Wellness App ROI: How to Develop an App to Make a Profit?
Learn what strategies can help you increase the ROI of your wellness app. We’ve covered only the workable ones and the TRIARE experts’ insights on this. Review these approaches and apply them to effectively enhance your app’s profitability.
What is a wellness app?
When you’re trying to improve your life, having a little helper in your pocket can make all the difference. That’s exactly what wellness apps are for. They were designed with people and their well-being at heart.
In other words, it’s a digital tool with a set of specific features designed to help users start living a healthy lifestyle. It usually covers all areas – physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
You can use it on your smartphone or PC to manage the key things for your health. Like, monitor progress, set new goals, and get reminders or motivational nudges to keep going.
So, what can wellness apps actually do? A lot of things, but we’ve covered the essentials:
- Track how many steps you take for the day.
- Send reminders about your evening activities.
- Calculate calories to help reach your goals.
- Log meditations and other stress-relieving activities.
- Monitor the quality of your sleep.
- Track mood or emotions.
The list can be longer, depending on the wellness app and its purpose. In general, wellness apps help you feel better, live better, and build mindful habits.
What makes the wellness app market profitable in 2025?
According to Coherent Market Insights, the global wellness app market is expected to reach around $12.8 billion in 2025. Forecasts show growth to $33–34 billion by 2032, with an annual growth rate of 15%.
Other sources show similar trends, estimating the market at roughly $12.87 billion in 2025 and almost $45.65 billion by 2034. These numbers are more than impressive and pretty promising. Take them into account if you’re on your way to building a wellness app.
A big driver of the market is the rising demand for mental health support. In fact, mental health apps made up nearly 58.9% of the wellness app market in 2024, with high popularity among young users. And the demand is still climbing in 2025.
On the tech side, wellness apps are embracing AI just like many other industries. The goal is to create engaging online environments with tools that keep users motivated while boosting revenue. Today, features like personalization, adaptive training plans, AI-based data analysis, and tailored recommendations are already making this happen.
Monetization models also play a key role in affecting the wellness app market’s profitability. Most apps make money through subscriptions with optional premium upgrades. This not only opens up extra revenue streams for business owners but also gives users more ways to start and stick with a healthy lifestyle.
How to find the right niche for your wellness app?
Before wellness app development, focus on how you want your app to benefit people. What area of activity do you want to help people improve? Based on this, it could be a fitness app, a mood tracker, or a simple tool for logging small daily habits. Like how many steps were taken, glasses of water drunk, or other healthy actions.
You should have real expertise in the field you’re giving advice on. Your tips need to motivate people to take action and build healthy habits. They should also be genuinely useful and proven over time. That way, people will trust you more because you’re sharing what you truly know works.
The next big step is figuring out your target audience. A group of people who will be interested in your product the most. Moreover, knowing your audience lets you tailor your ads and marketing campaigns and create a strong value proposition.
Then, take a look at wellness app market trends and current demand. This might not change your main focus, but it can add valuable features your audience actually wants. This way, you can improve your app, add new features, etc.
If you are not quite sure that your product will be useful to people – collect feedback. Run surveys, interviews, or small test launches of your MVP. Feedback will help you adapt your product to the real people’s needs.
What monetization models are best for wellness apps?
Here are the following monetization models that work well in 2025.
Subscription Model
The most common way wellness apps make money. With this option, you get a steady income from regular user payments. New users can also try some apps for free, and then switch to premium plans for more features.
Freemium
Users get the basic features for free, but advanced options (like personalized meal or workout plans) require a monthly payment.
In-App Purchases
Here, users can buy extra content or features directly in the app. Think exclusive workouts from famous trainers, custom diet plans, or other tailored services. This way, the app can earn money without forcing users into a subscription.
In-App Advertising
Show partner ads in the free version of the app to earn from views or clicks. This works well in a case where you already have a large base of active users.
Partnerships and Sponsorship
You can partner with brands to add sponsored content, offer special discounts, or run joint promotions. It’s extra income for you and extra perks for them.
So, which model should you choose if all of them work? Start by analyzing your audience. What they like, what ads they might engage with, and which offers fit their lifestyle. Then, test a few models with your MVP, even during the wellness app development stage. Often, the best approach is to mix several methods to give your users more value while growing your revenue.
What metrics should you track to measure Return on Investment (ROI)?
To measure a wellness app’s ROI, track key financial and user behavior metrics. This helps you fine-tune marketing, boost monetization, and grow overall profits. Or, in other words, tracking wellness program ROI reveals whether app features are delivering measurable benefits to the company.
Here are the exact metrics we are talking about.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
This is how much you spend on marketing to bring in one new user. The goal is to keep CAC lower than the value that the user brings over time (LTV).
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV / CLV)
This estimates how much revenue a user generates throughout their entire time using your app. Comparing LTV to CAC helps you see if your marketing is paying off.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
This is the total revenue over a period divided by the number of active users. It shows how much each user contributes financially to your business.
Active Users (DAU / MAU)
Shows how engaged your users are. That means a number of people are regularly using your app, which ties to loyalty and profitability. App success measures are not only based on the number of people who use it for the first time, but who use it all the time after downloading.
