ChallengeMe
Redesigning the ChallengeMe web app into a native mobile app for Android and iOS.
The problem
ChallengeMe existed as a web app, and as such it could barely function — for a sports app, people naturally reach for their phone, not a browser. On top of that, the app was confusing: after signing up, users didn't know where to find their current status in a challenge, how their own progress was tracked, how to start a new challenge for friends, or how to invite them to one. The core actions the whole product was built around were hidden and unclear.
My role
Formally I was on the project as a designer. In practice I worked as a consultant on the major product decisions — including the most important one: convincing the team the app had to be native, not a web app. That decision led directly to one of the key new features I designed — integration with Google Fit and Apple Health, something the web app could never have offered.
Process
I started with an audit of the existing UX. Part of it wasn't far off and could carry over, but roughly 80% needed to be redesigned from scratch. An important secondary requirement was preserving existing user data and migrating it seamlessly into the new views, so current users wouldn't lose anything when the app moved native. New features, including the health data integration, were designed from the ground up.
Key decisions
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Moving from a web app to a native app
The foundational decision everything else followed from, including what the app could technically offer at all.
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A new home screen
The app previously had no central overview — users had nowhere to "come home to" and orient themselves.
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Simplifying challenge creation
From a multi-step, unclear process into a flow that requires no thinking.
The result
I want to be honest here, because I think it says more about the work than an invented success story. The app was actually used for a while inside the company that built it, for internal sports challenges. Beyond that, it has minimal traffic today and two reviews in the two years since launch. The reasons aren't design-related:
- The company never followed through after launch — roughly 70–80% is finished as designed, the rest was simplified or left unfinished along the way.
- Features meant to drive attention (public challenges for large groups, region-based challenges) were never built — the company didn't want to invest in further development.
- Marketing essentially never happened, so nobody outside the company knows the app exists.
- The biggest unaddressed problem: without friends or colleagues, ChallengeMe is close to useless. Unlike Strava or Hevy, which work fine solo, ChallengeMe is built entirely around challenges — and it lacks a stronger social and community layer that could keep it alive without an organically growing user base. That ended up being a business decision, not a design one.
A product with a good idea and a design built for a lot more than it ended up using — a reminder that even a well-executed redesign can't save a product the company isn't willing to finish and support.