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Fitness app statistics 2026: downloads, spending, wearables, results

By Stelvo Team · · 9 min read

Every figure on this page is traced to the organisation that produced it — company filings and press releases, Sensor Tower's market data, Rock Health's and Pew Research's consumer surveys, the ACSM's professional survey and peer-reviewed trials — and was checked against the source on 15 September 2026. Each statistic appears once, with publisher, year and link.

Key takeaways

  • Nearly 4 billion health and fitness apps were downloaded in 2025 (3.96 billion installs), and in-app purchases hit a record $4.5 billion, up 13% (Sensor Tower, 2026).
  • 28% of health and fitness apps bid on AI-themed search keywords in Q4 2025, up from 19% a year earlier (Sensor Tower, 2026).
  • 46% of US adults own a wearable and 57% own at least one wearable or connected health device; wearable ownership is up 33 percentage points since 2015 (Rock Health, 2026).
  • 83% of wearable owners wear the device five or more days a week, and 59% always or nearly always (Rock Health, 2026).
  • Wearable technology was the #1 fitness trend for 2026 in the ACSM's survey of more than 2,000 professionals; mobile exercise apps ranked #4 and data-driven technology #8 (ACSM, 2025).
  • Strava has more than 180 million users in over 185 countries, and 54% track more than one type of activity (Strava, 2025).
  • Garmin's fitness segment grew 33% to $2.36 billion in 2025 on demand for wearables (Garmin, 2026).
  • Oura passed 5.5 million rings sold in September 2025 and was on pace for 5 million paid members by mid-2026 (Oura).
  • Peloton ended fiscal 2026 with 2.553 million connected-fitness subscriptions (down 8.8%) and 5.5 million members (Peloton, 2026).
  • Apps and trackers with automated feedback add about 1,850 steps a day in randomised trials (Laranjo et al., 2021); trackers add roughly 1,800 steps, 40 minutes of walking and 1 kg of weight loss across 39 systematic reviews (Ferguson et al., 2022).
  • Apps used alone, without a tracker, added only 477 steps a day, a non-significant gain (Romeo et al., 2019).
  • There were more than 350,000 health apps on the market by 2021, with more than 90,000 released in 2020 alone (IQVIA, 2021).
  • 58% of US mobile phone owners had downloaded a health app, and 46% of them had stopped using at least one — mostly over data-entry burden, lost interest and hidden costs (Krebs & Duncan, 2015).
  • Weight training was the fastest-growing sport among women on Strava in 2024, with uploads up 25%, and 72% of run goals and 77% of ride goals set on the platform were met (Strava, 2024).

How many people download fitness apps?

Billions of installs a year, growing slowly. The health and fitness category counted 3.96 billion installs in 2025, up only 0.8% year over year, while in-app purchases climbed 13% to a record $4.5 billion (Sensor Tower, February 2026). The year before, downloads had reached 3.6 billion across iOS and Google Play, up 6%, with Gyms & Fitness the top sub-genre by downloads (+3%) and Medical Tracking the fastest-growing (+43%); in-app revenue in January 2025 alone hit an all-time high of $385 million, up 10% (Sensor Tower, February 2025). The supply side is crowded: IQVIA counted more than 350,000 health apps available and more than 90,000 released in 2020 alone, with disease-management apps rising to 47% of the most-used apps from 28% in 2015 (IQVIA Institute, July 2021).

How much do people spend on fitness apps?

$4.5 billion in in-app purchases in 2025, a record, up 13% (Sensor Tower, 2026). Subscription businesses show the same pattern of revenue per user rising while user counts flatten: Peloton's subscription revenue grew 7% year over year to $436.6 million in the quarter to June 2026 even as paid connected-fitness subscriptions fell 8.8% (Peloton, August 2026).

Which fitness apps and platforms are the biggest?

Company Latest figure Source
Strava More than 180 million users in over 185 countries; 1 million clubs Strava, Dec 2025
Peloton 2.553 million paid connected-fitness subscriptions, 0.503 million paid app subscriptions, 5.5 million members (30 June 2026) Peloton, Aug 2026
Garmin Fitness segment revenue $2.36 billion in 2025, up 33% Garmin, Feb 2026
Oura 5.5 million rings sold by September 2025; on pace for 5 million paid members in Q2 2026 Oura press releases

Strava's 2025 Year in Sport report says new clubs nearly quadrupled in 2025 to 1 million in total, hiking clubs grew 5.8x and running clubs 3.5x, and more than half of users (54%) now track multiple activity types (Strava, December 2025). Peloton's average net monthly connected-fitness churn was 2.2% in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2026, up 40 basis points year over year, and full-year revenue was $2.446 billion (Peloton, 2026). Garmin's fitness revenue rose 42% in the fourth quarter of 2025 "primarily due to strong demand for wearables" (Garmin, February 2026). Oura reported it had more than doubled revenue for the second year running when it passed 5.5 million rings sold, and that membership had grown more than fourfold in two years (Oura, 2025–2026).

