It’s the season of “new year, new me” mantras, otherwise known as New Year’s resolutions. In fact, 38.5% of adults in the United States set New Year’s resolutions. Despite New Year’s resolutions’ popularity, ​​43% of people fail at staying consistent with their New Year's resolutions before the end of February. Furthermore, about 25% of people quit within their first week of goal-setting. Only 9% see their resolutions through until succession.To minimize resolution abandonment, apps have become a popular tool to keep users to help user’s track New Year resolutions. Below, we break down the popular New Year resolution apps verticals and trends that users turn to to accomplish their goals.

New Years Resolutions

Source: Statista

Health and Fitness Apps

About 23% of Americans started 2022 wanting to live a healthier lifestyle. Health and fitness apps are a huge part of how people track New Year resolutions success when it comes to these goals. One in five adults in the United States use a health app and revenue in the health app segment is projected to reach $1.84 billion in 2023. 

Health goals and resolutions go hand in hand, but how can apps really help users attain their wishes as a New Years resolution app? By staying on top of the latest technology trends as well as utilizing in-app rewards has helped the most popular fitness and health apps stay relevant. 

Health and Fitness App Trends in 2023

One of the most popular health and fitness apps is Sweatcoin. Sweatcoin is a step counting app that pays you in virtual currency for walking. It hit 100 million users in June of 2022. In May of last year, Sweatcoin tripled its monthly downloads worldwide. as one of many New Year Reslotuion  apps, the interest comes not only from the ability for users to make money while hitting their goals, but also because there is a crypto and Web3 element to the app. 

In the Sweatcoin app, users are able to generate one “sweatcoin” for every 10,000 steps they take. Sweatcoins can be used to buy NFTs, buy a subscription to Sweatcoin’s premium services and collect revenue from NFT sellers. 

With this latest surge in interest, it’s clear that users resonate with rewards as well as apps that leverage the latest technology. Health and fitness apps that wish to stay successful should incorporate awards or tokens to help users stay motivated and keep coming back to the app and capitalize on being strong New Year Resolution apps. Adding in a Web3 or VR element can also create a more engaging in-app experience for the user for when they track their New Year resolutions

Productivity Apps 

Productivity apps aim to improve the efficiency of an individual or team member. They help with everything from improved focus to optimizing organizational habits. Productivity apps have become increasingly popular with the total revenue of this segment projected to grow 6.76% annually, reaching $12.52 billion by 2026.

Optimizing productivity is a common New Year’s resolution with 21% of Americans stating that they want to work on their overall happiness and personal improvement in the coming year. Push notifications and consistent reminders can help productivity apps attain and retain loyal and paying users and can make productivity New Year Resolution apps last a long time.  

Productivity App Trends in 2023

An example of a popular productivity app is Fabulous. Fabulous is a daily routine planner and self-care habit tracking app. The app works like a “coach” and uses behavioral science to help people make smart changes and build healthy habits. Fabulous downloads… 

This productivity app helps users build routines over time by breaking habits down into small, attainable steps and journeys. For example, users can start by setting small goals and getting reminders each day to accomplish them. As the user gets farther along on their journey, they can increase the types of habits they wish to form.

Productivity New Year resolution apps work best when they set realistic goals for their users and give them consistent pushes to complete their tasks. Push notifications are a key strategy for productivity apps’ success. Using these sorts of notifications gives users that extra motivation to remain consistent within the app.  

Mental Health Apps

Coming out of the holiday season can be a stressful time for many people and learning to track New Year resolutions is just as tough. Around 45% of adults in the United States name mental health support as one of their top New Year’s resolutions. In 2022, mobile mental wellness apps generated 491 million dollars in consumer spending, up by 82.5 percent compared to 2020.

Mental health apps range from meditation guidance, to breathing exercises and even sleep improvement exercises. As part of New Years Resolution app trends, these apps should focus on improving their user experience in order to create a safe and inviting space for users to work on their mental wellbeing. 

Mental Health App Trends in 2023

Headspace is an app that creates simple ways for users to incorporate meditation into their daily lives while also improving upon their sleep. In the second quarter of 2022, Headspace had 1.5 million downloads worldwide. Headspace has stayed competitive in the growing mental health app vertical by using gamification and personalization to retain users in their app.

Headspace tracks how many days a user has interacted with the app and for how long. It lets its users unlock rewards for regular and sustained usage. This New Year Resolution app promotes healthy habits and consistent usage of the app. Personalized recommendations and questions help customize a user’s experience to meet their individual goals. For example, Headspace onboards users by asking them simple questions such as “What brings you here?” and “What are your goals?”

Wellness apps should make sure they cater to their user’s specific needs, as mental health is such a personal journey. Making sure that the app interface is warm and inviting is integral in creating consistency among users. Personalized reminders to users who may have abandoned the app can be a gentle way of reminding them that the app is there to support them. 

Takeaways of New Years Resolution Apps

Over 38% of adults in the United States set New Year’s resolutions, however about 25% quit within the first week. To minimize resolution abandonment, apps have become a popular tool to help users track their New Year resolutions.

  • Health and Fitness Apps: Health and fitness apps that wish to stay successful in this competitive landscape should leverage new technology and  trends. For example, fitness apps could incorporate rewards or Web3 based tokens when their users are consistent so that they are motivated to hit their resolutions and keep coming back to the app
  • Productivity Apps: Productivity apps work best when they help users set realistic goals and give them consistent reminder pushes to complete their tasks.
  • Mental Health Apps: Mental health apps range from meditation guidance, to breathing exercises and even sleep improvement exercises. These apps should hone in on their user experience to create a safe, inviting space for users to work on their mental wellbeing.

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