willem.com

Creating a Privacy-First Fitness App

How I built an smartphone app that tracks my workouts with ease

May 11, 2024 -

As a little side-project, squeezed between my normal work, I have been working on something of personal interest: a native workout tracking app for iOS. I wanted to make my smartwatch obsolete, instead using my phone to track workouts. How hard could it be to gather detailed sensor data using native Swift APIs?

Continue reading
Nothing makes you feel alive like going outside for some physical action - I love working out!
Nothing makes you feel alive like going outside for some physical action - I love working out!
My bike with Bluetooth sensors connected to my MacBook running Xcode
My bike with Bluetooth sensors connected to my MacBook running Xcode
Design sketch describing the desired layout
Design sketch describing the desired layout
I used my Garmin Edge data layout as an inspiration when designing my app's layout when used as mounted bike computer
I used my Garmin Edge data layout as an inspiration when designing my app's layout when used as mounted bike computer
Early prototype of the app working with Bluetooth heartrate sensor and its early dataset shown in another app that makes some pretty graphs (HealthFit)
Early prototype of the app working with Bluetooth heartrate sensor and its early dataset shown in another app that makes some pretty graphs (HealthFit)
I got some magic in my pocket: The app tracking workouts from the background - during recordings it just shows a widget on the homescreen
I got some magic in my pocket: The app tracking workouts from the background - during recordings it just shows a widget on the homescreen

Other stories

all blog posts

Tagged

AppleBikeCreatingDataDesignLifestyleHeartMinimalProgrammingSensorsSportWatch

Articles (158)