--- title: "How to create a fitness app for your clients without coding" description: "Coach, gym or program creator: what your app can hold, what the app stores let you sell in it, and how to build it without writing code." canonical_url: "https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/how-to-create-a-fitness-app-for-your-clients-without-coding-a1625/" lang: en date: 2026-09-24 last_updated: 2026-09-24 --- # How to create a fitness app for your clients without coding [Back](/blog/popular-articles-r23/) # How to create a fitness app for your clients without coding Written by [Pierre-Laurent Medori](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/author/pierre-medori/) on Thursday 24 September 2026 ![](https://cmsphoto.ww-cdn.com/superstatic/41269/art/grande/98141069-68347172.jpg?v=1790259723.352718) Coach, gym or program creator: what your app can hold, what the app stores let you sell in it, and how to build it without writing code. ## Coach, gym or program creator: which app for your business? You already have clients, and the app is for them. What it does depends on your business. If you are a personal trainer, your clients book one-to-one sessions and follow the program you gave them. The app keeps the thread between two appointments: the session to book, this week's program, Thursday's tip. If you run a gym or a studio, you have a group class schedule, members to keep and news to get out: a canceled class, the summer hours, a new coach. The app carries that news and shows your schedule. If you create programs, you have filmed an eight-week cycle or home workouts, and you want to sell them by subscription. The app is then your storefront, in the app stores. | Your business | What the app does for you | The page with the details | | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Personal trainer | Bookable one-to-one sessions, programs shared, a link between sessions | [The app for personal trainers](https://www.goodbarber.com/industry-apps/healthcare/health-fitness-coach-professional/) | | Gym or studio | Schedule on display, announcements, member loyalty | [The app for gyms and studios](https://www.goodbarber.com/booking-app/fitness-classes/) | | Program creator | A video library sold by subscription in the app stores | [Workout videos by subscription](https://www.goodbarber.com/membership/home-fitness-videos/) | If your gym or coaching software already gives you an app under your own name, look at what it covers before adding another one. If it handles places, class packs and class payments, keep it for that. Your own app earns its place for the rest: your content, your programs sold in the app stores, your identity. Your clients will not install two apps for the same gym. Two projects this guide is not for. A consumer workout tracking app, with sets, loads, weight curves, smartwatches and plans generated for each user, is a software product built to order. So is a marketplace that matches coaches with clients. GoodBarber builds the app of a coach, a gym or a creator, around their own content. If you teach yoga, [our guide to creating a yoga app](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/how-to-create-a-yoga-app-for-your-students-without-coding-a1255/) follows the same rules with studio examples. And if you are still weighing a website against an app, [we wrote a piece on exactly that](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/website-or-app-for-your-small-business-stop-over-engineering-it-a1582/). ## What a fitness app gives your clients Everything your clients do without you, between two sessions, can go through the app. Here are the sections that carry it, and their limits. **Your programs on video** A Videos section takes your own files or an embed code. Sort them the way your clients search: by level, by muscle group, by length. Twenty minutes of core work at lunch and a full Saturday morning session are not looked for in the same way. You can prepare a whole cycle and schedule the date each session appears. Two limits. Videos are watched online, they are not downloaded. And a YouTube section cannot be reserved for subscribers, so a program you sell has to be hosted in your own Videos section. For file sizes and formats, the help center is the authority. **Guided sessions to listen to** A Podcasts section holds audio: an interval run coached by voice, a mobility routine, a recovery session, a breathing exercise. In the native apps, audio keeps playing when your client opens another app, their running app for instance, an option you switch on in the Privacy Center. Without a connection, your client downloads the episode before heading out, and the Favorites section shows what is already downloaded. Audio costs you a microphone and half an hour of quiet, not a film crew. **Tips, nutrition and technique** An Articles section carries the written word: what to eat before an early session, back position in the deadlift, the mistakes that keep coming back in the squat. A short article each week gives your clients a reason to open the app on rest days, and it is what your chatbot will read, if you add one. **Challenges, events and notifications** An Agenda section holds one event per date, with buttons, including a link to your sign-up page: the challenge of the month, the open day, the August closure. Two limits: the Agenda has no documented recurring event, and an iCal import shows neither past nor recurring events. Push notifications go out by hand or on a schedule, to the apps and to the web app. From the Premium plan, an automatic push goes out with every new piece of content: Monday's session gets announced without you thinking about it. For a ready-made challenge, [our 30-day back-to-shape challenge](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/steal-this-idea-a-30-day-back-to-shape-challenge-for-your-fitness-studio-a1584/) gives the full run and the complete prompt. **The intake assessment, by form** The Form extension, free, collects what you need to know before the first session: goal, level, past injuries, availability. Every answer reaches you by email, and you find it in the back office, with a CSV export. A loyalty card or a club card are possible from Premium, as paid extensions even on Pro. They belong to the members' area model described below, not to the subscription. **What about AI? What it actually does here** **The AI Extension Builder, free.