Apple devices have set a benchmark for itself with top-notch, reliable, and superior devices. The global market for Apple devices is proliferating rapidly. Businesses target Apple users for two reasons. First, Apple users stay loyal to the brand and promise a great ROI.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, people now understand the importance of their health and fitness. The rise in the number of healthcare apps shows how businesses also have found this opportunity gap.
If you want to develop an iOS healthcare app to encash the opportunity, this is the right time. With advanced features and functionalities, you can grab the market share instantly. You only need a reputable iOS app development company to develop a scalable and feature-rich iOS healthcare app.
With a feature-rich healthcare app, you can offer treatments to even people living in remote areas. The rise of telemedicine solutions points fingers at providing quality healthcare services to remote areas and unexplored regions.
What is The Need for Developing a Healthcare App?
Besides the fact that it is a very lucrative industry to invest in, developing a healthcare app has other benefits. Digital transformation in the healthcare industry has helped people in numerous ways.
Today, we have mobile apps for diet & nutrition, fitness, exercise, insurance, online consultation, online ordering for medicines and other healthcare supplies, and much more.
In addition to that, developing a healthcare app can serve multiple problems at the time, such as,
- Offering medical and healthcare facilities in remote areas with low accessibility,
- Offering 24/7 medical support to patients
- Quick health data accessibility, including past health records
- Mitigating medical errors and inaccuracies
- Seamless communication between various stakeholders
- Reduced overhead costs of visiting doctors and hospitals
- Online delivery of medicines
- Online health screening with audio/video calls
By 2025, the global digital health market might reach up to $660 billion at an annual growth rate of 25%.
Also, the mHealth app development market is expected to reach $189 billion by 2025.
Though you can develop a healthcare app for Android or iOS or both, iOS app development has gained popularity recently due to enhanced security levels, high-quality apps, less development time, and superior ROI.
This post discusses how much it costs to develop a healthcare app for iOS, factors that influence the cost, and other crucial aspects. However, before that, we will discuss the types of healthcare or mHealth apps we can develop.
What Are the Types of mHealth Applications?
The cost of developing an iOS healthcare app depends on the type of app you want to build. All healthcare apps have different features and functionalities, resulting in additional costs.
1) Medication Management App
A medication management app is developed for patients to ensure they take their medicines on time. The app is a reminder app that allows patients to schedule medication reminders.
Also, patients can schedule consultations, blood or other reports, injections, and other medical aspects. You can hire the best healthcare app development company with a good track record and a team of experienced developers to build an app for you.
The estimated cost of developing a medication management app range from $30,000 to $60,000.
2) EHR App
This app is for healthcare providers. EHR stands for electronic health records. The app records and stores the data of patients categorically. Managing such massive data manually is next to impossible and might invite errors.
Hence, it is crucial to have an app that does the same. With an EHR app, doctors can instantly find previous medical records of the patient and treat them accordingly.
The estimated cost of developing an EHR app ranges from $40,000 to $50,000.
3) Online Doctor Consultation App
An online doctor consultation app allows patients to book and consult a doctor online. The app has features like online scheduling, an audio/video call facility, an in-app chat facility, etc. Here, the app allows patients to search for doctors from different categories and schedule appointments.
The cost of developing an online doctor consultation app range from $35,000 to $45,000.
4) Telehealth App
A telehealth application allows the staff members or patients to communicate with the doctors without physically visiting a clinic. Telehealth apps are top-rated, especially for patients living in remote areas who find it challenging to visit hospitals in urban areas.
The app costs around $25,000 to $45,000.
5) Diet and Nutrition App
The app can offer diet and nutrition plans for users as per their preferences, location, and other crucial physical or mental aspects, such as diet preferences, food-consuming habits, intolerances, etc. You can add features like water intake, food intake, calorie counter, step counter, etc.
The app costs around $25,000 – $65,000.
6) Fitness App
A fitness app can help maintain and improve the overall fitness of users. The app can have features like a list of exercises with images or videos, weight loss/gain tips, a data storage facility, other fitness-related features, etc.
The fitness app will cost between $60,000 and $300,000.
7) Health Monitoring App
This app is for patients who suffer from various acute or chronic health conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, kidney issues, asthma, etc. The app allows patients to track symptoms and medicines. Also, the app allows patients to take the necessary diet, sleep, exercise, and symptom-management precautions.
Developing a health monitoring app will cost up to $50,000 to $ 100,000.
Features To Be Added to Your iOS Healthcare App
It is crucial as the features and functionalities will significantly determine the total app development cost. Discuss your perspective with the iOS app development company and how you want to help people with the app.
Come up with a roadmap that helps build an app that is highly immersive and user-friendly for users.
Again, remember that the number of features will differ as per the type of app you want to build. Some of the standard features that we find in all healthcare apps are:
1) User Login/ Registration
Users should be able to register to the app without any hassles. Ensure that you keep the signup and login procedure simple and quick. Keeping social media credentials to log in can help users to sign up quickly.
