FitterYOU: Personalized Fitness Video App

Introduction

Founded in 2016 in Landau, Germany, the technology company EFFIT.com AG is a pioneer in the fields of e-health and medtech. With a clear focus on digitalization, the company combines research findings from sports science, methodological training theory, health prevention and management, as well as medicine and physiotherapy with key technologies from IT, data mining, and 3D visualization to offer innovative and marketable products and services.

The Challenge

Building on years of experience in training methodology, Fritz Grünewalt, the founder of EFFIT.com AG, conceived the idea of a fitness app that would provide training videos personalized based on the user’s training progress. Additionally, the app would allow users to define individual pain zones and exclude disliked exercises. These settings could be changed immediately before starting a workout and would be considered when assembling the training videos.

As a unique selling proposition, the FitterYOU App aimed to ensure that each workout session is optimally and individually tailored to the user’s fitness and training progress every time. At the start of the project, however, EFFIT.com had only one full-time backend developer and a network of freelancers but lacked expertise in app development and operating SaaS infrastructures.

Solution Approach

To implement this innovative idea, a native app for iOS and Android was designed, which dynamically assembles videos from individual components and offers the option to display them on a second screen. Since the contents of the training videos are only determined shortly before the start, only individual video snippets could be provided server-side. These were then assembled into a complete training video using logic within the app.

This resulted in tens of thousands of possible variants that precisely match the user’s training progress and perfect the impression of true personalization. To ensure smooth functionality, a modular backend architecture based on various microservices was designed. This architecture allows for scalable and low-maintenance 24/7 operation on standard cloud platforms like AWS or Azure.

Approach

To achieve the ambitious goals, XQ Digital was brought on board as an interim CTO for a period of one year. They co-designed the overall architecture and set up software development for the frontend and backend.

To meet the desired time-to-market, the development work was divided:

• App Development: The development of the apps for iOS and Android was outsourced and realized in close collaboration with an external development partner.
• Backend Development: The backend application was programmed by an internal team of full-time developers, reinforced by freelancers.

From the beginning, care was taken to automate software deployments so that operating models for cloud services like AWS or Azure could be utilized. This enabled the use of a service provider for 24/7 operation, saving costs and conserving internal resources.

Results

• Unique Training Experience: No workout is the same, motivating users to follow their training plan and securing long-term subscription contracts to achieve the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) targets.
• Powerful Backend: The backend processes various parameters like user preferences, recent training sessions, general training progress, and other context-related data in seconds to generate an appropriate workout.
• Scalable Infrastructure: A comprehensive and always scalable infrastructure can be operated cost-effectively and with high availability around the clock with minimal operational effort.

Conclusion

By developing the FitterYOU App, EFFIT.com was able to bring an innovative product to the market that offers personalized fitness videos based on the individual training progress of users. The combination of an intelligent backend architecture, dynamic video assembly, and a user-friendly app has led to a unique customer experience.

The close collaboration between internal teams, external partners, and the interim CTO from XQ Digital made it possible to implement the complex requirements within the desired timeframe. The automated processes and the use of cloud services ensured efficiency and cost savings in ongoing operations.

The FitterYOU App serves as an example of how innovative technologies and customized solutions can be successfully combined to set new standards in the highly competitive fitness market and achieve sustainable growth.