I feel like you really don’t care about me anymore.
I don’t care about training front of a TV and winning points each time I do a rep.
I don’t care about creating my own workout.
I was one of your old historical costumer and I feel like you just decided to let me on the side of the road and follow a new direction.
The Apple Watch app was the reason why I use Freeleetics, without it it may absolutely no sens to continue with you for all the reasons of the previously listed arguments and an other one:
I do street workout sessions and leave in an urban area I don’t want to let my phone without looking at it.
Can you explain me how I can do for exemple KADMOS which includes running and burpees with my phone in my hand???
NO WAY!
The removal of the Apple Watch app is almost making me want to look elsewhere. I find it extremely annoying that I have to go to my phone every time I need to mark an exercise as complete.
No wonder nobody used the Watch app considering it was hidden away very well in settings.
@ FL I get that you do now want to invest more one the app with the compatibility issues, but maybe you were to ambitious. The Watch app does not need to contain all features of the phone app, including the ability to interact with the daily program and all the individual exercises. Basically I “just” need it to
show and start the interval from the phone
show time used, current and next exercise,
mark exercise/interval completed
Why not just consider it a remote control for the phone app?
I’m incredibly displeased by this change. The fact that there was an Apple Watch app was one of the big reasons why I started using Freeletics several years ago. It seems like a weird thing to call it an experimental app when it existed for as long as it did. While freeletics is still great, I’ll now be looking to find a new weight training and fitness coach app that integrates with my AW.
Now they really managed to destroy the whole Freeletics experience. While I kinda could live without the Apple watch standalone training, completely removing the Apple watch support is just unacceptable for me. Not gonna renew my subscription. Guessing I won‘t be the only one. Guys, what alternative apps will you use in the future?
Hi,
I appreciate the honest and clear communication.
To be reciprocally honest and clear, I need to let you know that I am profoundly disappointed with this decision.
The Apple Watch app is a fundamental piece of my training routine and the way to log the trainings with all the possible information without dirty workarounds like triggering a parallel generic routine. Not to talk about how much easier is to navigate the different stages of the training without having to grab the phone at each step.
I understand that you’re developing other products, but removing the support from the products that are already successful is definitely not the way to go and, as mentioned, it’s deeply disappointing. It really feels like the old users that have been here from the beginning do not deserve attention anymore.
From my side, I’ll explore other options, which is something I had never thought I would consider. But well, the money that I put every year In freeletics seems now better used on a solution that covers all my needs instead of one that is removing features while increasing the price.
I really think that this is a wrong decision and it’s sending a very nasty message. If all the first line training applications can do it, you HAVE TO do it. Otherwise, you’re not anymore a first line training application but an overpriced second line incidental option.
This said, good luck with your business and thanks for the good things all these years. If I find another more suitable solution for a similar price, I will definitely miss you.
Regards,
Daniel
First of all just let me thank you all for the input and feedback so far-we do appreciate everyone taking the time to post their thoughts here.
Even though the Watch app was used to log a very small % of training, you have been so vocal and passionate about the watch that it really has highlighted the importance of a wearable integration to the training experience that our team will keep under constant review.
Your feedback is super valuable, and we do see and appreciate the value that you found in the Apple Watch feature.
However, keeping the Apple Watch app alive over the last month has been very difficult, and has held back development of the iOS Training app. You can see an example of this reflected in the delay in getting the Workout Builder in to the iOS app.
We have a limited amount of resources available, and we have to focus this on parts of the training experience that will have the greatest impact on the most number of users across Android and Apple devices. You will see a vastly different and improved training experience throughout the next year.
We understand that as Watch users you may not be entirely happy with the removal, but we still believe that we have the best Training app out there-and we would love that you continue to share your ongoing feedback regarding future updates and let us know what training features you would like to see in the app in the future.
I disagree: in my opinion “being the best training app” means to allow users taking all the advantages of a technological platform, and this means being able to use Apple Watch.
I’m sorry, but it seems not fair to me to ask for continuing using and providing feedback for a paid app, definitely not cheap, while iOS users already told the company what is the improvement they’d like to see.
honestly i love freeletics. i have the subscription to this app by more of 5 years.
i was used to use the app for every single workout. it was handy, and through it i was able to manage the whole workout. most of all, this app was very comfortable for people who wants to do running whit the app freeletics.
most of all, we are in the weareable era. this is a abnourmos step back.
how long should we wait to have the app again?
sincerely, the app means a lot to me and it is one of the main reasons why a love freeletics whit its flexibility. this could be the reason why i could break with freeletics.
