Solara Fitness App Redesign

The Problem

Solara Health had a solid fitness tracking app with 200K+ downloads, but retention was terrible. Only 12% of users were still active after 30 days. The onboarding flow was confusing, the workout logging was tedious, and users couldn’t see meaningful progress over time.

The core challenge: How might we make daily fitness tracking feel effortless and rewarding rather than like a chore?

Research & Discovery

I started with a mixed-methods research approach:

• User interviews (15 participants) revealing pain points around manual data entry and lack of motivation
• Competitive audit of 8 fitness apps identifying best-in-class patterns
• Analytics deep-dive showing exactly where users dropped off (82% abandoned during the 7-step onboarding)
• Survey (n=450) to quantify feature priorities

Key insight: Users didn’t want another data dashboard. They wanted to feel their progress.

Design Process

Information Architecture

Restructured the app from 6 tabs to 3 primary views: Today, Progress, and Community. This reduced cognitive load and created a clear daily starting point.

Onboarding Redesign

Collapsed the 7-step onboarding into 3 steps with smart defaults. Users could start a workout within 60 seconds of downloading.

Smart Logging

Introduced gesture-based workout logging — swipe to complete sets, tap to adjust weight. Reduced average logging time from 45 seconds to 12 seconds per exercise.

Progress Visualization

Designed a “growth ring” visualization showing weekly and monthly progress as an organic, growing shape rather than flat charts. This became the emotional anchor of the app.

Before & After

Before: Cluttered dashboard with 6 tabs, text-heavy workout logs, basic line charts for progress.

After: Clean 3-tab structure, gesture-based logging, organic growth visualization, personalized daily briefing.

Results

• 34% increase in daily active users within 8 weeks of launch
• 52% reduction in onboarding drop-off
• 4.6 star App Store rating (up from 3.2)
• 2.8x increase in average session duration
• Featured in Apple’s “Apps We Love” in the Health & Fitness category