How many people use health apps — and how many stop?

Most phone owners have tried one; close to half of those have quit one. In a national survey of 1,604 US mobile phone users, 58.23% had downloaded a health-related app, fitness and nutrition were the most common categories and most users opened them at least daily — yet 45.7% of downloaders had stopped using some health apps, chiefly because of high data-entry burden, loss of interest and hidden costs (Krebs & Duncan, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2015). On Strava, 41% of subscribers were on pace for or ahead of their annual goals with five months of 2025 to go, cyclists averaging 53% progress and runners 51%, new run clubs had tripled year over year and grouped activities drew twice the kudos of solo ones (Strava, August 2025). In 2024, 72% of run goals and 77% of ride goals set on the platform were met, running-club participation rose 59% and weight training was the fastest-growing sport among women, with uploads up 25% (Strava, December 2024).

How many people wear a fitness tracker or smartwatch?

Almost half of US adults. In Rock Health's census-matched survey of 8,000 US adults fielded in December 2025, 46% reported owning a wearable — up 33 percentage points from 13% in 2015 — and 57% owned at least one wearable or connected health device; roughly four in ten owned a smartwatch, owners averaged 1.5 devices and 22% owned two (Rock Health, June 2026). Usage is habitual: 83% of owners wear the device five or more days a week and 59% always or nearly always, and 59% have discussed their wearable data with a healthcare provider, 30% of them regularly. Two years earlier the same survey series put ownership at 44% (Rock Health, August 2024).

The comparison point from 2019: 21% of US adults regularly wore a smartwatch or fitness tracker, 25% of women versus 18% of men, 31% of households earning $75,000 or more versus 12% of those under $30,000 (Pew Research Center, January 2020).

What do fitness professionals think matters in 2026?

Wearables, apps and data. In the American College of Sports Medicine's annual survey of more than 2,000 clinicians, researchers and fitness professionals, the top trends for 2026 were: (1) wearable technology, (2) fitness programs for older adults, (3) exercise for weight management, (4) mobile exercise apps, (5) balance, flow and core strength, (6) exercise for mental health, (7) traditional strength training, (8) data-driven technology, (9) adult recreation and sport clubs and (10) functional fitness training (ACSM, October 2025).

Is AI changing fitness apps?

It is already changing how they are marketed. The share of health and fitness apps using AI-themed keywords in their search-ad bids rose to 28% in the fourth quarter of 2025 from 19% a year earlier, and the average number of AI keywords per app doubled to 8; the calorie-tracking app Cal AI used an average of 35 AI keywords a quarter and drew 25% of its search-based downloads from AI-related terms (Sensor Tower, 2026). Sensor Tower attributes part of the category's record 2025 in-app revenue to AI features, with AI-powered nutrition tracking among the fastest-growing sub-genres.

Do fitness apps actually make people exercise more?

Yes when they track and feed back automatically; barely when they don't. A meta-analysis of 28 randomised trials with 7,454 adults found apps and activity trackers with automated self-monitoring and feedback produced a small-to-moderate increase in physical activity equal to about 1,850 steps a day (95% CI 1,247–2,457), and that interventions with text messaging and personalisation were significantly more effective (Laranjo et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021).

An umbrella review of 39 systematic reviews covering 163,992 participants concluded that wearable activity trackers increase physical activity by roughly 1,800 steps a day and 40 minutes of walking, reduce body weight by about 1 kg, and that the benefit is clinically important and sustained over time; effects on blood pressure, cholesterol and HbA1c were small (Ferguson et al., The Lancet Digital Health, 2022). By contrast, smartphone apps used as the sole intervention added a non-significant 476.75 steps a day across 6 trials, and programmes shorter than three months outperformed longer ones (Romeo et al., Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2019).

How many gym members use digital coaching?

Nearly one in four US fitness members (22.6%) worked with a personal trainer in 2024 and a third (32.3%) took part in small-group training (Health & Fitness Association, 2025), the in-person baseline that coaching apps compete with — a base of 81 million members, or 26.1% of Americans aged six and older, in 2025 (HFA, 2026). Membership numbers are on the gym membership statistics page.

How to cite this page

Stelvo, "Fitness app statistics 2026: downloads, spending, wearables, results", stelvo.app, updated September 2026 — https://stelvo.app/blog/fitness-app-statistics. Credit individual figures to the company, survey or study named beside them.

Sources

Method: figures were traced to the company, agency or study that produced them and verified on the linked page on 15 September 2026. Market-research firms' paid market-size estimates were deliberately left out; Sensor Tower's consumer-spend and install data are the closest thing to a measured market size. Stelvo is itself an AI coaching app; nothing on this page comes from our own data.

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