Monitoring The Health Of Fitness Apps

is the season to get off the couch, burn calories and eat healthier.

Sigh. What better way to track New Year’s resolution progress than

through health & fitness apps via fitness bands, smart watches,

phones and tablets. With nearly 8,000 apps to select from within Google

Play and Apple App Store, it’s easy to pick an app that is insecure, unstable,

inaccurate or just plain ugly. Why use an unfit app when you are trying to

be healthy?

‘T

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ARC REPORT • DEC. 2015

THE 2016 STATE OF THE U.S. HEALTH & FITNESS APPS ECONOMYThe quality leaders among nearly 8,000 apps and across 4 million consumer reviews.

By Ben Gray

The average app quality score of the nearly 8,000health & fitness apps in Google Play and Apple App Store,

as rated by their U.S. customers.

66/100

ARC from Applause studied the health & fitness apps economy to

determine which brands deliver the most delightful mobile experiences.

ARC analyzed how U.S. customers rate the app quality of 65 brands with

the most popular apps—including fitness, medical, nutrition, stress relief

and women’s health (see Figure 1). What did we discover? The health and

fitness industry is insanely competitive with apps that rate better than most

other categories. Mobile is specifically well-suited to health and fitness,

giving brands the opportunity to take advantage of unique phone features.

10 Popular Brands Earn High Quality Marks

ARC from Applause authored this report to help health & fitness brands

understand how U.S. customers perceive their flagship Android and

iOS app quality. ARC winnowed its initial data pull of nearly 8,000 apps

to narrow in on the 65 most popular brands, based on volume of app

store feedback (see Figure 2). After crunching approximately 4 million

app store reviews, the Applause Health & Fitness App Quality Index is

comprised of the brands with more than 10,000 reviews collectively.

100908070605040300 10 20

Women's health (11)Stress relief (8)

Medical (8)Nutrition (9)Fitness (29)

8179767268

POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT WINNING

FIGURE 1: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – INDUSTRIES

AVERAGESCORE

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015 AVG. SCORE INDUSTRY MIN/MAX

figure 1

2

3

figure 2

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – FITNESS

StrongLiftsSworkit Lite BY NEXERCISE

Sports Tracker BY SPORTS TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

C25K BY ZEN LABS

Strava Running And CyclingMapMyRun BY MAPMYFITNESS

Instant Heart Rate BY AZUMIO

MapMyWalk BY MAPMYFITNESS

NexTrack BY NEXERCISE

MapMyRide BY MAPMYFITNESS

PacerMapMyRun+ BY MAPMYFITNESS

Runtastic PRORuntastic

MapMyFitness BY MAPMYFITNESS

Runkeeper BY FITNESSKEEPER

Workout Trainer BY SKIMBLE

Running and Walking BY ENDOMONDO

Fitness Buddy BY AZUMIO

Nike+ RunningNoom Walk

Nike+ Training ClubFitocracy

Nike+ FuelMy Tracks BY GOOGLE

UP BY JAWBONE

FitbitGoogle Fit

Garmin Connect Mobile

86.084.580.079.579.078.578.077.077.075.575.575.073.073.073.072.572.566.565.063.063.062.560.057.556.054.049.537.021.0

1.5-1.5-1.52.5-5.0-0.5-2.50.5-4.50.08.5-1.0-2.5-2.0-0.5-1.50.5-5.5-3.0-1.5-2.01.0-0.54.5-3.012.5-4.5-3.0-5.0

6,3695,930

12,3466,865

22,54524,84122,09419,9386,897

16,0909,4791,180

11,76617,4726,776

41,33512,73013,8563,385

43,07112,9345,8632,1881,954

12,77415,10830,89310,9718,049

4,8515,3932,4859,938

11,46184,0577,878

32,25910,51121,5867,402

11,63112,1756,073

12,40329,2853,5453,3906,788

35,096N/A

6,6469,985

19,890N/A

8,78631,947

N/A3,048

FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – MEDICAL

GoodRxiTriageLeafly

iPharmacy BY MEDCONNECTIONS.COM

Feed Baby BY PENGUIN APPS

1mg BY HEALTHKARTPLUS

Medscape BY WEBMD

WebMD

84.582.582.581.080.074.572.563.0

2,56715,6414,2788,11195632

1,9943,266

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

5.0-1.5-1.00.0-4.0-1.5-0.51.5

7,70913,8718,933

11,10113,90812,3508,4248,895

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FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – NUTRITION

