Note: this post was originally posted on Medium.
Many third-party fitness apps have overlapping or even identical functionality as Apple’s new default fitness apps. Since Apple is one of the most dominant companies on Earth, it’s fair to ask: are third party fitness app developers hosed?
Quite the opposite.
Apple’s focus on fitness tracking, wellness and health, along with its development of Apple-branded fitness apps should be rocket fuel for the ambitions of companies working in this market.
Here are four big reasons why:
1. It’s a powerful vote of confidence in the future of the digital health and fitness category
Apple sees value in digital health and fitness category. So does Google, with its high-profile Google Fit platform, as well as Microsoft, with HealthVault.
These are some of the biggest, most innovative companies in the world. They’re investing in this space because they see potential for growth and long-term, sustainable value.
Which brings me to the next point…
2. It’s the platform, stupid
Apple isn’t positioning Apple Watch or its new fitness apps as competition for existing fitness apps. Rather, Apple is positioning its entire platform (hardware, software, dev tools such as HealthKit, App Store) against other large platforms — namely Google and Google Fit.
Likewise, Apple and Google aren’t hoping to make money on their own free bundled apps. They’re hoping to make money by growing market share, increasing hardware sales, and by capturing app store fees from third-party app sales on their platforms.
Developers want to work on platforms that are growing. But they also want to work in categories that are growing.
It’s easy to forget that digital fitness and health tracking is still very new and not well understood by the truly mass market. Apple’s new fitness offerings bring excellent exposure to the entire category of digital health and fitness tools. This exposure should help the category grow.
For the vast majority of developers, the benefits of great development tools, centralized access to data, excellent hardware, and a massive installed user base more than make up for direct competition with Apple or Google’s default apps.
3. Millions of people will have a fitness app on their device — by default
The original, default iPhone apps such as Calendar, Notes, Weather, Camera, Clock and Reminders introduced millions of people to the concept of organizing their lives directly on a cell phone.
People loved this idea. The apps were great. But soon people decided they needed more from them: more options, more situation-specific features, better personalization. For example, I use Fantastical in place of Calendar because it’s smarter. I’ve never launched Notes, but use Evernote daily.
The same can happen with Apple’s installed fitness apps. I hope millions of people try them, love them, integrate them into their lives, then decide they want more.
That’s also what Apple wants from their new apps, because that’s how they grow their platform over time.
4. The boring work is done!
Above, I wrote that “many third-party fitness apps have overlapping or even identical functionality as Apple’s new default apps.” The truth is that most fitness apps also have overlapping or even identical functionality with each other, and have for years.
Here are some of the features Apple touts in its new fitness apps:
Daily activity tracking. Cardio and exercise tracking. Real-time stats, including time, distance, calories, and pace. Gorgeous graphics and metrics. Goals, reminders, and achievements. An automatic workout log.
Fitness tracking apps have offered most of these features since 2008 / iPhone 3G (see Runkeeper circa 2008). They were groundbreaking back then. Now they are mandatory features.
Apple’s fitness apps show that the basic, boring work of fitness and health tracking is done. They’ve established a baseline set of features. Done.
Now fitness and app developers can (or have to) focus on making creative, fun, cool apps with radically different and unexpected features. Indeed, some apps are already doing this.
I’m thinking of Fitocracy, with its vibrant, supportive social network and catalog of purpose-driven workouts.
Or Wokamon and FitRPG, that turn basic activity tracking into heroic quests and virtual pet care.
Or Zombies Run, which turns run training into an all-out adventure.
Or Runkeeper, with its amazing training and tracking tools that help guide runners at every level.
As a fitness app developer, I couldn’t be happier that the boring work of building and promoting basic features is over. Apple and Google (out of their own self-interest) have provided incredible tools that allow us to reimagine how we interact with our health and fitness data. Now it’s time to get building.
