7 ms·
Show HN: iOS app that corrects your form in real time using your phone's camera
My friends and I made an app that uses your phone's camera to track and improve your form. It'll give you visual and verbal feedback for every rep in real time, ensuring accountability. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/firefly-fitness/id6464440707 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/firefly-fitness/id6464440707 (No, we don’t store or view any camera footage as you're working out.)
The challenges and programs are free to try, no sign-ups or subscription required. (We do ask that you sign-up to save your stats). Just swipe down on the paywall. As a heads up, challenges and programs have pre-set strictness, so you’ll need to perform them with proper form.
I created a story-based workout where you start in a room, progress through increasingly difficult levels, and earn badges. I wanted to make the workouts more engaging - Solo Leveling and Lord of the Rings were a hard inspiration! Let me know your thoughts!
Background
We're three friends from Virginia Tech. Starting our journey, we had no idea what to build...until our CTO, who had never worked out before, created a rep-counting app to help himself. That’s when we realized we also forget our rep counts! We looked at other fitness apps and felt they were all the same, just with different designs. You can check out our building process here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5CAK40wTwo&t=195s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5CAK40wTwo&t=195s
But, after talking to a lot of people, we discovered three major issues:
1. Proper Form: It's hard to know if you have proper form until someone points it out. You either watch tons of videos, use a mirror/record yourself, or rely on a buddy to check if your form is correct.
2. Cost: For beginners who can't afford personal training services or smart gyms, this gives them an alternative option
3. Accountability: Our app only counts reps done with proper form using full range of motion (depending on the form strictness level you set).
It took a looonngg time...but we finally got the core feature working! We prioritized building a reliable pose tracker that accurately tracks fast movements. (Our old versions lagged in its detection, making the feedback triggers unreliable...cause you'd want to hear the feedback as soon as possible). Because of this, we were able to create our own exercise library, allowing us to control when and where to trigger feedback for form mistakes like 'Go Down lower' or 'Raise Your Right Arm Higher'. Also, form strictness adjuster and workout customization are a premium feature. But the challenges and programs are free.
Please exercise safely and would appreciate feedback! Hope to help a lot more people, please let us know what helped you start your fitness journey! Thank you!
- giggles_01 2y agoHave you seen Kaia https://kaiahealth.com/ https://kaiahealth.com/ ? How does your tech compare?
- pdimitar 2y agoThat looks great, thank you. Just a quick Q in case you are aware: any apps/services that can help me formulate and do (daily) exercises about fixing a straightened lumbar lordosis?
- AC101101 2y agoYes! Honestly, I don't know. I haven't seen a raw demo outside of the website itself. From initial looks, it looks a little bit jittering and...slidy? Idk if they're playing around with the EMA smoothing but I can't fairly assess it without more examples from them. Sorry, I can't give a fair answer to this question. But thank you for sharing!
- bigblind 2y agoThis looks very promising! Being visually impaired, I often worry that I miss things about form when watching workout videos demonstrating an exercise. If this app could give me feedback to improve my form, that's wonderful.
- AC101101 2y agoYes! Just make sure to turn up your volume so you can hear your feedback! Full honesty, we didn't think too much about the visually impaired. We do highlight the mistakes you made on your body using red. If there's something that we should be considerate of as well, would appreciate your input! Challenges and programs are free try! Just swipe down on the paywall. As one commentor mentioned, there is a paywall for workout customization features. Thank you!
- rendx 2y agoNo clearly labeled pricing link or mention of how much it costs. Stop decepting people like that and simply tell them what they obviously want to know, that is the best marketing you can do. Dark patterns are violence towards other human beings. Thank you. Otherwise it looks great, but that turned me away. Yes, I know Apple forces you into transparency about it on the app store, but I don't buy products from companies that employ these patterns.