Water Drink Reminder BY NORTHPARK

Calorie Counter BY MYFITNESSPAL

Lose It! BY FITNOW

Tap & Track BY NANOBIT

Calorie Tracker BY LIVESTRONG.COM

Noom CoachCalorie Counter BY FATSECREt

Calorie Counter BY CALORIE COUNT

Weight Watchers Mobile

85.083.082.577.069.568.568.566.047.0

N/A287,68453,97011,25827,879454

1,09812,39544,301

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

2.0-3.5-2.00.0-3.5-4.03.0-1.0-7.0

26,972201,89216,094N/A740

24,10711,9114,40929,746

FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – STRESS RELIEF

Relax Melodies BY IPNOS SOFTWARE

White Noise BY TMSOFT

White Noise Free BY TMSOFT

Twilight BY URBANANDROID TEAM

Sleep Cycle alarm clock BY NORTHCUBE

Daily YogaHoroscope BY TELEMAQUE

Sleep Time BY AZUMIO

88.583.582.081.079.577.076.564.0

37,96510,4398,689N/A

51,9692,19911,7633,517

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

1.0-0.5-0.5-3.0-0.53.5-3.5-3.5

16,1144,82810,21015,8203,2739,52314,9447,573

FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE HEALTH & FITNESS APP QUALITY INDEX – WOMEN'S HEALTH

Period Calendar / Tracker BY ABISHKKING

Period Tracker BY GP APPS

Period Tracker BY SEVENLOGICS

GlowMy Pregnancy Today BY BABYCENTEr

My Days BY CHRISTIAN MUELLER

Pink Pad BY ALT12 APPS

BabyBump BY ALT12 APPS

Period Diary BY NANOBIT

I'm Expecting BY MEDHELP

Pregnancy & Baby BY EVERYDAY HEALTH

94.588.587.084.082.582.582.081.074.069.067.5

37810,95724,4575,06221,2279,55513,7708,111

16,933717

19,925

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

1.5-0.5-1.02.5-1.0-0.5-0.50.00.00.5-3.5

75,74834,765N/A

8,73423,89312,7848,50311,101N/A

17,8657,346

Ten apps earned above average app quality scores of 66 or greater

based on more than 40,000 reviews:

• Period Calendar / Tracker by ABISHKKING (94.5) [Android | iOS]

• Relax Melodies by Ipnos Software (88.5) [Android | iOS]

• Period Tracker by GP Apps (88.5) [Android | iOS]

• Calorie Counter by MyFitnessPal (83.0) [Android | iOS]

• Lose It! by FitNow (82.5) [Android | iOS]

• My Pregnancy Today by BabyCenter (82.5) [Android | iOS]

• Sleep cycle alarm clock by Northcube (79.5) [Android | iOS]

• MapMyRun by MapMyFitness (78.5) [Android | iOS]

• MapMyWalk by MapMyFitness (77.0) [Android | iOS]

• Runkeeper by FitnessKeeper (72.5) [Android | iOS].

What are commonalities amongst the ten leading brands? Consistent

and amazing feedback on attributes such as usability, performance,

satisfaction and content. Consumers value apps with elegant user

interfaces and simple navigation, quick launch times, fast performance,

accurate information, relevant notifications and engaging and fun

experiences.

Apparel companies, Under Armour and Nike, have emerged as the true

leaders in health & fitness apps. With UA Record, its November 2013

acquisition of MapMyFitness and its February 2015 acquisitions of

Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, Under Armour now owns the world’s

largest digital health and fitness community that numbers more than

150 million. Meanwhile, Nike was the first mover to create a converged

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digital strategy. It will be interesting to see how these global brands

evolve now that they own such significant user communities.

Apps That Have Room To Improve

When consumers feel well served or underserved, they have a channel

in app stores through which to share experiences—good and bad. U.S.

consumers rated the strengths and weaknesses of the nearly 8,000

health & fitness apps in Google Play and Apple App Store and identified

security, stability, elegance and content as the four primary areas of

concern. Just four profiled apps have quality scores less than 50:

• FitBit (49.5) [Android | iOS]

• Weight Watchers Mobile (47.0) [Android | iOS]

• Google Fit (37.0) [Android]

• Garmin Connect Mobile (21.0) [Android | iOS].

Apps that rate poorly tend to not optimize the experience towards

mobile moments. Short-term testing efforts (e.g., usability audits with

independent experts and actual customers, automated functional

testing and security/privacy testing) will flag and fix immediate issues

within an app. Evaluating mobile maturity and adapting to more agile

development processes and building a world class customer experience

program can further close any potential disconnects between customers

and their digital experiences.

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The Highest- And Lowest-Rated Apps

Some apps emerged from the crowd with amazing reviews, such as

StrongLifts for Android and Calorie Counter by MyFitnessPal for iOS

(see Figure 3). Others stood out for all the wrong reasons. Five of the

six highest-rated apps were on iOS, while three of the five lowest-rated

apps were on Android.

Some Brands Had Large Satisfaction Swings

ARC analyzed how the flagship app quality scores have evolved over

the past year—from December 2014 to December 2015. Ten brands

experienced user sentiment swings of four points or greater, with one

experiencing a more volatile shift. That brand? UP by Jawbone, which

improved 12.5 points on a 100-point scale.

What’s the secret to Jawbone’s success? A combination of product and

feature improvements. Jawbone introduced Smart Coach, which serves

as a trusted advisor to guide customers toward a healthier lifestyle, and

has evolved it into a must-have feature. Jawbone also introduced a new

figure 3

FIGURE 3: HIGHEST- & LOWEST-RATED HEALTH & FITNESS APPS

Women's health (11)

Stress relief (8)

Medical (8)

Nutrition (9)

Fitness (29)

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

HIGHEST-RATED LOWEST-RATED

Period Calendar / Tracker BY ABISHKKING

Relax Melodies BY IPNOS SOFTWARE

Leafly

Calorie Counter BY MYFITNESSPAL

StrongLifts/Sworkit Lite BY NEXERCISE

I'm Expecting by MedHelp

Sleep Time by Azumio

WebMD

Weight Watchers Mobile

Garmin Connect Mobile

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lineup of fitness bands that deliver longer battery life, improved health

& fitness monitoring, timely notifications, stylish designs and enhanced

ergonomics.

With the good, comes

the bad. Most of the

apps with declining user

sentiment scores were

vulnerable to buggy

releases, an inability to

achieve feature parity

with faster competition

and rising consumer

expectations. In today’s

apps economy, to the

victor go the spoils.

+12.5

+8.5

+5.0

+4.5

-4.5

-4.5

-5.0

-5.0

-5.5

-7.0

UP by Jawbone

Pacer

GoodRx

Nike+ Fuel

NexTrack BY NEXERCISE

Fitbit

Strava Running And Cycling

Garmin Connect Mobile

Running and Walking BY ENDOMONDO

Weight Watchers Mobile

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, DECEMBER 2015

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Complimentary Onsite Workshops

Applause is making this report’s author available for complimentary

onsite workshops that will enhance understanding of touchpoints

across your customer journey, determine how your company can get

to market faster with a rich digital presence and share insight into the

best practices that industry-leading brands have embraced to win.

Interested? Contact bgray@applause.com today.

About ARC

ARC from Applause is a research group dedicated to providing insights

on the apps economy. ARC leverages data from a variety of sources,

including proprietary Applause data, to provide a 360º view of app

quality. ARC combines this with analysis into reports to help brands

and developers understand what’s happening in the apps economy.

Learn more at http://arc.applause.com.

About Applause Analytics

Combing through half a billion star ratings and user reviews submitted

across more than 30 million apps in the Android and iOS app stores,

Applause Analytics closes the gap between mobile developers and their

customers, generating actionable insights and quantifiable metrics

based on what users are actually saying about their app experiences.

Learn more at www.applause.com/analytics.9