** You describe the section you need in a few sentences, and it is generated inside your app: a challenge board, an interval timer, a calculator. It now runs on [GPT-6 Luna, OpenAI's model](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/the-ai-extension-builder-now-runs-on-gpt-6-luna-a1623/). **The RAG Chatbot, paid.** It answers your clients' questions from the content you have published, in the language of the question: “what should I eat before the 7 a.m. session?”, “which warm-up for the beginner program?”. If you sell a subscription, a non-subscriber only gets answers drawn from your free content. **The MCP server.** It lets you publish a tip or send a notification from Claude or ChatGPT, without opening the back office. **What AI does not do here:** generate a personalized training plan for each client, or analyze their performance. That work stays yours, and it is the work your clients pay you for. If you mostly sell online courses, [the guide to creating an app for online courses](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/how-to-create-an-app-for-online-courses-a1116/) will suit you better. ## Bookings: one-to-one sessions in the app, group classes in your gym software How does a gym handle class bookings in a no-code app? The honest answer comes in two parts. **One-to-one sessions are booked in the app.** The Appointment booking extension builds slots from your hours, with the length of each service and a minimum gap between two appointments. You open one calendar per coach or per type of session, synced both ways with Google Calendar. The booking form uses the fields you choose (text, email, phone, date, link), and a confirmation email goes to you and to your client after every booking. One rule decides everything: each slot takes a single appointment. It is the tool for the one-to-one session, the trial session, the assessment. The session is paid at the gym or by your usual means, not in the app: the extension takes no payment, and in-app purchase only sells access to content. [The appointment booking guide](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/how-to-create-an-app-to-manage-your-appointment-bookings-a1216/) walks through the setup. **Group classes stay in your gym software.** Places per class, the waiting list, class packs and payment stay there. Your app shows the schedule, in one of two ways. Either a URL section that opens your software's schedule page; it needs an HTTPS address and opens in an embedded browser on the native apps. Or one Agenda event per class, with a button to that class in your software. One precaution: the page you display must sell classes taken in the gym. If it also sells online classes or videos, your app contains an external purchase link for digital content, which Apple does not allow outside the United States storefront. Keep the two catalogs apart. The details are on the pages for [a personal trainer's app](https://www.goodbarber.com/industry-apps/healthcare/health-fitness-coach-professional/) and [a gym or studio app](https://www.goodbarber.com/booking-app/fitness-classes/). There is an advanced route: the AI Extension Builder can generate a booking section that writes into your own Supabase database, and [the article that documents it](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/ai-extension-builder-add-a-supabase-database-to-your-app-a1550/) uses a yoga studio as its example. It is generated code, to be tested, with no payment and no help center article behind it: a project, not a feature. ## Sell your programs by subscription, or open a members' area Can you sell training programs by subscription in your own app? Yes. But an app follows one model, and that is the decision to make before you build. **Model one: programs by subscription.** Your clients buy a monthly or yearly subscription inside the iOS and Android apps, with their Apple or Google account. A free trial period is possible, and once subscribed, they can also sign in on the web app. You need the web app switched on and a domain name installed, at least ten pieces of reserved content, and a single level of access: everyone pays the same and sees the same. Non-subscribers can be shown a preview rather than a locked door. Plan for this: reserved content only opens once the stores have approved your app or its update. The page for [selling your training programs by subscription](https://www.goodbarber.com/membership/home-fitness-videos/) shows this model in place. **Model two: the members' area, free,** for clients who already pay you at the gym or by the session. Authentication gives you private sections, and you can switch off public sign-up so only your clients get in. Put the schedule, announcements, practical information and member perks there. A loyalty card is possible. Nothing is sold in the app. **The rule to remember:** installing Memberships removes Authentication, User groups, Community, Chat, Loyalty card, Club card and Coupons. The two models do not mix. **The trap to avoid:** unlocking in the app programs your clients already paid for at the gym. Apple only allows access to content bought elsewhere if the same content is also sold as an in-app purchase in the app (rule 3.1.3(b)). If that is your plan, talk to us before you build it. The general version of this choice is in our comparison of [a subscription app and a private community](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/subscription-app-or-private-community-how-to-build-the-right-one-a1596/). ## What you sell in your app, and what gets paid elsewhere In GoodBarber, in-app purchase does one thing: it sells access to your content. Anything that happens at a set time, in the gym or live, gets paid elsewhere. | What you sell | Where to sell it | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Your content: video programs, audio sessions, reserved articles | In the app, by subscription, through in-app purchase. It is the only use of in-app purchase in GoodBarber. | | Group classes, in the gym or live; the gym membership; the 10-class pack | Never in the app: in your gym software, at the front desk or on your website. A class streamed live in the app stays free to watch. | | The one-to-one session, in the gym or by video call | Outside the app, by your usual means. Appointment booking reserves the slot, it takes no payment. | In practice, the video library is sold in the app; classes and sessions are paid elsewhere. Never build a “gym plus videos” subscription in the app. Two Apple rules explain the split, in section 3.1 Payments of the [App Review Guidelines](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/). A service consumed outside the app is paid outside in-app purchase (3.1.3(e)). And the app must not contain a link to buy digital content elsewhere, except on the United States storefront (3.1.1). That is the reason for the precaution on the schedule page. On commission, the exact version: Apple and Google take theirs on subscriptions, 15% in most cases, and Apple takes 30% during a subscriber's first year unless you are in its small business program. GoodBarber takes nothing. ## How to create a fitness app without coding: the steps 1. **Pick a first use.