For security purposes, you can also keep double authorization access. Also, ask for permission smartly instead of asking users to fill out lengthy forms.
2) User Profile
Users should be able to create profiles to add their details, such as height, weight, age, DOB, health issues, preferences, etc. Also, users must be able to change their profiles.
3) Push Notifications
Users get push notifications about various offers, in-app chat replies, discounts, health-related articles, tips, etc. Too many notifications might dishearten users. Send push notifications smartly to engage users and bring them to the app.
4) Payment Gateways
Users should be able to pay within the app through various payment methods. Also, you need to keep the payment and checkout process secure and quick.
5) Audio/Video Calls
Patients can connect with healthcare professionals through audio/video calls. They should communicate in real-time through a video calling facility.
6) Health Tracking
The app should be able to record various health vitals, such as blood pressure, heart rate, sugar levels, calories, etc.
7) Appointment Booking
Patients should be able to search for doctors for specific medical specialties and book an appointment. Patients can check the doctor’s availability, credentials, expertise, and other details.
To ensure maximum engagements, keep the appointment booking simple, quick, and hassle-free.
8) Doctor Profiles
Patients should be able to check doctor profiles with crucial information, such as their credentials, expertise, customer reviews, etc.
9) In-App Chat Facility
Patients and doctors should be able to chat with the app. Patients can easily send their health queries and get replies from doctors. Also, doctors can send prescriptions to patients after the consultation is over.
10) Geo-Location Search
Users should be able to search for doctors as per their location. You can use the Apple Maps functionality to help patients search for doctors in their local areas.
11) Ratings and Reviews
Patients should be able to rate and review doctors based on their experiences with them. It will help other patients check reviews and choose the doctor accordingly.
12) Data Storage
Patients and doctors can upload their prescriptions, reports, and other items within the app. You can use a cloud-based storage facility to ensure data security and mitigate risks.
13) Artificial Intelligence
You can use emerging technologies like AI and ML to diagnose diseases early and analyse data.
Factors Determining the Cost of iOS Healthcare App Development
Now, we will discuss various factors that affect the overall cost of an iOS healthcare app.
1) Features and Functionalities
What kind of features do you want to incorporate into your app? Do you want to add advanced features and functionalities like AR, VR, AI, Blockchain, audio/video calling, and others? It will cost you more. Features and functionalities determine the app’s cost.
You should evaluate the features based on the budget you want to spend on app development. You can use the help of the iOS app development company you hired to determine features.
2) App Category
You can develop a wide range of healthcare apps, such as online consulting, patient monitoring, telehealth, etc. Each app category has demographics, security issues, features, and functionalities.
It will affect the overall cost of the app development. Sometimes, you might need to develop two apps for patients and doctors. It will also affect the cost.
3) UI and UX
User experience plays a major role in determining the app’s success. You must create a simple, uncluttered, clean user interface to engage users instantly. Some UI features like push notifications, layouts, icons, customization, and design might affect the app development cost.
4) Location of the iOS App Development Company
If you live in the US and hire an iPhone app development company there, it will cost you more than a company in India, China, and Ukraine. Because of the currency differences, you might save a lot by hiring app development companies in other countries.
For example, India is one of the most promising IT hubs with a team of good iOS developers. The location of the company determines the cost of the app development.
| Country | Hourly Rates |
| Asia (India, Russia, China. etc.) | $20 to $50 |
| Europe | $25 to $100 |
| North America | $20 to $150 |
| Australia and New Zealand | $35 to $150 |
| Gulf Countries | $40 to $120 |
5) Development Hours
How much time does an app take to develop? The total number of development hours will also affect the cost of the app. For example, if you want to develop a basic healthcare app with simple features, it might take up to 2 to 3 months.
On the other hand, an advanced app might take 6 months to a year to develop. The total number of development hours will also affect the cost.
Also, to hire experienced iOS developers, you might need to shell out more money than freshers.
6) App Maintenance
Deploying an app to the Apple App Store is not the last step. You also need to maintain your app to ensure that the app offers a magnificent time to your users. Once the app is deployed, you must maintain and update it occasionally. You should add new features to the app if users demand.
Also, you will need experienced iOS developers for technical assistance to ensure the app runs smoothly without any hassles. All these maintenance issues will increase the cost.
7) App Security
You also need to invest in security as it is one of the prime concerns to remember. An iOS healthcare app with security vulnerabilities might ruin your reputation. You must take all the security measures to keep the data safe and protected from attacks and breaches.
Conclusion
The healthcare landscape is evolving with time, and new healthcare mobile apps are introduced in the market to serve patients with the help of advanced technologies.
An iOS healthcare app with advanced features can help you beat the competition and increase revenues. You can offer improved healthcare with good patient experience and better access to healthcare services.
All you need is an iOS app development company with a good team of iOS app developers and relevant experience in the healthcare domain.
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