Hello everyone! And a great big welcome to all our new rooners. Those of you who have been around for a while are probably wondering whether we’ve had these app development type blog posts before or not – nope! This is a totally new feature, though we’ve been thinking about it for a while.
From now on, we will post semi-regular blog posts detailing any recent developments and our near-future plans for rooners!
Let’s dive into it.
A Short Summary
When we first started rooners, one of the first things we knew we wanted to do was to keep users’ motivation high. Because we know our brains can often trick us into laying around and watching an episode (if not several!) of that new show we like instead of exercising.
So we came up with rooners’ one-on-one challenges to help get people off the couch. Anyone from anywhere in the world can challenge you to a race. A good start to any day.
With this as our starting point, our team came up with so many new ideas that we had to nix many of them, or else rooners might stay in its ‘development’ stage forever!
The ‘Games’ page in rooners came into existence as a result of these brainstorming sessions. We wanted to expand the fun beyond one-on-one challenges. So far, we’ve succeeded in motivating users with 4 different game mechanics.
See here for upcoming game structures and the updates list.
But, if you’re not new around here, this is all old news. So let’s get to the good part, shall we?
We’ve been quiet on our social media and inside the app lately, and the reason for this is that we have been working on a HUGE update for you guys! As a team, we love devoting our energy to new projects, and when we do so, we do so fully.
We were divided on what aspect of the app to improve more, however. Our options were to develop the challenge mechanics, increase social interaction, or provide more detailed stats on your walk or runs. Of course we voted among these options, thinking how best to allocate our time and energy to provide the best user experience.
And the winner is…..
MORE SOCIAL INTERACTION (Zuckerberg, is that you?)
Rooners 3.0
Before we move on to all our new features, we’d like to touch on a problem that’s really put the team through it that we’ve finally resolved.
Although there were no gaps in the data, gaps appeared in rooners’ routes on the map interface, whether via Strava or Garmin integrations or on rooners’ internal map feature. Even though there was no data lost, we have to admit that this aesthetic flaw was demotivating.
We’ve made some adjustments to address the issue and for the moment it seems it is resolved; smooth lines await on your maps in rooners v3.0! For now we’re hopeful. In the coming term, we’re planning even more improvements for our map section.
Summary of 3.0 new features:
- Share video/photos
- New game mechanic: Social Challenges!
- Comments
- Likes
- Premium stickers
- New ‘Explore’ page
- Stickers and GIFs
Share video/photos
Even though rooners is primarily an exercise tracking app, it was created with the idea of pursuing continued motivation in mind. In a world where the concept of the metaverse is taking the world by storm, the power of visual communication in photos and videos is undeniable. To enhance our position as rooners, we’ve decided to introduce to our platform the ability to share your photos and videos!
This way, you’ll be able to follow along as your friends and favorite athletes share moments from their activities and lives, motivating you even more to get up and move. This new feature brought with it a slew of new ideas, including this next one…
Social Challenges
The one new development our team spent the most time on is the new challenge feature designed with social interaction at the forefront.
Social Challenges are challenges that do not require players to do a physical activity, but rather share photos or videos based on the theme or concept of the challenge. This will allow users to inspire and create new motivations even on the days you don’t feel up to a workout.
We’re excited for you to try out this new feature as we evolve from just an app to track your progress, to one where you are truly motivated as part of a community.
Premium Stickers
Another exciting new feature are our stickers!
You can now send stickers to posts you like. We’ve partnered with artist Dila Kılıç to bring you our premium set of stickers. Read more about Dila and her amazing designs here.
We’re curious to know how you’ll like seeing sticker responses your posts!
To be continued…
rooners 3.0 is all set and ready to go with a redesigned feed, a new challenge mechanic, comments, stickers, and likes. Together with the launch of the new version, we’ve planned the timeline for even more exciting developments.
Keep your eyes peeled for our next post, which will cover what other plans we have for the near and far future.
We’ve begun sharing our ideas and roadmap on this page. You can also help shape the future of rooners by sharing your ideas and opinions on the new version. Let us know what you think!
See you next time…
