What do I really want out of my fitness app? VALUE

I felt obligated to write this blog as I was scrolling through my phone during lunch today. As I’m clobbering a BBQ pork sandwich after a long weekend drinking with friends in the Colorado mountains, I figured it was about time that I decide what workout I’ll do this afternoon. I mindlessly unlocked my iPhone and started scrolling through the 5 full pages of apps I have downloaded, thinking one of them would help me. I opened a few fitness apps I hadn’t clicked on in months or even years. Most of the apps were either asking me to manually input my exercise goals and subsequent activity, or to sync to a wearable device I may be wearing. I went along with one app by inputting my exercise goals, but stopped shortly thereafter, thinking…

“When am I going to get value back from them in return for all the information I’ve submitted?”

I’ve tried several of the exercise apps in the Apple Store, many which track my running routine, track my calories, heart rate, you name it. And I personally can’t think of one instance where I’ve went forward with inputting data as requested, used the app several times a week, and continued using it 30 days later.

Why didn’t I keep using at least one of these apps? Maintaining a healthy fitness routine is something I’ve taken very seriously my entire life — that need certainly has not gone away. There is no cost to the app, it’s free to download and use, so price was not a concern. There have been several days where I don’t feel as motivated to get my ass up and go workout… motivation is something I’m constantly searching for.

I tried breaking it down from their end. What are these apps doing? They’re likely either 1) prompting me to input my exercise goals/data, 2) requesting access to location services in order to track my routes, 3) Accessing information from my wearable device.

#1 is fair at face value — the only way the app can help me get to my fitness goals is if they’re aware of them.

#2 would be useful if I was striving to see what type of running or biking routes others have done in my area. This is not what I want, personally, as I’m trying to make sure my time is best spent running or biking in the first place!

#3 could be useful if I have goals that are directly related to the metrics that my Apple Watch is tracking. If I was a triathlete, for example, I may find this useful if I wanted to achieved an average HR of 160bpm during the 30min workout interval, because this suggested I would hit my race time goal. That’s not for me. My goals are not a function of steps, heart rate, or calories burned.

I’ve actually tried the Apple Watch during many various exercises, and tried sticking to it for 60 days. I found the first month or so interesting — I could see how many calories I burned, perhaps as a metric for my workout intensity. But once I found exercises that challenged me and most importantly made me feel great after, I started caring less and less about these wearable metrics.

These considerations made me ask the point blank question: Am I, personally, getting any value out of these fitness tracking devices and applications?

No. At at $0 price point, I’m not getting any value. And here’s why.

I want to be motivated by other people, not a hand held mini-computer. How many times have you been told by an app “Congrats, you achieved your goal today!” or “You’re almost to 10,000 steps, better start moving!” I hate this. Of all the things in my life that would motivate me to go exercise, a computer trying to act like a human by speaking to me isn’t one of them.

I want my habits to motivate others, particularly those I care about. I don’t find it at all rewarding for an app to acquire all of my exercise data to gain insights into what type of products/services I’m vulnerable to buying. This may be happening without us even knowing it. Of course it’s obvious when we’re presented ads for discounted running shoes after logging runs 4x per week, but less obvious is which entities these companies are selling our data to. There is no such thing as a free lunch. While free looks great on paper, there is a reason why these companies are acquiring data. I want to be motivational to someone else on the couch… I want to pay it forward!

I’m over wearable data — I know when I’ve gotten a good workout and when I haven’t. What type of wearable data is actionable to me? I burned 389 calories in todays run. OK, so what? Is this not enough? Does this mean I can’t eat dinner tonight in order to reduce my calorie intake? NO, that’s simply unhealthy, it’s not a one-dimensional problem. So then why do you care, from a fitness standpoint? I don’t. You shouldn’t.

I want a solution that actually addresses the reason I took out my phone in the first place… I want access to relevant workouts + be motivated to workout today. We almost forgot! It almost seems that these fitness apps convinced us that this is not the question. But this is the only reason why I took my phone out in the first place. I want to find a solution that addresses MY need.

As consumers, we need to start being more demanding of precisely what outcomes we want, and which solutions will efficiently get us there. I’ve been searching for an app that I can be motivated and informed directly by friends and family exercise habits. Knowing that my brother just started his swimming workout is as much motivation as I need, especially when I know my other two friends on the east coast finished their kettle bell workouts a couple of hours ago. Furthermore, having access to the kettle bell workout my college buddies on the east coast just finished is VALUE to me. Maybe I’ll try that today… It’s like we’re working out together, just like our good college days that I’ll never forget.

This is the app that I want — Meerkat. This solution has value, both to me and to others that share these same concerns and desires.

What’s yours?