The Pet Care Market is predicted to be worth $202.6 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research.

That’s massive.

And 69% of millennials are using technology to keep track of their pets—that includes the use of mobile apps.

Advances in tech are improving the way we care for our pets, and apps today offer owners the ability to track their pets’ health habits, monitor playtime, connect with pet care services, and so much more.

Let’s take a look at what kinds of pet apps are trending and the best ones on the market today so you can make better decisions when building your own app.

Table of Contents

1. Types of Pet Apps
2. Pet Product Apps
3. Pet Training Apps
4. Pet Tracker Apps
5. Connect with Professionals Apps
6. Pet Apps that are Trending
7. Creating a Pet App—Where to Start
8. Target Audience
9. Pick Your Features
10. Study the Competition
11. Build an MVP

Chapter #1: Types of Pet Apps

If you visit the app store and search for pet apps, you’ll find that there are simply tons of mobile apps available, offering a wide range of services.

Some are more tech-savvy, offering tracking and live cam capabilities, and others are simply designed to connect pet owners to pet care professionals.

 

Here are the main types of pet apps you’ll find so you can see where your own pet app might fit in.

1.1 Pet Product Apps

When pet owners are looking for convenience and savings when shopping for their pet, product apps designed specifically for pets, like Chewy, offer a great solution.

These types of apps offer a large variety of pet supplies, like foods, toys, medicines, and more, all in one place and at a competitive price.

Some features pet product apps offer include the ability to search by category, earn discounts on automatic monthly orders, and have items delivered right to your door.

Sure, stores like Walmart, Target, and Amazon offer a wealth of pet products, but the selection isn’t nearly as big and there isn’t much focus on online organization.

Pet product apps are optimized for user-friendliness. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for pet owners to find what they need in one place.

1.2 Pet Training Apps

Pet training can be a costly and time-consuming process, especially when hiring a professional trainer.

With the rise of pet training apps, however, it’s become much more convenient for pet owners to train their pets without breaking bank.

These apps offer a variety of features, from instructional videos and images to one-on-one video chats with live trainers.

Additionally, pet training apps let users to track their progress, set training goals and even purchase training equipment like clickers.

Some also make training sessions more interactive by using digital badges and awards.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more people were showing that they were looking for ways to train their pets without having to interact with strangers, and these apps have proven to be a great solution.

 

1.3 Pet Tracking Apps

Pet tracking apps come in all shapes and sizes.

These types of apps can track your pet’s activity, similar to how fitness trackers work.

They’ll generate detailed reports on your pet’s fitness, movement levels, pulse, and more so you can monitor your pet’s physical health and progress.

These apps can also be used for food monitoring so pet owners can make adjustments to their pet’s diet when necessary.

Other pet tracking apps focus on locating your microchipped pet using GPS technology.

For pet owners who value having all the data needed to make progress in their pets lives, pet tracking apps offer plenty of personalized information on pets so owners can make better decisions in caring for their pet.

1.4 Connect with Professionals Apps

Many pet apps come in handy when pet owners want to connect with professionals in the pet industry, like veterinarians, pet sitters, pet groomers, and so on.

These types of apps can help users find professionals in their area, and some even offer virtual services, like online consultations with a veterinarian, which can be helpful if a pet owner has questions or needs guidance on their pet’s health.

Chapter #2: Pet Apps that are Trending

If you’re interested in developing a mobile app in the pet app industry, it’s crucial to see how the competition looks.

It’s not only useful to see what other pet apps are offering users, but what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Let’s take a look at pet apps that are trending in Google Play and the App Store.

PRO TIP:
Remember, not every new app that hits app stores offers something completely new and innovative. Sometimes simple improvements on what already exists is enough to be successful.

2.1 PetDesk

PetDesk is a mobile app that understands that pets are essentially family members who deserve our care and attention.

The app connects with your veterinarian, boarder, or groomer so you can more easily manage your pet’s information and schedule.

The app lets you book appointments, has medication and appointment reminders or notifications, and keeps track of your pet’s history records.

It also has calendar integration to make pet scheduling easier and offers the ability to add notes.

PetDesk is all about keeping everything related to your pet in one place, which can be especially handy if you have multiple pets.

2.2 Puppr

Puppr is an app designed for dog training and behavior management.

It offers a wide range of features that help pet owners train their “puppers” at home, like a variety of training exercises with step-by-step instructions, photo and video guidance and the ability to track the progress of each exercise.

Puppr app also includes a library of more than 200 scientifically-proven training techniques, and a feature that allows users to customize their training plans based on their dog’s breed, age, and behavior.

Users can connect with certified professional trainers for one-on-one video consultations and it also offers an in-app store where users can purchase training equipment.

2.3 Chewy

Chewy is an online pet retailer but they also have a mobile app which makes pet shopping much more convenient.

