Be the hectic schedule, personal or professional qualms, despite all this, a person yearns for peace of mind. And owing to the outbreak of coronavirus, attaining inner peace has become a distant dream. In today’s world, peace is not the highest goal it’s a fundamental requirement. And people would do anything to attain it. One of the easiest ways is through meditation. Owing to this the meditation app industry is seeing a steady rise. In the recent past, the top 10 meditation applications have garnered a revenue of $195 million. And since 2015, over 2500 meditation mobile applications have been launched; giving us a sense that this is the throbbing sector to encash on.
As per Sensor Tower’s study, Calm and Headspace are the two most popular meditation apps. Calm’s goal is to help you improve your health and happiness. While Headspace helps users get more goodnight’s sleep and inspires them to be happy. Headspace has over 2 million subscribers and it has been downloaded over 65 million times. Calm made an estimated $200 million in 2020. All these stats go on to show the importance of building a meditation app. In this article, we walk you through how to build a meditation app like Calm and Headspace.
9 easy steps to create an app like Calm and headspace
1. Ideate
Any goal or dream starts with an idea. Begin with an old-school method while undertaking the ideation stage. Make sure the following are answered in this process
• Who is this app for (target audience and age group)?
• What problems is this app addressing?
• Decide on the type of app to be launched
• Define your app’s pros and work on the cons if any.
• The USP of your app.
With that, there are different types of meditation apps as well. For instance: movement meditation, guided, unguided, visualization, calming anxiety, stress management, focus management, deep sleep, mindfulness, attain happiness, etc. Pick what works best for you and the target audience. You can even use different combinations to reach a larger crowd. Once these questions are answered, you will have a rough idea of how your app will look. In this stage, you can even think about hiring an application developer or getting it done internally. Hire an expert to see that points in the ideation are handled. Another pro tip will be to get a certified therapist on board, who understands the various hues of meditation.
2. Market research
To get relevant information and to take the application idea further conducting market research is an inevitable process. There are thousands of meditation applications on the Store, and your app needs to offer something different. That’s where the market research will come into the picture
• Understand the customers and their needs.
• Conduct surveys to know the market.
• Go through the other meditation application
• Have a word with industry stalwarts to get a gist of the market.
• Go through social media apps to get more ideas and information.
3. Get down to the basics
A focused approach will do wonders for the project. Begin by creating your requirement list and rough sketch that will build into a full-blown application. The next step should be gathering the right team. Getting started with the wireframe design will give a great head start to the project.
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4. UI/UX is key
The next process in creating an app like Calm and Headspace is designing the meditation app. The following points should be considered
• The design of the app should be serene and peaceful.
• Use minimalist design and colors like pastel tones of yellow, blue, beige, pink etc.
• Don’t overload the app with pages
• Use subtle animations.
• Using real images and videos will surely give the app a better look. For instance, using a video of the actual rain falling will help the users relax better
• Allow customization
5. Design MVP
Starting the next step by building a minimum viable product (MVP) will save your organization from running out of cash and rather help it grow manifolds. Once you map out the user flow, designing the MVP will be a piece of cake. The MVP will be a platform to understand how the users will address the app. MVP usually has minimum features. Before going in completely into your app design, this step allows you to look into the future and helps avoid mistakes.
6. Regular meetings
To see the idea turn into an application is a long process which includes several stages. Meeting at every interval reduces the number of errors, gives better ideas to move ahead, and aids in better communication.
7. Consider adding these features
What makes an application more accessible is the live or recorded video. A recorded video of a guided mediation will give a blueprint to the users of how to conduct themselves. Secondly, you can sign up with several certified yoga and meditation practitioner, or even psychologist where they can come live and give consultation to the users. A chat or call feature will make this app a sue shot hit as users normally have several queries. Addressing them will be a boon. Also, meditation is not an easy task. It requires patience, hence make sure that the videos or audios are not more than 10 minutes. You can even have an advanced version which the length of the video is longer
8. Add gamification
Let’s face it, the main motive to come up with an app is to earn money. This can happen if your app becomes famous with millions of downloads. One of the reasons why Calm has wooed many is because of its brilliant gamification method. Depending on the usage of the app and the number of sessions covered, Calm offers high scores. Habits are built by being consistent. Headspace lets you do so through gamification. With its short-term habit metrics, it allows you to monitor your current run streak, journey tracker, and goals tracker. This gives a sense of accomplishment and encourages you to become a better version of yourself. If you can offer avatars or badges it makes users reach the goal with ease.
9. Business development/monetization
If you wish to garner and engage more users, consider providing wearables. It has been in trend for a long for various reasons. It increases productivity, gives enhanced speed, encourages fitness, and gives a chance to make your app more loveable
To let the app grow, you will have to think about business development and let the cash flow. Headspace works on three business models: B2B solutions (corporate wellness schemes), the consumer channel (through the app) and healthcare (still waiting for the FDA process). To monetize the app you can enable in-app purchases, allow ads, paid downloads, SMS Marketing, get sponsors, etc
10. Performance analysis
Your work just does not end when the app enters the market. In fact, it starts post that. To keep the app in the heart of the users, analysis of the app’s performance plays a crucial role. It is a continuous process. Take the feedback seriously, and work on them. Keep giving the users what they are looking for.
Important features to include
• Meditation levels (beginner, intermediate or advanced) • Push notification • Motivation message of the day • Reminders • Track progress • Live sessions • Consultations • Secure sign in • Reports management • Leader boards • Use subtle animations. • Loyalty Programs • Use AR/VR • Offline Playback of Meditation Tracks
Tech stack
This is the basic tech stack required to build the mediation app. Depending on your team, needs, and market research, use what best suits the application.
Programming languages: React js, Laravel, Kotlin, Java Considering all the factors if the developer chargers somewhere between $40-60 per hour. You will have to shell approx. $28,000-72,000 Read more: https://themindstudios.com/blog/how-to-make-a-meditation-app-like-headspace/ These days, mental health has become the utmost priority. This industry is thriving and by the end of 2022, this industry will be worth $2 billion. We at App-Scoop have first-hand experience in developing leading apps. Sure, Headspace and Calm are the market rulers, but users often look out for different apps. And we promise you to deliver just that. If you have an app idea do contact https://www.app-scoop.com/contact-us.html
our competent team to get things started.
Utilities: Twillio, Google Analytics, Optimizely
Hosting: AWS
DevOps: Parcel
Cost to create an app like Calm and headspace ideation stage 65-100
Prototyping- 100 hours
Design –90-150 hours
Front and backend development –350 hours
Analysis – 250
Final Thoughts