From Concept to Market: Women’s Health App Blueprint

Startups and product owners often grapple with a common dilemma – finding that perfect niche, a realm where their digital creations not only solve real-world problems but also resonate with an eager audience. With increasing strives for equality, you can dive into a world where your aspirations meet a pressing need: women’s wellness.

It’s a call to action, a response to the cries of millions of women worldwide who are seeking a more personalized, holistic approach to their well-being. This isn’t merely about building a women’s health app; it’s about creating a healthcare solution that can improve people’s lives.

So, whether you’re motivated by the passion to make a difference or the lure of a thriving market, this article is your key to unlocking the world of women’s wellness apps. Dive in and discover how you can address the pains of your business, while simultaneously easing the unique challenges faced by women in their pursuit of health and happiness.

Helping Minds Healthcare Mobile App Concept by Shakuro

What’s femtech?

Femtech stands for “female” and “technology.” It refers to a category of technology-based products, services, and innovations specifically designed to address women’s healthcare and well-being needs.

The term was created by Ida Lin, the inventor of the Clue period tracking app. She wanted to gather everything related to women’s health under one umbrella term.

What about the market? The global femtech industry worthed roughly 51 billion US dollars in 2021. In 2030, the sum will increase to about 103 billion US dollars. There are several major players in the field, for example, Flo Health, Clue, Glow Inc., Withings, and others.

Despite its importance, women’s health is still shockingly underserved. In 2023, statistics show that 14% of women aged 18+ are in fair or poor health, 42% of women aged 20+ are obese, and 45% of women aged 20+ face health challenges. Imagine, how your women’s health app can help change this situation.

Your femtech startup  can cover one of the following needs:

• Period tracking apps: help women track their menstrual cycles, predict ovulation, and manage their periods more effectively;
• Fertility and pregnancy monitoring: assist with fertility tracking, conception planning, and pregnancy monitoring.
• Pelvic health and kegel devices: improve pelvic floor health, aiding in issues like incontinence and postpartum recovery.
• Dieting and nutrition: weight loss for women is a crucial problem. In the United States, nearly 30.7% of adults are classified as overweight.
• Breast health: provide tools for breast self-exams and breast health monitoring. In the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, excluding skin cancers.
• Mental health and well-being: offer mental health support and resources tailored to women’s unique needs. Women between the ages of 18 and 44 are twice as likely as males to have an anxiety condition.
• Menopause management: help women manage the symptoms and health concerns associated with menopause.

Key features for a women’s wellness app

User profiles: allow users to create personalized profiles with information such as age, weight, health goals, and menstrual cycle data. This way, you and therapists can offer tailored content and recommendations.

Menstrual cycle tracking: include a menstrual calendar or tracker that allows women to log their menstrual cycles, symptoms, and moods. Predicting ovulation and fertility windows can also be helpful.

Health information: offer articles, blogs, or videos on various women’s health topics, including reproductive health, menopause, nutrition, fitness, and mental health.

Symptom checker: include it to provide info on common women’s health symptoms and potential causes. However, always emphasize the importance of consulting with a healthcare professional for accurate diagnoses.

Wellness plans: if you have a healthcare business, think about suggesting new digital services like customizable wellness plans, such as weight loss, fitness, or stress reduction. These plans can include workouts, meal plans, and mindfulness exercises provided by therapists.

Reminders and notifications: set reminders for medication, appointments, workouts, or self-care routines. This way you help women stay on track with their health goals.

Telehealth integration: partner with healthcare providers to offer telehealth services for virtual consultations and follow-up appointments.

Nutrition tracking: if you opt for a lose weight app for women, include a food diary or nutrition tracker that helps users monitor their dietary intake, track calories, and assess nutritional balance. Consider integrating barcode scanning or meal planning features.

Fitness tracking: for a workout app for women, incorporate tools that monitor steps, distance, heart rate, and other relevant metrics. Wearable devices like fitness trackers or smartwatches are a trend of 2024, so be sure to include this feature as well.

Emergency features: include an emergency button or contact information for local healthcare providers and hospitals in case of urgent medical needs.

Language and accessibility: to involve a broader audience, offer multiple language options and features like voice assistance for users with special powers.

FitFem App by Gabriella Echebiri

Development of women’s wellness apps

First of all, you need an experienced team of mobile app developers. They suggest a suitable tech stack for the chosen platform (iOS or Android) and guide you through the development process.

Here is a short list of technologies that you might need to create a women’s fitness app:

• Mobile app development with languages like Swift (for iOS) and Java or Kotlin (for Android). Alternatively, you can use cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter for simultaneous development on both platforms.
• If you plan to have a web component (e.g., a web dashboard), you’ll need expertise in web development technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and possibly a JavaScript framework like React, Angular, or Vue.js.
• Choose a database system to store user data, health records, and other app-related information. Popular options include MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or cloud-based solutions like Firebase or AWS DynamoDB.
• Cloud services for scalable storage, hosting, and serverless computing. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure are common choices.
• Build the server-side logic and APIs for your app using frameworks like Node.js, Ruby on Rails, Django, or Express.js.
• Front-end development skills to turn designs into functional interfaces using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Analytics tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Firebase Analytics to track user behavior, engagement, and app performance.
• If you plan to integrate with wearable devices, learn the specific development kits and APIs for those devices, such as Apple HealthKit or Google Fit for fitness trackers.
• Quality assurance and testing tools, such as Appium, Selenium, or XCTest for mobile app testing.

