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Most people find running on a treadmill boring—after all, how long can you really stare at your garage wall before losing motivation?
In an attempt to leverage some of the social psychology behind a group exercise class, Peloton released a premium spin bike for your home, with a giant screen mounted on the front. This lets you join live video classes, and cycle along with others in a pretty seamless experience.
But there's a catch: the equipment isn't cheap. The cheapest bike and treadmill being £1,390 and £2,295, plus a £39 monthly subscription for the live classes.
What if you could get the benefits of a that group psychology, without having to spend thousands of pounds?
Instead of buying a Peloton treadmill with an integrated screen for £2,295, couldn't you just use your iPhone, and a £400 treadmill that you picked up from Amazon?
That's more or less what Apple Fitness+ is—a subscription for home-workouts, that aims to utilise Apple hardware with standard fitness equipment.
But is the user experience any good? That's what this case study is about.
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Beware of the 'jump in' fallacy
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Why Apple intentionally adds friction
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Some UX wizardry by YouTube
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Why to not constantly push for upgrades
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How Apple strikes a perfect balance

A behind the scenes look at how I redesigned the Built for Mars sign-up flow, and iterated from early feedback.
The two "obvious" fixes that did nothing
Why you shouldn't always force an input
Why limiting the user's choices can be beneficial
Hinge built its reputation on a single promise: it's the dating app that wants you to leave. This is a breakdown of how the interface is actually engineered to make sure you don't.
How dating apps keep you engaged (not romantically)
The design equivalent of clickbait headlines
How Hinge leverages social scarcity
The challenge for a navigation app isn't to efficiently show you the best route, it's to make you believe that you've found the best route.
How strategy influences design
Waze is cornered, and slowly shrinking
What Apple's strategy appears to be

From rat mazes to coffee apps: why the motivation to reach a reward increases the closer your users get to their goal.
How to use the Goal Gradient Effect
Spinning the flywheel of purchases
Why your rules need to be clear
Sometimes, the best onboarding is no onboarding, and simple products get bogged down with unnecessary explanations. This case study on Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Asda demonstrates when to just let the user try it for themselves.
Sometimes the best onboarding, is no onboarding
“Show, don’t tell” often beats education
Data can’t always tell you when onboarding is wrong

An analysis of Monzo’s 1p challenge, focusing on the middle slump, where progress slows and motivation quietly fades.
Delight can replace progress, but only temporarily
"The middle" is the real retention problem
Motivation needs contextualised reference points