We know most readers expect us to portray a positive outlook on the connected fitness market. However, the reality is that a hyped-up category has recently hit a slump. The initial pandemic-induced surge in demand has waned, and the usage of connected fitness apps has stabilized, leaving companies stranded in a post-pandemic reality that makes it challenging to sustain growth.
In 2024, the global connected gym equipment market was valued at $2.98 billion. By 2030, it’s expected to increase to $4.86 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 8.35% during the forecast period — a drop in the bucket compared to previous estimations. The number of users is expected to slightly decrease from 41.2 million connected fitness users in 2022 to 38.9 million by 2027. Shrinking funding has further contributed to this perfect storm of market conditions.
On the other hand, all app categories have seen subsided traction over the past few years due to the broader economic downturn. The good news is that if your connected fitness product is compelling enough, there’s still money to be raised and users to be attracted. However, to develop a successful product, you need to know what features turn heads in the connected fitness industry.
Top six trends to watch in 2025
With its mix of hardware, content, and software, connected fitness allows users to get a personalized fitness experience right at home. As the market continues to evolve, companies incorporate emerging technologies to deliver more engaging and competitive fitness experiences that cater to the unique users’ needs. Let’s see what connected fitness market trends will dominate the scene in 2025 and beyond.
Wearable technology integration
When it comes to personalization, workout intensity and progress monitoring performed by connected fitness devices are not enough to personalize fitness activities to a tee. By integrating with wearable technology, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, connected fitness solutions can gain a comprehensive insight into user health and fitness data, including heart rate, sleep quality, calorie burn, and other metrics.
Wearable devices are here to stay, and they'll only get more sophisticated and effective as they evolve. Until now, most of us have made our health and fitness decisions based on what we think we know about ourselves. Advancements in technology - wearables and otherwise - will eventually take much of the guesswork out of healthy living.
Michael Dell, CEO of Dell.
The more health inputs integrated into the fitness platform, the more nuanced the athlete’s performance and improvement story becomes. Based on the integrated biometric data, fitness apps can deliver precise workout plans, provide tailored guidance in real time, offer challenges and rewards, and give real-time feedback on users' vitals.
Capitalizing on this trend is Whoop, a professional-grade fitness tracking company whose Health Monitor feature provides a daily update on all user metrics, including heart rate, HRV, respiratory rate, blood oxygen level, and skin temperature. Users can send this report as a PDF directly to a medical professional.
Focusing on DNA-personalized workouts, Alter is another connected fitness company that uses a medical-grade sensor to analyze users' key biometrics in real time and deliver personalized fitness plans and recovery roadmaps.
However, as the market's reliance on data-driven insights grows, companies need to consider potential data interoperability challenges to ensure a seamless data flow between systems. For example, some wearable device manufacturers may restrict data sharing or limit third-party access to device data, while other wearable devices may store data in incompatible formats.
Also, connected fitness companies need to prioritize the security of shared data by implementing industry-accepted data security measures, such as data encryption, data minimization, access controls, and others. Complying with GDPR in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the US is also necessary to build trust with users and demonstrate a commitment to protecting user data.
Generative AI coaches
What distinguishes gym workouts from at-home exercises is that the latter lack personalized coaching and guidance. Until the last few years, fitness apps leveraged AI to analyze wearable data, progress scores, and other information to generate personalized workout plans. However, these plans are static and lack the dynamic interaction of in-person training.
Generative AI and large language models (LLMs), in particular, have entered the field to address this gap. Built into conversational chatbots, LLMs paired with custom machine learning models can combine unique biometric data, vetted knowledge base, fitness goals, and other data points to deliver highly personalized, conversational responses to users’ fitness and wellness questions in real time.
During workouts, generative AI personal trainers can provide real-time feedback on form, technique, and intensity, helping users optimize their performance and reduce the risk of injuries.
