Quoting French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "the body is the vehicle of being in the world". From the ancient Greeks to Instagram bloggers, wellness is glorified as the highest good worth striving for.

Luckily, the philosophy of the 21st century doesn't doubt for a second the necessity of taking care of one's health. People worldwide tend to make their lifestyles healthier — that's where various healthcare applications are coming in handy.

According to Statista, one of the top reasons (56%) for U.S. adults to use e-health apps or devices is the ability to take better control over their own health.

Being healthy and good-looking is a new black. And it's probably the most outstanding trend that ever existed. People revalue their life, enjoy natural beauty, and want to be healthier and stronger.

Finally, we seek instruments that can help achieve it and fight through obstacles. These instruments include digital apps implementing new technologies and user-centric approaches.

Being a founder of a people-oriented healthcare product is a great mission. Here we want to tell you why.

Healthcare apps are divided into several subtypes. Here we've highlighted the most trending ones in terms of new opportunities and prospects. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) apps are used for observing patients with chronic or acute conditions. They enable real-time understanding of disease states to make proactive clinical decisions.

RPM software requires specific medical devices such as blood pressure cuffs or wearables, that allow monitoring, analysis, and reporting of patients' conditions and related data in non-clinical environments.

For example, when a person uses blood glucose meters, such systems may examine their self-reported data.

Prominent players on the market are Dexcom, Jotform, and Medtronic.

There is some stigma against seeing a therapist, and visiting a doctor to discuss things you're disturbed by is often shrouded in secrecy. Especially it concerns mental health consultation.

Luckily, one of the vital aspects of the healthy lifestyle global trend is taking care of your inner self no less than your physical health. The longed-for attention and awareness of mental health importance were brought together by a number of factors: the turn of millennia and its cultural circumstances, rising medical technologies, and the general psychiatry development.

Today's support services get rid of the traditional barriers of mental health networks: they are anonymous, there are no waiting lists, and products are totally people-oriented.

Mental health applications can be divided into online therapy and applications dedicated to more specific areas of mental health, e.g. sleeping apps (apps for insomnia). A great example of the first is BetterHelp, a platform allowing you to schedule online appointments with the therapist based on the patient's requirements. Meditation apps like Calm are good cases for the second.

This year Freshcode team conducted a customer development review, surveying healthcare business owners. The respondents gave feedback on different types of healthcare services, including behavioral applications that are expected "to be in the spotlight" soon.

The field of behavioral health studies how a person's habits affect their physical and psychological well-being. This includes the effects of actions like drinking, sport, or changing dietary habits on one's physical or mental health.

Behavioral health works with anxieties, depression, drinking or drug use problems, eating disorders, and so forth. Accordingly, the behavior app's goal is to monitor user behavior and form good lifelong habits.

The bright behavior app example is myStrength, a personalized program helping users improve their awareness and change behaviors.

One more interesting product is BoosterBuddy designed to help teens and young adults increase real-life socialization and establish positive habits. It allows managing a personal wellness journey using a gamification approach. Users can earn achievements while the app's sidekick guides them through daily quests designed to sustain healthy habits.

As the name suggests, these health applications focus on the aspects of women's health. Connected to the menstrual cycle, they display information about ovulation, hormonal dynamics, fertility calendar, breast self-exam advices, etc, depending on how much information the user is willing to provide.

One of the most popular players on the market is Clue, a woman's health app that includes the functions mentioned above and also provides a possibility to share this information with a trusted doctor.

Making medical devices is probably the most long-existing business among all the mentioned. It's the most recognized names in the industry — such as Medtronic, Siemens, Philips, and Johnson&Johnson.

Of course, in the digital era, emergent technologies present new opportunities for healthcare management from outside the hospital or clinic setting. Modern med devices become more handy and mobile: user-oriented design and top-notch software under the hood allow users to track their blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, and weight in a simple way.

Moreover, smartphones can be used today as medical devices for apps thanks to the high-definition display, embedded sensors, sound capture, and audio output, etc.

Med devices are used to track activity and body conditions, monitor treatments, and assist disabled people. From AppleWatch in a bundle with Heart Rate app to check your heart rate, to robotic wheelchair software — access to good quality medical devices is indispensable to advance universal health coverage and address health emergencies.

Longevity support is a promising and pretty revolutionary area in the world of healthcare. It focuses not on the treatment of the diseases, but on the way to prevent them, enjoy life, and stay forever young.

Longevity apps offer users to increase vitality and optimize their health potential, resulting in healthy longevity. Such a product helps people slow aging - what could be more desirable? Thus, this field is worth trying to be empowered and refined by open-minded tech-savvy persons.

Usually, such services use personalized longevity-related biomarkers, monitor users' biological age, and provide preventive diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics powered by AI-driven technologies.

Today's longevity industry is represented by Longevity.Capital, Longevity Center, and others.

WIHV defines Virtual Care as "any interaction between patients and/or members of their circle of care, occurring remotely, using any forms of communication or information technologies, to facilitate or maximize the quality and effectiveness of patient care."

Virtual care is often considered the same as telehealth, but the first embodies a broader concept. It includes all techniques for interacting and communicating with patients remotely and doesn't depend on a particular technology or communication channel.

Among the successful virtual care products are Athenahealth (cloud-based practice management, point-of-care mobile apps and EHR systems), Doximity, 98point6 Inc. (digital networks connecting clinics, doctors, and patients), GoodRX (pharmacy coupon and deal finder & online healthcare provider).

Telehealth/telemedicine platforms provide services at-a-distance via video calls when the patient and the doctor are not in the same place at the same time. Some services also offer chat messaging or phone calls as alternative communication channels.

MDLIVE, Teladoc, LiveHealth Online are examples of the most popular telehealth apps that serve as online doctors for thousands of people worldwide.