Fitness Studio Membership App

The studios were full of energy and short of systems. The chain runs fitness studios across Bengaluru with group classes, strength training and personal training, and kept memberships in registers and spreadsheets.

The front desk chased renewals by phone, and fees were paid in cash or by card at the desk. Group classes were booked through WhatsApp groups, so some sessions overflowed while others sat half empty, and nobody had a clear record of who actually came. Trainers wrote workout plans on paper, and members who visited another studio in the chain had to be checked by phone.

We spent early mornings and evenings at the front desks, and spoke with members, trainers and studio managers.

• Renewals were the front desk’s biggest job, and every missed call was a lapsed member.
• WhatsApp class booking was unfair. The fastest typist got the spot, and the people who didn’t show left it empty.
• Trainers knew their members well, but their plans and progress notes lived in notebooks.
• Managers couldn’t compare studios without asking each one for its spreadsheet.

Members buy or renew memberships in the app for Android and iPhone: monthly plans on autopay, quarterly and annual plans, class packs and personal training packs. Monthly plans run on UPI AutoPay or a card mandate. Members approve it once, receive a pre-debit notice before every charge as RBI rules require, and can pause or cancel the mandate at any time.

Members can freeze their membership while they travel, and the end date moves forward on its own. Upgrades and downgrades are pro-rated, and every payment produces a GST invoice in the app. Plans decide which studios a member can use, so members on all-access plans move freely across the chain.

Every class, from HIIT and yoga to spin and strength, has a set number of spots. Members book from the app, and when a class is full they join the waitlist. If someone cancels, the next member on the list gets the spot automatically, with a notification.

Each studio sets its own late-cancellation and no-show rules, so popular classes stay fair: a member who cancels too late or doesn’t turn up can lose that class from their pack.

Members check in by showing a QR code from the app at the studio entrance. The code refreshes every few seconds, so a screenshot can’t be shared with a friend. Each check-in confirms the membership is active and records the visit and any booked class, giving every studio an accurate attendance record for the first time.

Trainers have their own view of the app. They assign workout plans to members, and members follow them in the app, logging weights and reps as they train. Trainers track progress, including strength, body measurements and private progress photos the member chooses to share, and adjust plans as members improve.

Personal training sessions are booked in the app against the member’s training pack, and each trainer’s sessions are recorded for their payouts.

A front-desk console handles check-ins, walk-ins and day passes, and shows renewals due that week. New enquiries are recorded the moment someone asks at the desk or online, booked into a trial class, and followed up afterwards, so every visitor who tries a class gets a call back.

Managers see every studio in one dashboard: active members, new joins and lapses, class attendance, renewals due, and members whose visits have dropped off, so the team can reach out before they leave. Comparing studios no longer means collecting spreadsheets.

The member and trainer apps are built in Flutter for Android and iPhone, with a web console for the front desk and managers. A NestJS API on PostgreSQL holds members, plans, classes and visits, with Redis for live class spots and check-ins. Razorpay Subscriptions handles UPI AutoPay and card mandates, Firebase sends notifications, and everything runs on Google Cloud.

One studio piloted the system for two weeks, then existing members were moved across studio by studio, with front-desk staff helping each member set up the app on their first visit.

Renewals now happen automatically, classes fill fairly with waitlists instead of WhatsApp messages, and every visit is on record. The front desk spends its time with members rather than on the phone, managers see how every studio is doing, and members carry their trainer’s plan in their pocket.