Whoop, a fitness tracking company we mentioned above, hopped on the bandwagon of generative AI coaches and launched Whoop Coach, an advanced generative AI feature based on GPT-4 from Open AI. The AI coach offers individualized responses to users’ health and fitness queries, drawing on the member’s profile, wearable data, and the latest performance science.
What’s interesting, though, is that Whoop mandated that its LLM partner had a “zero retention/zero training policy” to make sure the user’s input is not stored or used to train other LLM models — a practice other LLM adopters should implement.
Focus on mental health and wellness
Over 80% of U.S. consumers now consider wellness a top or important priority in their everyday lives. Today, the mindset of fitness users is shifting from wanting to “crush it” to taking a more mindful, holistic approach to working out that can mend their body and mind. That’s why connected fitness platforms are moving to a balanced approach, combining physical exercise with mental and emotional health.
From mood and stress tracking to mental health recommendations and guided meditation sessions, there are many ways for fitness solutions to ensure that users not only perform at their peak but also feel their best.
To encourage a deeper connection with the body’s movements and sensations, Garmin smartwatches enable users to measure their body’s response to stressors. If the stress level is too high, the device prompts the user to begin a guided breathing exercise with the relaxation breathing timer.
Ultrahuman, a smart ring maker that has recently secured $35 million in Series B funding, helps users optimize their energy levels and productivity by aligning with their circadian rhythms. The device also provides a detailed snapshot of the user's stress levels through metrics like heart rate variability, skin temperature, and resting heart rate.
Community-based fitness
What makes CrossFit the biggest and one of the most successful fitness chains in the world is its focus on communal fitness experiences. This trend is echoed by connected fitness platforms that make up for the lack of physical interaction and foster a sense of belonging by offering social features, such as leaderboards, challenges, and virtual competitions.
By experiencing peer pressure, users feel more inspired and motivated to achieve their fitness goals. Integration with social media and the ability to share data with friends and family also hold users accountable and help them push through a tough workout. Moreover, such fitness apps can also connect users to a broader fitness community where they can share their progress, get guidance, and find like-minded individuals.
Zwift, a connected cycling platform that allows users to ride against others, is also following this trend. Its competition feature, Racing Score, matches participants based on similar abilities.
Virtual and augmented reality for a next-level experience
Have you watched Back to the Future III, where Doc tells the men in an 1885 saloon about life in the future and how people will run for fun? Today, we're seeing Doc Brown's prediction brought into reality with VR and AR transforming the way we approach fitness.
VR training programs break the monotony of exercise, transforming the fitness experience from duty into exciting, habit-forming missions where users are transported to exotic locations or challenging scenarios. Users can visualize the burned calories in virtual reality, dive deeper into the tracker’s dashboard, and get real-time feedback on their form with motion tracking technology.
Wearing a VR headset and using motion controllers, exercise addicts can compete against others, try a wide variety of routines, from yoga to boxing, and get tailored workout experiences based on their fitness level and preferences.
Les Mills, an old-hand connected fitness company, is heading into the VR space with its recent launch of XR Dance. Designed for Meta Quest 3, XR Dance uses hologram versions of professional dancers to guide users through dance routines.
Following suit is Xponential Fitness, the largest fitness franchise group, which has debuted Xponential+, a new virtual and mixed-reality app for Meta Quest 3 that allows users to bring boutique fitness classes to their homes.
Unlike VR technologies, AR doesn't create a completely new virtual environment, but it does allow users to overlay digital objects in the real world, visualizing targets, obstacles, or opponents. AR fitness thrives on gamification elements to make training sessions more engaging and typically analyzes data from your movements and surroundings to deliver detailed feedback and adjust workouts in real time.
AR technologies can also help you visualize data better. For example, when using smart glasses like Solos Smartglasses, users can see all their necessary health stats, such as heart rate or distance traveled, on their glasses' screen.
