The Power of Freeletics

Abstract

The present article explores potential success factors of sports mobile apps by the example of Freeletics. Our analysis followed a two-sided approach: On the one hand, Freeletics is discussed in light of existing research and theory, with a focus on psychology, motivation theory and behavior change. On the other hand, we present a survey among 113 Freeletics users with interesting implications for app design. The analysis reveals that Freeletics actually makes use of a number of aspects and psychological mechanisms that previous research identified as important for physical activity apps and behavior change in general. Altogether, the present case highlights the importance to integrate psychological knowledge in technology design.