This company is incredibly popular due to their wide variety of pet products and top pet brands for all kinds of pets, including dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, farm animals, and horses.

The app lets users shop daily deals, manage autoship, schedule orders, keep track of recent purchases and favorites, and offers access to their team of pet experts via phone call or email.

2.4 Tractive

Tractive is the top GPS tracking app for cats and dogs. The app can help you find their exact location in real-time, worldwide.

With their LIVE Tracking mode, you can get location updates every 2-3 seconds.

The app also lets you mark safe zones with their Virtual Fence feature and can send notifications if a pet leaves the area.

You can get started by purchasing their tracking device for your pet, which in addition to GPS, also lets users view their pet’s fitness and activity levels, and then choose a subscription plan.

2.5 Petcube

Petcube is a live video streaming app for pets.

The app requires you to purchase Petcube Cam, which is an affordable smart HD pet camera with a built-in vet chat.

This camera has two-way audio and clear night-vision, letting pet owners stay connected with their pets wherever they are and at any time.

The Petcube Cam 2 is a step up from their basic pet cam and comes with a laser toy, 160 degree view, and voice control.

The Petcube Cam 3 takes it farther with a built-in treat dispenser which can be activated from anywhere.

Petcube is a great way to see, talk, and keep track of your pets remotely.

Chapter #3: Creating a Pet App—Where to Start

As you can tell, there are tons of pet apps out there, each offering a variety of pet solutions.

From medical documentation and pet history to GPS tracking and real-time live streaming—there’s a pet app for every type of pet owner.

3.1 Target Audience

When creating a pet app, it’s important to clearly define your target audience.

While “pet owner” may seem like a broad category, there are many different types of pet owners with varying needs and interests.

To effectively design and market your app, it’s crucial to identify a specific niche within the pet-owning community and tailor your app’s solutions and features to meet their needs.

PRO TIP:
Consider the type of pet, the stage of ownership, and the specific challenges that your target audience faces. By identifying a specific target audience, you can be sure that your app is providing relevant and valuable solutions for a specific group of pet owners.

3.2 Pick Your Features

The biggest mistake you can make when developing a pet app is loading it up with features.

Example of Features for a Pet App

 

Don’t encumber your app with every feature that’s out there. Start with just a few features that are meant to set your app apart from everything else.

When people download pet apps, they’re looking for a specific solution.

They might not care about fancy video cams or activity monitoring. Maybe they just want an app that will help them learn how to train their pet.

Think carefully about which features you’ll offer and how it’ll help solve real problems.

3.3 Study the Competition

The apps listed in the previous chapter are just a small sample of what’s on the market.

While you don’t need to go through every single app that’s out there, you should pay close attention to pet apps that are trending.

 

It’ll give you a good idea of what people want from a pet app.

Reviewing user feedback from these apps can also offer valuable insight as to the strengths and weaknesses of popular apps.

Maybe one of the top pet training apps has a great solution but has a lot of negative feedback about the UI.

Your app can focus on improving that, or you can offer something completely new and different.

3.4 Build an MVP

A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a basic version of what you want your app to be that only includes core features.

The idea behind building an MVP as opposed to a full-fledged app is to create immediate value fast while keeping development costs down.

This is a great way to test the viability of your app idea and get investors onboard.

Here are some additional benefits to building an MVP for your pet app:

Test Concepts

Being able to test ideas and business concepts is one of the biggest benefits to creating an MVP.

This gives you an opportunity to verify if your ideas are resonating with your audience and allows you to more easily change direction if needed.

Test UX/UI and App Usability

Having an MVP allows you to gather insights and data about how users are interacting with your app.

 

Sure, you can always give testers a prototype or mockup, but feedback on a real MVP can bring even more valuable information that will help you fine tune your app and identify pain points or opportunities for creating a better user experience.

Verify Market Demand

An MVP is all about test driving your app and seeing what the hits and misses are.

It involves constant testing to understand the market demand before spending a ton of time and money on building your app.

Develop a Monetization Strategy

Having an MVP will give you data and feedback that can help you define an appropriate monetization strategy.

After all, your app needs to be profitable.

An MVP lets you test different strategies to find the one that works best for your app.

Cost-Efficient

A mature, full-fledged mobile app can take a considerable amount of time and money to build.

A minimum approach lets you start smaller, gather the information you need, and slowly invest more into your project as you make adjustments along the way.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is, people care about their pets a whole lot.

Our pets are pretty much family members, and people are willing to shell out money on high-quality apps that can help them care for and keep track of their furry friends.

If you’re not sure where to start and what approach is best for your pet app, check out our Simple Starter Package which can help turn your app idea into a concrete plan.

What’s your favorite pet app and how do you think it can be improved?