Open ecosystems for an omnichannel experience
The ingredients for connected fitness success are evolving, rotating from all-in-one Apple-like bundles to Android-similar ecosystems. Serving more exercisers over end-to-end integration, content and software developers unite with hardware companies to create integrated fitness experiences that allow users to sync their data across various platforms.
Technogym, an Italian-based gym equipment provider, is often cited as a pioneer behind connected wellness ecosystems. Along with in-house content production, direct-to-consumer offerings, and commercial sales, the company created business management software for gyms. Users can log into the Technogym ecosystem and activate a personalized training program wherever they are — at home, at the gym, outdoors, or elsewhere.
Technogym’s smart bike integrates with the Zwift, Strava, ROUVY, and TrainingPeaks apps. To grow the ecosystem, Technogym plans to collaborate with fitness trackers, content providers, and other third-party apps.
This all-in approach helped Technogym clock in record revenue in 2023 — €808 million, compared to €721 million in 2022. The company established a presence in over 100 countries, reaching over 35 million people.
Related: 7 fitness app ideas booming in 2024
Rising stars in the connected fitness market
While incumbents such as Peloton, Tonal, and Mirror have cemented their place as household names in the connected fitness market, there’s still room for up-and-coming companies to make their mark. With Peloton seeing drops in revenue and paid subscriptions, it may be the ideal time for innovative startups to rule the roost in the connected fitness market.
CLMBR
CLMBR is a connected vertical climbing machine with a large touch display and instructor-led classes. Today, the device is used by over 7,220 users.
Combining cardio and stress training, CLMBR offers pre-installed workout plans that can help users burn 600+ calories in about 30 minutes. Users can also create personalized training plans, keep track of their progress, add friends, and access streamed classes via the CLMBR mobile app.
CLMBR offers a comprehensive fitness experience where users can compete against other community members, take on inspiring challenges, and stay motivated with on-demand guides. Since its debut, CLMBR has raised over $26 million from Jay-Z, Pitbull, and Novak Djokovic.
In 2023, the vertical climber brand was acquired by Interactive Strength, which trades under the FORME brand, another promising company from our list. In 2024, Crunch, one of the fastest-growing US gym chains, integrated CLMBR equipment into its pilot group fitness solutions.
Also, CLMBR is gearing up for EU and UK market entry, as its vertical climbing machine has passed all necessary EU compliance standards and received the CE marking.
NeuroTrainer
As a VR cognitive training solution, NeuroTrainer allows athletes and students to flex their body and mind. The headset, combined with motion trackers and a dedicated app, now caters to over 26,000 users, including NBA, NHL, MLB, and collegiate DI teams.
Developed in partnership with the National Science Foundation, NeuroTrainer combines neuroscience and virtual reality to deliver immersive brain training exercises that strengthen attention, improve reaction times, boost mental agility, and help perfect hand-eye coordination and peripheral vision.
In 2023, this innovative VR startup secured $1.5 million in seed funding, followed by the investment from NOVA Prime Fund.
Ergatta
Hosting a community of over 100,000 people, Ergatta is a home-based connected rowing machine that presents full-body workouts coupled with a racing game. Ergatta combines rowing with gamification, offering thousands of fun and addictive game-based workouts, live and on-demand.
During coached workouts, the Ergatta machine recalibrates the user’s intensity zones based on their performance to keep users challenged at all times. The Ergatta companion mobile app allows you to track your workouts, training history, and progress on the go. It also allows you to plan and schedule your upcoming workouts in advance.
Like many other fitness tech companies, Ergatta uses AI to deliver personalized form feedback and instruction. Ergatta’s CoachAI drones on rowing form, recommends drills, and keeps a close watch over the user’s progress.
As of today, Ergatta has raised a total funding of $35 million over 3 rounds. In 2024, the company partnered with CityRow for the launch of instructor-led studio classes.
TrueBike
TrueBike by TrueKinetix is an indoor smart bike that duplicates pedal forces stroke-for-stroke. The TrueBike replaced a flywheel with a smart robot and strong motor that can fully simulate the right pedal force, calculated for your body weight and length.
