Released by Apple in late 2014, Fitness (formerly Activity) is a native exercise tracking companion available on iPhone, for users with a connected Apple Watch. The app gives users access to a comprehensive view of their total fitness, including Activity History, Workouts, and Trends, as well as challenges them to reach daily Move, Exercise, and Stand goals. While Apple Fitness & the Apple Watch are the most widely used in the fitness technology market, it is crucial that Apple continue to evolve its offerings - and constantly remain aware of what users want next.
I decided that a water consumption tracker would be a beneficial feature to add to Apple Fitness as water intake is an important metric for fitness goals. Although there are hydration apps available, none are integrated with a fitness app.
However, to avoid assumptions, I asked general questions about users' experiences with Apple Fitness and other fitness apps rather than solely focusing on water-consumption trends.
When researching Apple Fitness' competitors, I had to take into account the "wearable" aspect of the competition. The Apple activity app is standard with the Apple Watch, syncing passive and active data seamlessly in real time. In this sense, its two primary competitors are Fitbit and Garmin Connect. However, there are plenty of fitness tracking apps rivaling Apple activity that do not accompany a wearable device, such as Strava and MyFitnessPal.
In anticipation of user interviews, I wanted a better understanding of user preferences, needs, and pain points with regards to fitness tracking apps. In total, 38 regular fitness app users (of varying fitness levels) completed a 10-question survey. The following data points and insights were obtained:
of participants use the
Apple Fitness app and corresponding wearable
of participants use the Fitbit app and corresponding wearable
of participants track Exercise Minutes, Workout Data, and/or Steps Taken
of participants track Vitals (HR, BP, etc.) and/or Distance Traveled
With the intent of obtaining more qualifiable insights, I interviewed 4 participants (of varying ages, genders, and fitness levels) who own an Apple Watch and regularly refer to the Apple Fitness app. Questions included:
I next compiled all of my data and insights into an affinity map, which enabled me to quickly identify patterns in user needs and insights. Ultimately, I was able to pinpoint two consistent issues - and neither of them was the inability to record water intake!
Based on the demographics, responses, insights, and data gathered from my research, I developed two distinct User Personas: Nadia and Travis. While both individuals have varying attitudes and approaches towards fitness, they share a common issue - neither feels that the fitness goals suggested by Apple Fitness align with their personal fitness aspirations.
Now that the key problem was identified, I reframed the problem into a solvable question for the purposes of brainstorming:
Incorporating a new feature into the framework of Apple Fitness posed several challenges. Firstly, the requirement for users to possess and actively use an Apple Watch to monitor data within the app had to be taken into account. Consequently, it was important to understand how the feature would function on the wearable device as well as the mobile app. Secondly, as the Apple Fitness mobile app itself does not directly collect data, but rather retrieves it from different sources such as Apple Health, Apple Workout, and other fitness apps like Peloton or Nike Run Club, I had to carefully consider how the apps would be interconnect and correspond.
In order to develop a structured prototype, I had to determine the most straightforward path for Nadia to create and track her personal Goal. I identified the screens she would encounter throughout her journey, the tasks she would have to accomplish, and the decisions she would need to make, assessing how each decision would impact her overall interaction with the app. Through the user flow mapping process, the framework of my prototype began to take shape.
Apple’s design system, Human Interface Guidelines, is instantly recognizable, so I knew I needed my design to fit seamlessly within those guidelines. Lucky for designers & developers, Apple has the entire HIG system laid out (in detail) on their website - even providing downloadable guides, templates, and demonstrations of how the principles can be applied in a real-world context. In addition to downloading the Apple UI kits, which adhere to the HIG, I also kept the HIG website handy, referring to it throughout the visual design process.
I initially believed that the UI aspect of this project would be quick and simple. After all, there were many UI elements that I could leverage from the existing Apple Fitness app, and the HIG library was at my disposal. However, as Apple Fitness is a proprietary, native app, I couldn't locate a definitive guide to its unique colors and gradients, nor its distinctive stick figure icons. In the end, I had to create the icons by drawing vector images from screenshots and replicate the colors and gradients using the eyedropper tool - which proved extremely meticulous process!
Repetition: Goal Ring displays Goal focus and progress - mimicking the visual tracking functionality of the traditional move, exercise, and stand rings.
Search: Single line text field for searching workout types, with drop down predictive text once the user enters a letter.
Recall: Options for recently completed types of workouts displayed in table form, for easy recall.
Browse: Ability to view & select from a list of all 80+ Apple Fitness-supported workouts.
Form Field: Inline Date Picker used to select Goal start and Goal end dates.
Mandatory Field: The end date calendar is disabled until a start date is entered - to help eliminate confusion over data entry.
Selection: Segmented control bar used to select type of metric (ex: duration, rides, distance) for the Goal. The segment labels are adjusted depending on the workout focus.
Input: Scrolling wheel-style picker used to select metric quantity - tap of the number confirms and enters.
In order to ensure that the Goal feature was easy to use, met user requirements, and integrated smoothly into Apple Fitness' existing UI, I conducted Usability Testing with four participants (2 male, 2 female) aged 29-58. The participants completed the testing via the Figma prototype on their mobile devices and were given tasks including creating a Goal for the first time, monitoring the progress of an existing Goal, and reviewing Goals previously achieved.
successfully completed the primary task and sub-tasks, without abandon.
felt that the Goal feature fit seamlessly within Apple Fitness’ pre-existing UI.
unsolicitedly inquired as to how the feature worked on the Apple Watch
said they would use the Goal feature in real life.
It was interesting to note that there were minimal large-scale revisions required, which I attribute to the use of Apple's established and successful Human Interface Guidelines. To determine what needed to be fixed, I developed a priority matrix and made necessary adjustments based on the severity of the impact and the time required to fix.
Insight: Users expressed confusion as to whether or not a new goal was "live."
Solution: Starting indicator added to the beginning of the ring - indicates that the goal is active, but no data has been recorded. This mirrors the other rings within Apple Fitness.
Insight: Wording irritated and confused users. "Just because I haven't done a workout that contributes towards my Goal doesn't meant that I haven't worked out!"
Solution: Simple fix! Section heading re-named to reflect that the information displayed is only pertaining to Goal workouts.
Insight: When looking at streaks, awards, and in-process challenges, users expressed that they also wanted to see the status of their Goals.
Solution: I incorporated current Goal progress in the pre-existing “Go For It” section on the Awards page, so users can see the status for active Goals, Challenges, and Streaks all in one place.
Insight: Users wanted to see their completed Goals. "Hey, I worked hard to complete that Goal - I want to be able to see (and share) a badge reflecting that!"
Solution: Included Goal Complete badges earned and accompanying Goal details on the Awards page, so users can reflect on & share past successes as well as prepare to up their game for the next Goal.
The biggest piece of feedback I received during testing was a desire to see how the feature worked on the Apple Watch. Size constraints make it impossible to include all of the data viewable on a mobile device on a wearable device, so I referred to my research and site map to determine the necessary information and infrastructure, and translated the feature into the wearable format.
To demonstrate how the new feature would fit and function within the existing UI of the Apple Fitness app on the Apple Watch, I created a prototype with three simple flows that depict the user's experience with no active Goals, with a created Goal but no qualifying workout data, and with a Goal in progress.
Run tests on the Apple Watch prototypes to determine usability of the feature, how it fits within the Apple Watch UI, and if the design and feature itself meet user needs and expectations.
Add/expand on an Accountability Partner feature:
