The growth of wearable devices is unbeatable, and it can widely be seen in the sports and health industry. If you are thinking of developing a wearable device app, you are on the right path.
This blog post has uncovered all the aspects of wearable device app development that include types of wearable devices, their use cases, and more.
Table of Contents:
What Is Wearable App Development?
Types of Wearable Devices
Top Use Cases of Wearable Technology
Steps to Build Wearable Devices App
Why Should You Invest in Wearable Apps?
How Much Does Wearable Device App Development Cost?
What Is Wearable App Development?
In simple terms, wearable app development is a process of building applications for wearable devices, like a smartwatch, fitness band, smart glasses, etc. The wearable apps gather the data and deliver all the insights via the internet or Bluetooth connection.
Wearable apps are engaging and user-centric and run smoothly on wearable devices. It is used for tracking real-time data related to physical activity, heart rate, monitoring blood pressure, and more. Wearable apps are functional on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and its ecosystem is constantly growing.
Types of Wearable Devices
SmartWatch
One of the most used wearable devices today is a smartwatch, and they are expected to grow by over 253 million by 2025, a report shared by Statista. Smartwatch enables the users to leverage several features, like alerts & notifications, pedometers, physical activity tracker, etc.
Smartwatches mainly include sensor-related features that enhance the user experience, and it is becoming more innovative and feature-rich: for instance, Apple Watch is one of the renowned examples.
Key Features of SmartWatch:
ECG app
ECG stands for electrocardiogram that checks the pulses to get a heart rate and provides the data accordingly.
SpO2 Monitoring
SpO2 is also known as oxygen saturation. It keeps track of the blood oxygen levels.
Pedometer
Pedometer counts the number of steps taken by a user.
Eye Wear
Smart Glasses or eyewear are the next technological advancement of wearable devices that integrate the data related to what the person sees.
Smart Glasses collect information from internal and external sensors and support wireless technologies like Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.
Wearable glasses change the optical properties during their functioning. Ray-Ban is one of the prominent examples of eyewear.
Key Features of Eye Wear:
Activity Tracking
Tracking devices, like GPS and digital cameras, users can now easily store their post-workout details and navigate the location.
Accessing Information
Smart glasses record hands-free images or videos and get information related to products, facial recognition, etc.
Fitness Band
A fitness band like Fitbit is the ideal choice for fitness enthusiasts as it lets them track their daily activities. The fitness band has sensors that forward the data on the user’s smartphone.
In other words, this device collects all the information and transforms it into steps, daily run, sleep quality, calories, and more.
The key advantages of fitness bands are tracking daily progress, free workout tips, monitoring health, user-friendly fitness tracker interface, etc.
Key Features of Fitness Band:
Health Metrics
Health metrics observe, analyze, optimize, and transform the healthcare data of the user.
Breathing Rate
The most advanced wearables measure the breathing rate of an athlete and quickly respond to sudden changes in physical activity.
Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) Monitoring
Fitness bands measure the blood oxygen level through the red and infrared sensors and rapidly highlights potential health issues.
Hearable Technology
The hearable technology is the modern successor of headphones and earbuds that respond in audio once the voice input is passed through. It is incorporated with microphones and speakers.
Smart headphones are an advanced technology used for various purposes, like wireless transmission, communication, medical monitoring, and fitness tracking. Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best examples of hearable technology.
Key Features of Hearable Technology:
Biometric Personal Identification
The advanced hearable technology uses sound waves to recognize and identify the device’s owner.
Activity Tracking
You can now improve your caloric results through hearable technology. It measures the user’s health via every physical movement.
Amplification Features
With this feature, users can listen in a noisy environment through their wireless earbuds.
Top Use Cases of Wearable Technology
Use Case 1: Healthcare
Healthcare is a sector that widely uses wearable technology to keep track of users’ daily physical activities and personal health. The wearable advancement is the best solution for both doctors and patients as it provides useful insights.
The plus point of integrating wearables into the health sector is that it tracks and offers health recommendations. These wearable devices even send real-time report notifications regarding the user’s diet.
The wearables measure several parameters, like heart rate, body temperature, calories burned, skin temperature, and more. The Apple Watch is one of the finest examples of wearables in the health sector.
Use Case 2: Fitness Tracker
Another use case is in the fitness industry, where wearable devices are vastly used, offering several benefits to runners, walkers, and cyclists.
Fitbit is one of the examples of a wearable device that matches the user’s requirements and tracks their daily physical activities, like step count, running time, etc.
As the term suggests, a fitness tracker keeps a complete record of the user’s daily physical progress and helps achieve their fitness goals.
Following is a list of all the care-about of fitness tracker:
Counts calories.
Provides navigation guidelines from Apps like Google Maps/Apple Maps, etc.
Send notification or alert messages when reaching the selected destination.
Use Case 3: Navigation
Navigation is another sector where wearable devices play a huge role. For instance, Google maps quickly locate directions through wearables like a smartwatch.
The navigation wearable devices have multiple features that enhance the user experience like voice output, notifications or alert messages, theme options, etc.
Navigation applications can be a great addition to mountain walking, skiing, and sailing as they will let the users assess speed, angle, any upcoming slope, and landscape.
Another exciting use case of wearable devices is mobile streaming, which expands the user experience by changing the music through their smartwatch or pausing it anytime they want via innovative hearable technology, like AirPods Pro.
Applications like Spotify are compatible that let users listen to music via different wearables.
Use Case 5: Utility
Utility apps are pre-installed apps that perform a single function and improve the user experience. The most common utility apps are calculator, flashlight, reminders, calendar, etc.
Utility app is also one of the use cases of wearables that focuses on providing better productivity and improved communication. You can keep notes, use a calculator, or open messages via wearable app devices.
