Devora
Tempo — Health & fitness

A training app people still open on day ninety

Consumer fitness is a retention problem wearing a workout app's clothes. We rebuilt Tempo around the moment a session ends, not the moment it begins.

Platforms

iOS · watchOS · Android

Duration

18 weeks

Delivered

2025

Start something similar
Day-30 retention vs. old app
3.1×Day-30 retention vs. old app
Downloads in first six months
480kDownloads in first six months
App Store rating, 11k reviews
4.8★App Store rating, 11k reviews
Peak US Health & Fitness rank
#4Peak US Health & Fitness rank
The problem

What we were handed.

Tempo had a loyal core and a leaking bucket: 78% of new users never completed a second week. The existing app treated a workout as a form to fill in. Nothing about finishing a session felt like anything, so there was no reason to come back for the feeling.
Native iOSNative AndroidProduct designLaunch & store strategy
The approach

Four decisions that mattered.

  1. 01

    Rebuilt the session experience around a single continuous timeline with real gesture physics — the interaction had to feel good enough to be its own reward.

  2. 02

    Moved the emotional weight to the end of the workout: a summary that renders in under 200 milliseconds, animates the one number that improved, and is shareable in two taps.

  3. 03

    Built a watchOS companion that runs the whole session independently, so the phone can stay in a locker.

  4. 04

    Added Live Activities and a Lock Screen widget so an in-progress session stays visible without unlocking, and a completed streak stays visible all day.

Built with

  • SwiftUI
  • watchOS
  • Compose
  • HealthKit
  • RevenueCat
The outcome

Where it landed.

Day-30 retention tripled. Tempo was featured by Apple in 'New Apps We Love' during launch week and peaked at #4 in US Health & Fitness. The share sheet built into the summary screen now drives 19% of all new installs — the app's single largest acquisition channel, and one that costs nothing.

They spent two weeks arguing with us about the summary screen. They were right. That screen is now the reason a fifth of our users exist.

Marco FeldFounder, Tempo
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