types of Intermittent Fasting Apps?
The concept of intermittent fasting is alien to a large part of the crowd. Let’s take a sneak-peak at how this process works and what are the health benefits associated with the same.
Top IF apps include ‘Zero’, ‘Life Fasting Tracker’, and ‘Bodyfast’. Let’s get acquainted with the services they provide.
Zero
Zero has formed the world’s largest online fasting community. The app made its debut in 2017 and in such a short time it has managed to get 1 million downloads and over 2 billion fasting hours from its users.
The app keeps track of your fasting hours while suggesting the type of fasts you can practice. It manages its activity by figuring when the sun sets in your region by fetching your location. The app follows an intuitive design that makes it user-friendly.
There are several types of IFs’ that one can follow depending on the number of hours they can go without food. Here’s a list of a few tried and tested IF methods that yield fruitful results.
The most natural form of fast is generally followed unknowingly in our day-to-day lives. Known as Circadian rhythm it starts after our dinner at night and continues till morning until we have breakfast.
16:8 IF. This is the 2nd and most conventional form used by people.
Celebrities such as Hugh Jackman and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have also contributed to its popularity. It allows one to consume meals between 8 hours while they have to practice fasting in the remaining 16 hours respectively
Depending on your lifestyle you can choose whether to skip breakfast or dinner. This IF helps you reduce weight at a steady pace.
18:6 IF. Following this, one has to fast for 18 hours while they can eat in the remaining 6 hours.
It helps the body start using Ketones as fuel, reduces the excess Glycogen in your liver, and Autophagy removes the damaged cells of your body.
20:4 IF. This holds a 4-hour eating window followed by a 20 hour fast.
This process is also known as OMAD (one meal a day). This helps one reduce weight at a quick pace, moderate autophagy, and ketone production.
2Next would be the Monk’s fast. A 36 hour fast that helps you reset your metabolism while promoting powerful cellular cleansing.
It’s advisable to practice this fast once a week.
One can also try custom fasts that continue for 5 days.
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Life Fasting Tracker
The Life Fasting Tracker app was launched in late 2018 and had surpassed 2, 50, 000 app downloads in 2019. This app offers a flexible fasting tracker that can add or subtract fasting hours as per the user’s convenience.
One can also keep a track of their weight, glucose, circumference, waist, and ketones. The app also allows its users to form a social community where you can share your statistics and also DM any individual in your community.
If you explore the ‘Learn’ tab you can read and view various articles and videos in the ‘Learning Library’ that scientifically explain the importance and benefits of fasting. Other articles that provide sound information on other health topics are also available.
The app also has its feed where you can view and post updates, interact, and learn at the same time. It also helps a ‘faster’ feel motivated through their fasting days.
Under the ‘Profile’ section you can make note of your fasting statistics. From your weight to your hours of ketosis everything can be examined here.
BodyFast
The first version of the BodyFast app was released in January 2018. The app introduces a range of fasting methods that can be chosen. It also provides for a coach who’d decide how your fasting chart would be depending on your current weight and your desired goal.
A whopping 14 million people all over the globe use BodyFast. The app offers around 50 ways to practice IF like 16:8, 18:6, and 5-2 and many more. The app not only keeps a tab on your weight, and other body measurements it also helps you monitor your water intake.
It also offers a “knowledge pool” to learn in-depth about intermittent fasting.
Business Model of Intermittent Fasting Apps
We must have a clear idea of how a particular app would earn us revenue. The health and fitness industry holds quite a few ways that can generate a steady revenue stream. These are the following ways in which IF apps generate revenue.
The Freemium version of the IF apps offers access to basic features like time tracking, body stats, managing water intake, and a few more.
The user will sign up and take a survey. This survey would include a series of questions related to the physique and future goals of the user.
The app would be ready to use but will only offer basic limited features related to IF. One would have to pay for the premium features to access the app in its entirety.
Here are some features that can be used for premium members.
One can add on other features such as daily lessons, physical training, nutrition guide, and many more.
Your premium content can also include health and fitness articles, audio segments, and exclusive videos related to fasting, weight loss, and other fitness-related subjects.
While this app takes care of an individual’s physical health it can be also used to keep a track of their mental health.
Adding a questionnaire related to a user’s experience while fasting would allow them to visualize changes or improvements in their mental health.
Other than this guided meditation sessions will help create a perfect balance between mental and physical health.
One can introduce fasting zones as a way to track bodily changes during different phases of their fast.
Exercise schedules with videos and meal suggestions with recipes. The benefits of preceding upgrades are simple yet powerful. It can attract freemium users to opt for the premium version.
Advanced statistics that portray fasting relations with weight, mental health, sleep, heart rate, etc, is also a feature that can be used as a premium offering.
How to build an Intermittent Fasting App like Zero or BodyFast?
There are already myriad apps that provide health and fitness regimes. It’s imperative to build a unique app that promotes intuitive learning and is marketed in a way that grabs the attention of the targeted niche. An IT Service provider is best suitable for mapping the preceding features with utmost efficiency and ease.
Product Roadmap
The path that one would follow while building an app in order to achieve their desired goal is termed as the product roadmap.
We at Technource, prefer using the Agile-Scrum Framework. The Scrum framework is designed to serve value to their customers by getting things done while Agile is a set of principles and values.
One can’t just go Agile any moment as it takes a lot to change the way you think than to change the way you work. Scrum can be efficiently used to help one start thinking in an agile way and inculcate agile principles in their work and communication.
Scrum is a series of iterations called sprints. These short iterations help increase speed to market, reduce cost and risk, get quicker feedback, etc. You can learn in-depth about our Agile Scrum Framework from here.
Features of Intermittent Fasting Apps
- Sign in/ Sign up
- Easy to use dashboard
- User profile
- Health and fitness statistics
- Fitness blogs, articles, and videos
- Social media integration and Community sharing
How can Technource Provide Assistance for Intermittent Fasting App Development?
Building mobile and web applications over the years has proven to be a learning curve as well as a time filled with opportunities. A decade’s persistent hard work has helped Technource become an established IT service provider.
We have developed functional applications like ‘Hommati’ and ‘Aphro’. We use Java and Swift while making our native apps in Android and iOS. Our services can also be availed in building cross-platform apps using Ionic, React Native, or Flutter.
We have developed our expertise when it comes to web application development. We do the same using PHP or .NET. Our clients also benefit from our Digital Promotional Services. This helps the newbies in the business reach their customers at a faster pace.
If you’re tight on a budget we also deploy MVP solutions that can help you create your core app with essential features that defines your business. An MVP would create a basic app with essential features that can be tested in the market. We can analyze user engagement and response and make appropriate updates in the future.
Our satisfied clients in over 12 countries speak volumes for the technical assistance we have provided. If you have an idea that would appeal to the health and fitness masses then Technourc awaits your presence.
Let’s conquer the fitness world together!
