Health and fitness apps have been developing to cover different users’ needs, from at-home workouts to period tracking and mental wellness. In 2024,
grow to 3.6 billion worldwide, an increase of six percent compared to the previous year.
was approximately 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in the same year, a growth of almost 500 million U.S. dollars compared to 2023.
While market leaders like Fitbit and Strava have managed to secure their mobile app audiences, new health app subcategories like meditation and mental wellness apps
have carved out their niche among global users.
Fitness app trends: fluctuating adoption and rising interests
In January 2025, global users downloaded approximately 25.15 million fitness and workout apps onto their devices. Between 2019 and 2025, fitness apps experienced volatile growth, which reflected the macro trends in the industry. While in January 2019, fitness apps counted 18.7 million downloads, users downloaded over 26.3 million apps in this category in January 2021. After the global COVID-19 pandemic, fitness app users headed back to their local gyms, bringing a drop in fitness app use. The pandemic provided apps in this category with a much-needed occasion to onboard new users and increase awareness of digital tools for health and fitness monitoring.
Health and medical apps
Mobile health apps are designed with the purpose of integrating mobile devices into the medical practice, from appointment planning and insurance, as well as monitoring and disease management. According to a survey of March 2024, over one-third of U.S. smartphone users reported tracking their exercise or weight-related parameters. In comparison, 29 percent of respondents reported tracking their blood pressure or heart rate with apps and wearable devices. In the UK, exercise, weight, and diet were the most tracked fitness and health-related aspects among female smartphone users.
During the second quarter of 2024, there were 35,000 medical apps on the Apple App Store, as well as 36,200 medical apps in the Google Play Store. As of June 2024, the two major publishers of medical apps worldwide for Android users were national health authorities, namely the Indonesian app BPJS Kesehatan, the country’s official Social Security Agency on Health, and the Indian National Health Authority. Doctolib, which allows users to book medical appointments with practitioners and doctors both online and offline, was the leading privately owned medical app on the Google Play Store, with 753,000 downloads during the month.
Privacy and online safety
Mobile apps can collect an extensive amount of data, some of which could be linked to users. As of December 2024, fitness app Strava and Fitbit collected approximately 21 unique data points each. In comparison, meditation app Headspace collected around 13 unique data points from users’ activity, while sleep tracker app RISE collected around 12 data points. Although a limited number of collected data points can be utilized to track users, the protection of privacy and the handling of personal data hold significant importance when paired with possibly sensitive health data.
Health and fitness apps have experienced an uneven growth in adoption and popularity since the first outbreak of COVID pandemic in 2019. Users have come to appreciate medical apps to book their doctor appointments and track several health metrics , from blood pressure to heart rate. While the addition of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to meditation apps could solve the questions of availability and price for users seeking mental health management, fitness and health apps might find limited use cases for AI features.
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