Development team for a workout app for women

There are several specialists you might need to create the application, for instance:

• Project manager who is responsible for overall project management, including planning, scheduling, and coordination.
• UI/UX designer to create wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs.
• Mobile app developers for coding the app on Android & iOS.
• Backend developers to build the server-side logic, databases, and APIs for the app.
• Database developer who designs and manages the database architecture.
• DevOps engineer manages infrastructure and deployment pipelines.
• Quality Assurance (QA) tester conducts thorough testing of the app to identify and report bugs and usability issues.
• Legal/Compliance specialist ensures the app complies with relevant data privacy and healthcare regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
• Data security expert to focus on data privacy and security.
• Analytics specialist manages data analytics tools, collects user insights, and helps optimize the app based on data-driven decisions.

WiSpence – Women Health & Sport App by Kate Buke

Costs for creating a women’s health app

Calculating the potential expenses is a challenging task. They depend on dozens of factors, like:

• Team experience and type (in-house or outsourcing);
• The market you want to burst into;
• Mobile app complexity;
• Type of the application, release platform;
• Amount of third-party integrations, licensing, etc.

You can cut corners by hiring an outsourcing development team. This way, you retain the quality of the product and save up to 50% of your budget. Usually, the in-house team costs around $150 per hour while the offshore agency charges approximately $40-45 per hour for app development and $75-80 per hour for the design.

Now, let’s see the ballpark estimations for a women’s fitness app from scratch.

Simple app with 5-10 pages:

• Approximately 318+ hours ($14 310) for development
• Around 211+ hours ($16 880) for design
• Around 742+ hours ($33 390) for a custom approach
• Total: ~ $31 190 or $50 270 for custom development

Complex app with 10-15 pages:

• Approximately 618+ hours ($27 810) for development
• Around 318 hours ($25 440) for design
• Around 1 566+ hours ($70 470) for a custom approach
• Total: ~ $53 250 or $95 910 for custom development

To get a rough estimate for your project, you can use Project Calculator. With its help, you can discover potential expenses for development, branding, and UI/UX design.

What challenges femtech startups can face

Sensitivity of health data

When creating fitness apps for women, you deal with sensitive health data. It’s paramount to treat this information with utmost care and respect.

So you have to implement robust data privacy and security measures to protect user data. Encryption, secure servers, and regular audits are essential.

Together with legal specialists, familiarize yourself with official healthcare regulations like HIPAA and GDPR. Complying with these standards is not just a requirement but also a mark of trustworthiness.

Legal and regulatory considerations

Here’s the next thing connected to legal regulations. If you aim at emerging markets, you need to understand the requirements relevant to health and wellness apps in that region.

Also, the mobile app should offer clear disclaimers and terms of use to protect your product and its users.

Content creation and curation

Before creating content on women’s healthcare, ensure that your content is evidence-based and trustworthy because users will rely on your app for credible information. Pregnancy, diets, and mental health are very sensitive areas, and you have no right to make mistakes: people’s lives are at stake.

Basically, the safest way is to collaborate with therapists and women psychologists to double-check the content. What’s more, healthcare specialists will help you come up with hot topics for the in-app blog.

Popular wellness apps for women

One of the crucial things when developing a women’s health app is to explore the market and research your potential rivals. This way, you discover the target audience, check implementation methods, and gather inspiration. Moreover, you can take a feature and make it better in your product, attracting potential clients.

Let’s see what applications are popular right now:

Peanut app for mothers

The Peanut app is a social network designed exclusively for women, particularly those going through various stages of motherhood, including pregnancy, motherhood itself, fertility, and even menopause. It provides a safe and supportive space for women to connect, share experiences, ask questions, and find like-minded individuals who are navigating similar life stages.

Useful features:

• Connecting with moms: women can search for and connect with other moms in their local area, helping them build a network of friends.
• Interest-based groups: they can start or join groups based on their specific interests.
• Asking questions: users can post questions and seek advice from the community, making it a valuable resource.

Clue

It’s an app that tracks periods. Clue offers notifications, pill reminders, pregnancy planning, etc. What’s more the application shows you how the period influences your life: cravings, fitness, and energy levels.

Useful features:

• Menstrual tracking: women can input data about their menstrual cycles, including the dates, flow intensity, and any symptoms.
• Fertility tracking: it provides fertility predictions, helping women understand when they are most likely to conceive.
• Symptom logging: users can log various menstrual symptoms, such as mood changes, pain, cravings, and more.
• Health insights: there are articles about reproductive health and related topics.

BabyCentre

The app provides medical information and support to parents and parents-to-be. It aims to provide reliable information and create a supportive community for parents.

Useful features:

• Pregnancy and parenting guidance: the app offers expert information on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.
• Personalized content: women receive personalized content tailored to their pregnancy or child’s age.
• Tracking tools: it includes instruments for tracking pregnancy milestones, baby growth, and developmental milestones.

Conclusion

In the realm of women’s wellness apps, the possibilities are vast. By creating an application that addresses the unique needs of women, you can tap into a growing and lucrative market.

Remember that success in this niche is not just about technology; it’s about understanding, empathy, and the commitment to make a positive impact on women’s lives. So, as you embark on this journey, keep women’s well-being at the heart of your mission and watch your app flourish.