@Ben Thank you for acknowledging our concerns. I understand the need to bring the Android app and iOS app into parity and reduce friction in order to better implement changes. I understand the need to simplify the experience and reduce ancillary features in order to innovate. But I do not understand why Freeletics can’t just say that they will bring the watch app back once the major changes are made. I think a lot of us would understand the watch app being removed temporarily (even if that is a year) in order to improve the core app, but just pulling it is shocking and disappointing. Every other fitness app that I have on my phone has an Apple Watch app. It is industry standard at this point and should be on the Freeletics roadmap that they will bring it back once development has hit a more stable point.
As a long time user, I love the app and will work around the loss of the Apple Watch app. I really want to see Freeletics continue to be the best app out there, and see the loss of this industry standard feature as a big setback. I really hope that it will be worth it and am excited to see the “big changes” coming this year!
@Ben First of all thank you for the communication to us. Since the app is not available anymore my workout routine lost the flexibility I once had (p.e. switching to the next exercise right from my wrist). This is very disappointing and is a loss in quality and performance. If your decision to remove the app completely remains I also ask a partial refund.
To me I find the lens that when you went to fix the issue you found others, doesn’t give confidence in your technical teams’ skills if they missed this massive hole. clearly the watch app wasn’t on your radar for some time. I keep touching my watch to move on between workouts and realising it doesn’t work
I’m not bothered about doing workouts exclusively on the watch, but I would like HR to be captured and to be advance things on it. The app interface on the iPhone has always been a little clunky and you’re constantly fiddling with the colours over what seems like making it easier to use.
Ben, thanks for your reply, it makes us feel heard, but it doesn’t solve the underlying issue. Watch users are not “not entirely happy”, they are very disappointed. And I have to agree with some other users who’ve mentioned having a watch integration is the industry standard.
As an iOS user, the fact that I still haven’t seen any of these changes AND the watch app has been removed is a double hit. A year is an extremely long time to ask us to wait, with the hope that something would be improved (when my understanding is, it has been postponed in the past). And after 3 years of pandemic, I am guessing the freeltics membership base has only gone up, so the lack of resources is rather hard to grasp…
But to be honest, the workout builder seems like something I would trade in a second for the watch integration. If I wanted to build my own workout, I wouldn’t need freeletics. If I am given a workout, I take it as a given, do it without question because I trust the coach, but if I were to build it myself, I would probably skip burpees and such exercises forever.
I love using freeletics, have been doing it for almost 7 years and this is the first time it seems like a major step back. Honestly, I have been doing some alternative research on other fitness apps, but I really don’t want to switch. Can’t you just bring the watch back? Even if it’s not right away, it’s really important for us to know that we can depend on it in the near future.
I like your app. I got used to using the apple watch to track my calories and to control progression of exercises. Having to go over to the phone each time I want to log my completed exercise is a slight aggregation. I hope you do bring back apple watch functionality.
The app disappeared without warning and I spent a long time trying to ‘fix my phone’. Even getting to this chat is complicated, as I needed to sign up again.
The whole purpose of having an Apple Watch to me was the ability to track my trainings. I was a big fan of Freelitics, trained for 3 years straight. I need to be consequent, so I have just canceled my membership and will explore other options. Luckily, it was up for yearly renewal next month. I could cancel on time.
I believe, Freelitics made the wrong decision and treated clients badly. I could have stayed for years without exploring other options. So sad!
I agree with all the comments here. I am really sad to see the watch app - and with it heart rate support go.
I was silently hoping you would be going deeper into health support features and adapting trainings for things like max heart-rate, heart rate recovery, resting heart rate. Like a proper coach would do. But instead you are going the complete opposite direction and start a feature for creating your own workout. I think this is completely the wrong direction as every free athlete i talk to likes the app because he doesnt have to choose what to do but its open the app and go. So please: Bring back support for apple watch and consider getting better usage for training plans in adapting for more health data.
With Freeletics premium since 2015. Zero exited about Workout builder. Zero exited about Staedium. 100% disappointed about watch app removal.
It’s bad enough that you burn our subscription money to build features and even whole new apps that we don’t want. But pulling apps, that we use regularly and that we paid for, from the store without notice, is is a whole new level of impudence.
How do you want to be “the best Training app out there” without being present on one of the most popular fitness tracking devices?
When I started freeletics it was all about how the coach “intelligently” builds the perfect workout for us based on our individual feedback. Now you could have tons of feedback more, automatically collected on our watches during workout and feed this data back into the coach. But no, you rather let us build workouts ourself. Why would I need a coaching app in the first place, if I wanted to create my own workout plan?
It all doesn’t make much sense to me, but maybe I’m just not in the target group of freeletics anymore.