Conversion Rate
This shows the percentage of users who complete a key action like making a purchase or subscribing. It’s crucial for measuring how well your monetization strategy works.
ROI
Wellness ROI helps businesses understand the financial return from investing in corporate wellness app development and its promotion.
Common mistakes that reduce wellness app ROI
First things first. Many businesses overlook the full list of expenses. Often, they calculate ROI based only on direct income, forgetting about marketing, development, support, and integration costs. To get an accurate ROI, you need to include all of these in your calculations. Not only does income make sense, but also all expenses.
Another common issue is not having clear goals and metrics. When you don’t see the whole picture, it’s hard to measure success or adjust your strategy. Make your business goals as clear as possible. It’s immediately obvious which metrics to track to see whether you’re on the right path.
Low-quality content and a lack of scientific credibility are also major issues. They quickly destroy user trust. As we’ve said before, only share advice you’re confident in and have experience with. It’s all about health, after all.
Increased churn can also be caused by bad communication and weak marketing. People need to know your app exists, and your managers are the voice of your brand. That means paying attention to how they talk to users, offer support, and give recommendations. Work on your app doesn’t end after the development stage. There are even more things to do to engage users and make a profit. Even the best app can lose users if communication leaves a bad impression.
The best way to avoid these pitfalls and keep ROI high? The detailed prep work. Think through every factor, create a detailed roadmap, and plan for the next 3–5 years. Having the big picture makes it easier to test ideas and stick to the ones that actually work for your business.
What should you consider to increase the wellness app ROI?
Here are several workable options to use in a case to increase your wellness app ROI.
- A truly competitive wellness app addresses physical, mental, and emotional needs. Altogether, it creates a completely useful product for people who care about their mental and physical health. Covering these areas increases engagement and builds lasting value for your product.
- Regularly analyze user feedback, health indicators, and behavioral trends. This insight helps you personalize offers and adapt features to real user needs.
- Implement robust tracking tools, dashboards, and engagement analytics to monitor actions in the app. With collected data, you can refine your strategy and see how things are going.
- High-quality content also matters. Professional blogs and health tips from experts can strengthen trust and position your brand as an authority. People always feel that the content they consume is really helpful.
- Consistently track key metrics (engagement, conversion rates, retention). It lets you adapt to changes quickly and steer your app’s development in the right direction.
What are real-world examples of profitable wellness apps?
Noom
An app for weight management that focuses on changing users’ habits. In 2023, its revenue was $500 million.
A fitness app that serves as an all-in-one platform for a healthy lifestyle. Here, users can start their fitness journey, follow built-in video training, discover delicious healthy recipes, and track their progress. With both free and paid versions available, users can explore the app’s features before deciding on a subscription. This approach ensures accessibility, promotes increased engagement, and ultimately opens up more monetization opportunities for TGYM, increasing its revenue.
The TRIARE team was a technical partner for the TGYM project. Together, we brought all the clients’ ideas to life and delivered the cutting-edge fitness app for iOS and Android that promotes a healthy lifestyle. From day one of its official launch, the app got over 15,000 registrations and reached the #1 spot in the Sports category on both the App Store and Google Play Market.
WeightWatchers (WW)
The service offers personalized nutrition programs, online communities, and support through a mobile app. Digital subscriptions brought the company approximately $452 million in 2024.
MyFitnessPal
One of the most popular fitness apps with an audience of over 200 million users. It offers detailed calories, nutrients, and physical activity tracking. In 2023, the app generated $310 million in revenue through premium features and affiliate programs. And this strategy, as you can see, wins the competition.
Calm
A well-known app for meditation, relaxation, and sleep improvement. In 2023, its revenue was $300 million. Today, the company is actively expanding its B2B direction. They are offering a new option – corporate licenses to improve employee well-being.
Strava
A popular app for running and cycling. In 2023, Strava generated $275 million in revenue. A significant part of this amount came from subscriptions to premium features and partner sports programs. The company has really successfully integrated these monetization options.
Profitable wellness app strategies from our experts
You can make any strategy successful if you do a detailed analysis beforehand and make a roadmap so you know exactly what to expect from your wellness app. There are a lot of ways to increase ROI, attract new customers, and get financial benefits from monetization strategies. But only a clear understanding of WHAT you want and WHO will use your app will help you in this way.
Thus, our experts highlighted the following ways that help you create a profitable wellness app.
- Implement an innovative monetization option (choose what fits you best). Or mix them to get more profit.
- Keep attention on quality content inside the app and add an expert view to attract new users.
- Add gamification features and personalize notifications to build loyalty.
- Create a high-quality UI/UX to make the app more comfortable and easy to use.
- Provide the safety of users’ personal data.
Сonclusions
Corporate wellness app development it’s a long road full of challenges and wins. Every wellness app can bring value, every strategy can be winning, and lots of tools that offer the tech market today can also help to achieve the goals. But first, you should clearly understand what results you expect to see from your app.
If you are just on your way to building your wellness app and are already thinking about its profitability – TRIARE experts know how to bring the value. Let’s drive your business growth together!
