Planet Fitness Members Unite: Bring back the old User Interface

When I was learning to program, "user-friendly" was all the rage. A program's user interface, i.e., the ways that we interact with the software through menus, buttons, and data entry, had to be easy to use. Although today user-friendly has been expanded to include the complete user experience, i.e., how the software is delivered, installed, and paid for, a program's user interface is still an integral part of the overall user experience.

So it is with some sadness that I proclaim that a recent update to the Planet Fitness iPhone application has made the user interface worse. Please allow me to share my story.

Though I work from home, when I wake in the morning, I leave my house and go to the gym. I workout, come home, shower, and start my workday. It's part of my routine. One part of my workout is running. Let's take today as an example: I ran. I took a picture of the results on the treadmill (so I would remember what I did when I got back home).

I walk/run 3 miles every workout. I do this by varying my speed based on how energetic I feel. I normally: walk with the setting 4.3 mph for 1 minute, crank it up to 6.3 mph until I am comfortable at that speed, crank it up to 7.2 mph until I get tired, and then revert back to 6.3 mph. I alternate back and forth between speeds until I reach 3 miles and then I stop.

So based on today's treadmill picture, the correct data for my run is:

After I get home, I use the Planet Fitness iPhone app to record my workout. The user interface of the Planet Fitness app used to let me enter:

• Date
• Time
• Duration
• Distance

It would then immediately compute the Calories consumed and show me the result. I could override what it had computed if the calorie number did not match what appeared in the treadmill picture. This worked beautifully.

Recently the app was updated. It has a whole new look and feel, i.e., user interface.

Instead of entering data the old way, it now asks me for:

• Date
• Time
• Duration
• Intensity

It even has a pull-down for Intensity:

There's the problem. An Intensity of 6.39 is not a choice. Intensity is not the correct data item to ask for. It's something that can vary during the workout. On the other hand, distance does not. At the end of a run, the distance a runner has run is the distance a runner has run.

Given this new user interface, the best I can do is pick a 6 or 7 and artificially vary the time to match the distance I actually covered.

In addition to the troublesome pull-down for Intensity, the app now computes the calories using a formula that differs from the formula used by the treadmill. Historically, I had been recording what the treadmill reported. I trusted the device over the app. Now I have no choice but to trust the app.

The treadmill reported 421 calories but I am stuck with 380 calories.

I am writing this blog post so I can send it to Planet Fitness. My guess is that the app designers did not consider the use case when a runner varies his speed over the course of a workout. I'd like to see the app updated to ask for Distance instead of Intensity. Recording a workout accurately would be a better user experience.

If you feel the same way or are sympathetic to my plight, you can contact the Planet Fitness in Tomball, Texas. Thank you.