Decline or accept calls with wearable devices, like a smartwatch or smart earphones. You can also receive alert messages or notifications regarding any upcoming event.
Steps to Build Wearable Devices App
Brainstorming
It is essential to list your app ideas, vision, goals, plan of how to do it, and what to include before developing the wearable device app. The brainstorming of app ideas helps the app development company integrate the features and build the app accordingly.
It is the first phase, and you’re free to pour in your every app vision and imagination to make your wearable device app result-driven. For instance, you can create an outline of how your wearable app should look or make a list of all the features that will be useful for your intended users.
Before beginning the wearable app development, keep the following points in mind:
What result are you expecting to drive from the wearable device app?
Which technology will you use to develop a high-performing wearable app?
What is your budget plan for developing the wearable device app?
Conduct Market Research
The next step for wearable app development is conducting market research and the competitor’s analysis. Market research helps acquire a lot about the ongoing market trends related to wearable technology and users’ preferences.
Initiate the market research by determining the popular apps in the market and examining your competitor’s weak points to fill that void in your app. You can conduct market research by preparing questionnaires and surveys.
Market research helps in facilitating the strategic planning that further gives a competitive edge and establishes the market positioning.
Pick Wearable App Type
After conducting market research, move ahead, and choose a wearable app type. Wearable apps differ in operating, mobile device independence, and functionality. Let’s look at some of the wearables app types:
Based on the App Type:
Standalone App
It is a kind of wearable app that runs independently on the wearable device via a direct internet connection.
Companion App
As the name suggests, companion wearable apps are accompanied by mobile applications. This app type allows the data syncing with mobile apps that collect all the daily activities through wearables, like step count, daily run, heart rate, etc.
Platform Choice
Pick either Android or iOS platforms based on your business requirements, and avoid unnecessary tasks by determining your app type.
MVP and Prototyping
You can now begin with the minimum viable product (MVP) to build feature-packed and bespoke wearable applications for a streamlined process. MVP helps you find out how to add value to your targeted audience and what features will benefit them.
The minimum viable product also lets you see how your intended users respond to your wearable app and familiarize you with the market demand.
Wearable app prototyping lets you understand the app’s overall look, function, and whether the end-users like the UX design or not.
Begin the App Development Process
Start developing your app by integrating all the valuable features. Choose a suitable wearable app development platform to meet your business requirements and goals.
The wearable app development process comprises 3 primary factors- back-end, front-end, and application programming interface (API).
The back-end server of a wearable app has two essential factors- database and server-side that support the overall functioning of the app.
The front-end is an element where users see everything on their phones. On the other hand, the application programming interface (API) is an intermediate between the wearable app and the back-end server.
Testing Stage
If you want to make sure that your wearable app is error-free, make sure to test the app thoroughly before launching it. In the testing stage, the quality assurance (QA) team assures the app’s overall functioning and maintains the app’s reliability, security, usability, and scalability.
The testing stage has several parameters, such as the user’s location, what devices they use, and other factors determining the overall app testing.
The testing stage of wearable apps is broadly classified into 5 stages:
Functional Testing
The foremost testing stage of wearable app development is functional testing. The functional testing provides the overall coverage of the app, such as data gathering, connectivity, and alert display. It ensures that the app is functioning as expected.
Usability Testing
It is imperative to know how the wearable app impacts your intended users, so usability testing is crucial. You can perform usability testing with users in your targeted demographics to understand how they feel about your app.
Localization Testing
If you want to reach an audience across the globe, your wearable app must adapt to every culture, language, and format. In other words, validate the app’s functionality and word choice to ensure that it fits well into its interface.
Load and Performance Testing
Stick your intended users to the wearable app for a longer time by ensuring the app’s fast loading and quick performance. Consider how your wearable app stores all the data along with the user’s information.
Security Testing
Make sure that the user’s information, like username, phone number, or address, is well-protected in the security testing stage.
Final Launch
Once the testing stage gets over, your wearable app is all set to get released on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. You can now upload your wearable app on any platform by creating an account.
Afterward, add app screenshots and write informative descriptions with an eye-catching title. Also, if you want multiple downloads for your app with higher revenue generation, don’t forget to update your wearable app based on the user’s shared feedback.
Why Should You Invest in Wearable Apps?
The future of a wearable app is promising, and its popularity will not stop any time soon. The introduction of smartwatches is largely powering the wearable market as it majorly helps users monitor their daily physical activities, track location with GPS, monitor heart rate, and more.
In 2019, there were 722 million connected wearables, which is expected to reach more than a billion in the current year, i.e., 2022, says Statista. The most notable reason wearable technology is getting popular is that it allows everyone to monitor their health and alert them regarding any health-related issue.
Wearable technology is yet to enjoy a huge profit in the coming years and will definitely boost every sector for long-term growth. It guarantees fast speed that enhances the user experience of wearable apps. Wearables also improve how much data can be fed into wearable devices.
How Much Does Wearable Device App Development Cost?
The wearable device app development cost is entirely based on your business requirements, project’s scope, working hours, and other factors, like:
App UI/UX design
Which platform you’ll choose? Android or iOS?
How many features and functionalities do you want to integrate?
What technology stack will you use?
App testing strategy
Post app launch maintenance and support
Get a no-obligation consultation from us to get a better idea of the wearable device app development cost.
Final Thoughts
Wearable technology is not stopping anytime soon; instead, it will grow more in the future. So, develop a wearable app for your business (irrespective of the industry niche), and enjoy huge profits.
Remember that developing a wearable app device is not a piece of cake. The development process involves several processes, and therefore, considering a wearable app development company is advisable.