Resembling a regular bike, TrueBike runs on advanced algorithms to provide the proper resistance based on 10,000+ measurements taken nearly every second, including rider weight, gear selection, pedal position, ride slope, road surface, and even virtual wind. TrueBike is also capable of mimicking on-road rides.
On its screen, riders can see a live snapshot of their speed, time, distance, elevation power, pedaling efficiency, and cadence. All workout data, including over 30 metrics, is securely stored in the TrueKinetix cloud for seamless mobile access. TrueBike comes loaded with workout programs, but users can also build their own workouts or connect to virtual training programs via Bluetooth, ANT+, and WiFi.
So far, the smart bike has received the backing of €2.5 million and secured the endorsement of cycling champion Anna van der Breggen, who is also one of the investors.
FORME
FORME is an infamous connected fitness brand that sells two signature products, including the FORME Studio, an innovative fitness mirror, and FORME Studio Lift, a smart fitness mirror with cable-based digital resistance. FORME mirrors come with voice control and a touch screen, offering a multimodal immersive fitness experience that makes it feel like a trainer is in the same room.
FORME mirrors integrate with a branded app that tracks the user’s progress, provides access to a library of content, and facilitates personal coaching. Powered by machine learning and AI technologies, the device can fine-tune workouts according to your fitness level. Mirrors also come with a heart rate monitor for a more comprehensive data analysis.
Equipped with stereoscopic cameras and 3D motion tracking technology, mirrored units can analyze your form and technique and provide real-time feedback. If you want to have a live workout with a human instructor, FORME can also provide you with two-way live interaction like a Zoom or Skype call.
In 2023, Forme went public with a $12 million IPO.
Huupe
Huupe, the world’s first smart basketball hoop startup, relies on a mixed product and business model that bundles hardware, software, and media streaming. The company's physical core is a connected basketball hoop that comes in two versions, including Huupe PRO and Huupe Mini.
Behind the Huupe Pro, there's a backboard that doubles as a monitor. Augmented by advanced radar, light detection, and lidar technology, the hoop can track shots, gamify, stream live broadcasts, and automate coaching.
Unlike the PRO version, the Huupe Mini doesn’t have a camera. It relies only on a combination of advanced radar, light detection, and lidar technology to provide accurate levels for shot tracking. Both hoops integrate with a mobile app and can connect to streaming services like YouTube or Netflix.
In 2023, Huupe raised $11 million, followed by $15.6 million in 2024.
Kabata
Billed as the world's smartest AI dumbbells, Kabata fitness equipment analyzes users' real-time metrics and preferences to serve strength training routines tailored to unique physical features. The dumbbells leverage haptic feedback on form and performance, rumbling and vibrating to correct the user's form and keep them engaged in the workout.
A gamified experience is also one of the core features of Kabata. Users can climb the live leaderboard to unlock rewards and level up. The Kabata application offers exercisers a like-minded community where they can interact with friends, compete, and showcase their achievements.
In 2024, Kabata bagged $5 million in seed funding and nabbed former NBA player Zaza Pachulia and Miami Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chubb as investors.
Related: How to create a fitness app: Main steps, features, and cost
Summing up
The tables have turned on the connected fitness industry since the spike in the pandemic. However, 51% of US consumers still prefer at-home workouts to gyms, indicating a significant potential for connected fitness solutions. By leveraging AI, wearable data, and mixed reality technologies, connected fitness companies can deliver hyper-personalized workout plans, real-time feedback, and engaging content users are ready to pay for with their time and money.
If you're looking to level up your fitness tech game and develop state-of-the-art connected fitness solutions, partnering with one of the top fitness app development companies is essential. At Orangesoft, we specialize in bridging the gap between fitness hardware and software, ensuring your app meets and exceeds modern user expectations. Get in touch for a free estimate of your connected fitness project.
