Turning a Fitness App into a Wearable Habit
At a glance
CLIENT
Fitness app expanding into wearables
SERVICE
- Physical product engineering, custom software development services, mobile app development services, devops services, hardware testing & certification
INDUSTRY
- Health & Fitness / Consumer Electronics
A mid-sized European fitness app had built a loyal user base around personalized workout plans and coaching. Growth started to plateau: users were logging workouts manually, forgetting to start sessions, and abandoning the app after 6–8 weeks. Leadership decided to move beyond app-only experience and launch a connected fitness tracker that could capture real-time data, power smarter recommendations, and lock in long-term engagement.
LeanCoded was engaged to lead end-to-end physical product development: from early ergonomics prototypes and sensor selection to firmware, mobile integration, cloud APIs, and production test tooling. In less than 12 months, the joint team delivered a market-ready tracker with 5-day battery life, medical-grade heart-rate accuracy, and a companion app powered by AI software development services and data analytics consulting services to turn raw sensor data into actionable coaching.
From “Tap to Track” to Always-On Coaching
The original app relied on users to start and stop workouts, enter sets, and log cardio manually. Only 38% of weekly active users tracked more than two workouts per week, and churn after the third month reached 42%. The client needed a wearable that could automatically detect activity, capture heart rate and movement continuously, and sync reliably over Bluetooth — without sacrificing comfort or battery life. LeanCoded combined software product development services with hardware engineering to design a tracker that could be worn 24/7, withstand sweat and showers, and still look like a lifestyle accessory rather than medical equipment.
In parallel, the client wanted to monetize beyond subscriptions by offering device bundles and premium analytics tiers. That required robust enterprise mobile app development, secure APIs, and reliable firmware updates in the field. LeanCoded set up a cloud-native backend using cloud devops practices, implemented OTA update flows, and designed data pipelines so that the same platform could later support additional devices — scales, heart-rate straps, or third-party wearables — without re-architecting the system.
Designing a Tracker Users Don’t Take Off
LeanCoded started with a 6-week discovery and prototyping phase. Industrial designers, hardware engineers, and UX specialists ran user interviews and quick 3D-printed iterations to find a form factor that worked for both intense workouts and all-day wear. Three parallel concepts were evaluated with 40 test users: wristband, clip, and hybrid strap. The wristband concept won on comfort and perceived value, but required more sophisticated antenna and battery design.
On the electronics side, the team selected low-power optical heart-rate sensors, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a Bluetooth Low Energy SoC. Firmware engineers optimized sampling frequencies and algorithms to balance accuracy and energy use. By combining iot software development services with lean custom software development for firmware and companion app, LeanCoded achieved a 5.2-day average battery life under typical usage — more than double the client’s initial requirement of 2 days — while maintaining <3 bpm deviation against a chest-strap reference in lab tests.
End-to-end hardware architecture
Firmware and on-device analytics
Companion app and cloud platform
QA, certification, and reliability
Manufacturing ramp-up and test tooling
What LeanCoded Brought to the Product
LeanCoded didn’t just write firmware or build an app; we orchestrated a unified digital transformation services effort that aligned hardware, software, and operations around measurable business outcomes. The cross-functional team — hardware, embedded, mobile, backend, and data — worked as one, using agile delivery and integrated devops services to keep a single, consistent backlog from prototype to launch.
Full-stack product ownership
From concept sketches and BOM optimization to release management and analytics, LeanCoded covered the entire lifecycle with software development services tightly coupled to hardware engineering.
Data-driven coaching engine
Using AI software development services and data analytics consulting services, we translated raw sensor streams into personalized load, recovery, and streak metrics that users actually understand and act on.
Industrialized delivery pipeline
A cloud-native platform, OTA update system, and automated build/test/deploy using devops services ensure that firmware and app updates ship safely every two weeks without disrupting users.
Compliance and security by design
Device, app, and cloud were all designed with encryption, secure pairing, and privacy controls from day one, supported by threat modeling and security reviews rather than last-minute patches.
Measurable Results in the First 12 Months
Within a year of launch, the fitness tracker transformed the client’s business metrics. Among users who purchased the device, 90-day retention increased by 18 percentage points compared to app-only cohorts, and weekly active usage of guided workouts grew by 34%. Automatic activity detection meant that tracked sessions per user per week rose from 2.1 to 4.3, giving the coaching algorithms more data to work with and making recommendations feel noticeably more “personal”.
On the financial side, hardware bundles and premium analytics unlocked new revenue. Average revenue per user (ARPU) in the wearable segment grew by 27%, and payback period on customer acquisition dropped from 11 to 7 months. Thanks to the robust platform built with devops services and scalable custom software application development, the client is now preparing to add a connected smart scale without reworking the core architecture, reusing 70% of the existing codebase and cloud infrastructure.