Fitness Apps are Booming — Rocket Farm is Bringing New Concepts to Market

For Kelly, owner of Kelly Jane Fitness in Virginia, the pandemic quickly accelerated the digital transformation of her business. Prior to March 2020, Kelly spent most of her time working with clients in-person, either one-or-one or with groups. When the lockdowns and restrictions to curb the virus were put into place, Kelly had to pivot fast.

“The goal had always been to scale back on in-person training and increase online offerings. The pandemic just moved up my timeframe.”

Now, Kelly is using popular apps like Trainerize, Evolution Nutrition and Zoom to reach new clients across the country and support those who have been with her since the beginning. “My business is growing because I can provide these online services,” she adds.

Kelly isn’t the only one experiencing a boon in business.

Fitness apps were already on the rise, as time-strapped and gadget-loving people looked for new ways to stay fit in the comfort of their homes. Then, the 2020 pandemic pushed the industry to a new level.

During the time-frame of January to November 2020, roughly 2.5 billion health and fitness apps were downloaded worldwide, according to Sensor Tower, a company that provides data and analytics for mobile app marketing. That’s a 47% jump from the same period in 2019.

That data and the robust sales of products like Peloton and Mirror are clear indicators that the workout-from-home trend has some serious staying power.

Rocket Farm Studios brings a fitness app to life

When Bruce Smith, CEO & Founder of CREW, and his team wanted to popularize the sport of rowing by providing a live from-the-water mobile experience, he turned to Rocket Farm Studios to develop an application that could be embedded into a rowing machine. And Hydrow was born.

“We had a medium idea of what the app should be and how it should function. But Dan [Katcher, founder of Rocket Farm Studios,] really helped refine our vision of the app and gamify the experience,” Smith says.

“The most difficult part is taking an analog experience and translating it to the digital world. And for us, the ability to iterate rapidly is important. We wanted to apply the agile development strategy to all aspects of the business and keep things on a short cycle so we could test and change quickly. That’s why it was great to work with Dan who was able to be nimble and change fast as we redefined our scope. We built a working app in record time,” he adds.

Learn all about the Hydrow project in this case study.

Take your concept to market too

Rocket Farm is excited to help businesses like Hydrow capitalize on this growing trend and bring their ideas to life. If you have a concept for a fitness app — or any app for that matter — and are ready to start development, we’d love to learn more about your project. Schedule a consultation with us today.