The Problem: As we began to gain traction and build a steady number of users, the need for integration into Apple Health through the use of the Apple Watch became a need. Users expressed that they wanted to use their own personal Apple Watch as a heart rate monitor instead of the simplistic heart rate monitor that came with the Tempo products. This communication came in the form of social media on Facebook, Reddit and Instagram as well as through our direct customer service requests. Additionally our competitors such as Peloton, Tonal, Mirror and many others supported both Apple Watch and Apple Health integration.
The Tempo Studio is a smart home gym that helps make weight training accessible to people of all fitness levels by providing real-time form corrections and personalized workout plans. The machine itself is a sleek armoire with a 42-inch (106.7-cm) touchscreen that also houses a mat, weight plates, and Olympic dumbbells and/or a barbell (depending on which package you get) — essentially everything you need for a great full-body workout. Using a Tempo membership, you can attend live classes, participate in challenges, and stream prerecorded classes led by experienced personal trainers.The class types offers by Tempo Fit include:cardio, strength, recovery, mobility, boxing, yoga, high intensity interval training (HIIT)
One feature that sets the gym apart is its 3D sensors, which analyze your form and provide real-time recommendations on ways to adjust your it or your weight load for a safer and more effective workout.
Worried about your privacy? Tempo assures customers that the machine doesn’t take identifiable images of you or your home. You can read more about Tempo’s privacy policy on the company’s website.
The Tempo currently offers three models, including the Tempo Starter, Tempo Plus, and Tempo Pro. The Tempo Starter includes the basic equipment you need to get started with strength training, including a light pair of weights and an exercise mat. The Tempo Plus and Pro are geared toward more advanced athletes with heavier weights and extra accessories, such as a barbell, folding bench, and folding squat rack.
Users need/want to close their Apple Health rings to feel a sense of accomplishment. Tempo may just be a part of their workout routine and we want to accumulate their workout data for them into Apple Health.
Additionally users do not want to use additional equipment to track their heart rate, their calories, and other health related data through Tempo. They want to use a product they are already familiar with and use for other fitness activity which is the Apple Watch.
From a business perspective, the Tempo Studio and future products were not going to be sold with the Heart Rate Monitor and we wanted a way to make sure users could use their own product with Tempo.
Initial Setup: Before the user can use the Apple Watch capabilities for a workout, we had to make sure the Apple Watch, the iPhone and the Tempo itself are all connected and paired. This is a bit of a process as the capabilities of the Tempo were limited with the Apple Watch. Doing so required a complicated flow that instructed the user incase anything was an issue during the process. We made sure to map out all possible errors, outcomes and issues as the user were to set up the Apple Watch with the Tempo Studio.
The workout experience itself was actually one of the more straight forward portions of the mobile application . We brainstormed and designed each reason why the user would need to go to the screen of the Tempo and disrupt their workout. These needs included a play/pause functionality, adjusting the weights used and volume. Additional desires included were haptic feedback for users and began with just two distinct ones. One quick vibration when a rep target was achieved and another when the workout would begin and end. This is in addition to the main display of the heart rate itself and the exercise the user is completing.
But what happens if the user experiences issues after the Apple Watch and the Studio has been connected.
We recruited 12 users and had them test the flows that I designed. The requirements for the users to participate in the user study was that they had to be Apple Watch users and have completed at least 20 Tempo workouts. The three flows that were designed was the initial setup, the actual workout experience and the recovery flow. The recovery flow is what happens if the user has their workout or watch disconnected and interrupted. These tests were done using multiple prototypes and multiple interfaces. You can actually go through the test below by interacting with the prototype.
Users were asked to go through the setup of the Apple Watch itself. The prompt was given that they are on the profile section of the Tempo iPhone application and to setup the Apple Watch by going to the settings.
Users navigated by easily to the settings area and were instructed to set up their Apple Watch. These tests were moderated by myself and because I have had a lot of formal training, I was careful not to lead users in any direction. While there was some confusion around having a watch simulated, it was quickly relieved by allowing them to play with the prototypes.
Our findings were that users could easily go through the process of setting up the Apple Watch and understood what to do during each step of the process. Some language was changed to improve the setup process but the overall flow was well understood.
The workout experience itself was well understood as well. We tested with 12 users who had completed at least 20 workouts with the Tempo Studio so these users were very familiar.
We simulated two prototypes that worked with one another. The first was the watch prototype and the second was a simulation of the Tempo Studio.
Each user was asked to scroll through the Apple Watch app and complete specific tasks such as adjusting weight, pausing the workouts, adjusting the volume, telling us about their heart rate.
The area of confusion was around how to adjust the volume. Best practices on adjusting volume on Apple Watch utilize the crown which the is hardware component on the side. Users did not understand that this would work to adjust the volume even when promoted after initial confusion.
Finally all 12 users were asked to go through the process of troubleshooting the Apple Watch connection. They were given two prototypes: one of the phone and another of the watch and instructed to reconnect the Watch. Users did understand what was occurring and had little trouble reconnecting the watch.
This flow was done last and having previous knowledge of setting up the Apple Watch helped them understand how to reconnect and go through the flow. There was a sense of completion and understanding once the watch was reconnected.
The findings themselves were straightforward once we ran the tests. Further beta testing would be done internally once the actual application was built. One glaring research finding that we found was based on the volume control. Users did not understand that the Apple Watch crown was used to adjust volume. I originally designed for volume to be adjusted using the crown because best practices instructed for us to use the crown to adjust volume. We altered the Apple Watch display for volume to be consistent with the adjust weight interface. I still pushed and instructed our engineers to allow for volume to be adjustable through the crown as well as the plus and minus buttons.
For the sake of consistency, I also pushed for weight to be adjusted using both the crown and the plus and minus buttons. This allowed users to adjust weight using the crown or the onscreen buttons.
Before where volume is controlled by the crown only
After once the volume has been adjusted to be more like the weight screen
Design specifications were used to communicate how the designs should look and how the flows work. This is a tool used to communicate the final specifications for engineering, product mangers, and upper level management. At Tempo, we had a specific system used to communicate the designs. By having a common way of creating and organizing our final designs, any designer could pick up the work and utilize the designs.
Additionally once these designs go live, it was my role to incorporate them into our overall designs library. The designs were created and turned into Figma components so they could be reused and repurposed for future projects.
Beta testing and release were the last two steps of the process. After the app was released, we measured a few metrics which helped set a baseline. The application engagement did exceed expectations and feedback was overall positive. The biggest thing customers asked for was additional support on other devices such as Android and Garmin watches.
