Personal Fitness App Development

Making personal fitness accessible

The two large pillars of the mobile application are personalization and adaptability. What did that mean in terms of app structure?

First off, we needed to make sure that the health programs had correct matching sequences based on tags received from users. If a user defines health parameters matching one or more health programs, we made sure that it’s fully validated before showing it to the user. What’s more, we implemented a system of tracking the health stats such as sleeping and eating patterns, which triggered program changes such as the addition of certain exercises.

The magic of the whole system lays inside the database. After having the relevant plans shown in the mobile application and adapted on the fly, as well as the tracking and health stats, we needed to make sure that all these features are not becoming overwhelming for app users. With a clean design, the onboarding process explained how to use the features without being a drag. We even added push notifications triggered on user behaviour tracked by the app to help users see when their health plan was updated on the fly.

Lastly, the rewards system was a huge bonus. Not only are users improving their health, but they are also being rewarded non-intrinsically with real products. We took the point attribution to the next level and used it not only on each plan, but also on a micro level inside the plan, which increased users' points count inside their account. The integration of a store inside the app required us to optimize for speed and securitization of point usage.

Doing the heavy lifting

When you lift heavy weights, you need to have the correct method. Just like posture and hand placement, app elements needed to be correctly fit in the back-end to ensure a safe and healthy exercise.

The greatest challenge was designing a fast-moving and great user experience. With so many metrics being tracked and pulled, and the fact that the client was estimating a large wave of initial users, speed needed to not be an issue. We’ve designed and implemented a clean architecture for all the data, and with the reliability of AWS and strategic implementation of Lambda functions, we managed to make the app solid. What’s more, on the fly, health plan updates are fully autonomous inside the app and did not affect speed, thanks to MongoDB.

The client also needed a visual, easy-to-use way to change admin settings. We’ve structured a front-end interface which enables back-end commands such as change health plans, activate or suspend users, CMS push, manage user’s rewards and many more without the need of coding knowledge.

Our responsibilities

Throughout the whole process, our client and we created a clear communication channel and a reliable roadmap, which enabled us to iterate and receive feedback fast. We followed the plan and launched the MVP on time, without going over budget. We also consulted the client and implemented optimizations for the app, both technically and user-facing, leading to an awesome user experience.