Service booking apps are the apps on your phone through which you book a person's time: a cleaner, a beautician, a gym class, a wedding planner or a vet. Each app finds a provider, fixes a time and a price, and takes the payment, all in one app.
Here is a typical case. A retired couple in Ahmedabad need their kitchen cleaned before Diwali. Their daughter wants a pilates class near her office. And their dog needs its yearly vaccination. Each of these needs a different kind of app.
A home-services app sends trained professionals to the home. It shows a fixed price before you book, for example for a kitchen deep-clean. Some of these apps now send a helper within minutes, through on-demand home help.
A fitness membership app sells one membership that covers many gyms, group classes and live online classes. The member books a place in the app before going.
A services marketplace covers providers that people need less often, such as a wedding planner, an artist who makes a painting to order, or a vet clinic. These bookings are larger and less frequent. So the app shows each provider's past work and reviews, and lets the customer discuss the work before paying.
A super app puts many services in one app, such as rides, food delivery, parcels and payments. The large ones are in South-East Asia, but part of their software is built in Bengaluru.
An AI personal assistant for households uses the other apps on the family's behalf. It books the cleaner or reorders the pet food, within limits that the family sets.
Most of these apps follow the marketplace model. They do not employ the providers. They connect customers with providers and keep a commission on each booking. Behind many bookings, the provider's own business keeps its calendar in salon and spa software.