** Your three best programs, for the clients you already have. Not the whole app: a first version that works now beats a complete app that ships in six months. 2. **Pick your model,** subscription or members' area, from the section above. For the subscription, switch on the web app and install a domain name first: both are prerequisites. 3. **Build the structure.** Home, Programs in a Videos section, Guided sessions in Podcasts, Tips in Articles, Challenges and events in Agenda, Book a session in Appointment booking, Class schedule in a URL section, and Practical info. 4. **Give it your gym's or your brand's identity.** Layouts, colors, typography. It is what your clients see first, and what a generic booking app does not give you. 5. **Load the content,** sorted by level, muscle group and length, with publishing dates. For the subscription, at least ten pieces of reserved content. 6. **Set up notifications.** An automatic push for every new program, a scheduled push to launch the challenge of the month. 7. **Test on your phone** with the My GoodBarber app. One caveat: the subscription flow cannot be tested in the back office preview or in My GoodBarber, only on the generated test builds. 8. **Publish.** The web app first, then the App Store and Google Play, with developer accounts in your own name or through GoodBarber's publishing service, which also sets up the subscriptions in the stores. If your Google Play account is a personal account, plan a closed test with 12 testers for 14 days before your first release. And subscribers' content only opens after store approval. 9. **Announce it.** A QR code at the front desk, a word at the end of a session, a link in your email signature. Your clients are already there: all they need is the address. **Web app, iOS and Android: what to publish?** The web app opens in the browser, with no download, and installs on the home screen. Web push works on iPhone once the app has been added to the home screen. The native apps are required to sell a subscription, so your model decides more than your budget does. Worth knowing before you pick a plan: the Standard plan publishes the web app alone, without Appointment booking, Memberships, Authentication or automatic push. ## How much does a fitness app cost? A native app on iOS and Android starts with the Premium plan, at $660 a year (list price read on September 24, 2026, yearly billing). Appointment booking and Memberships are added as extensions, or are included in the Pro plan. Also count the Apple and Google developer accounts, and the store commission on your subscriptions. The detailed budget by business, with the prices of other solutions, has its own article. Full pricing is on the [Content Apps pricing page](https://www.goodbarber.com/pricing/content/). ## Start with your three best programs One section, three videos, one notification. That is a first version, and it is enough to find out whether your clients open it. Bookable sessions can come the following month. If you are heading for the subscription model, prepare your ten pieces of content before you reserve anything, and count the store review into your launch date. [Start for free](https://www.goodbarber.com/create/): create your Programs section and publish your first three sessions during the 30-day free trial, no credit card required. ## FAQ **Can you create a fitness app without knowing how to code?** Yes. You assemble sections from the back office, videos, audio, articles, agenda, appointment booking, then publish the web app and the iOS and Android apps. A consumer workout tracking app, on the other hand, is custom development. **Can you sell training programs by subscription in your own app?** Yes, through a monthly or yearly subscription bought inside the iOS and Android apps, with the Memberships extension. Plan for at least ten pieces of reserved content and a single level of access. The stores take their commission, GoodBarber takes none. **How does a gym handle class bookings in a no-code app?** It shows its gym software's schedule in the app, and keeps places, class packs and payment in that software: classes are not paid in the app. Appointment booking, which takes one client per slot, is for one-to-one sessions. **My gym software already offers an app: do I need another one?** Check what it covers first. An app of your own earns its place to publish your content under your own identity or to sell your programs in the app stores. Otherwise, one app is enough. **Can the app track my clients' performance?** No: no sets, no loads, no weight, no smartwatches. An intake assessment form, yes. Workout tracking belongs to coaching software or custom development. **Can I stream a live session in the app?** Yes, as a one-way broadcast and free to watch: the Live Video section plays the stream from your streaming provider, and it is not video calling. A live stream is not sold in the app, since in-app purchase only sells access to content. **Do my clients have to download an app?** Not for free content: the web app opens in the browser and installs on the home screen. The subscription, however, is bought in the iOS and Android apps. **How much does a fitness app cost?** An iOS and Android app starts with the Premium plan, at $660 a year. Appointment booking and Memberships are added on top or included in the Pro plan. The detailed budget by business is in our article on the cost of a fitness app. ![Pierre-Laurent Medori](https://blog.goodbarber.com/_public/profile/b5/b5f3704c4117b921f2e8146eddf0b0763b3e1692-default.jpg) About the author[Pierre-Laurent Medori](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/author/pierre-medori/)Head of Backend Engineering I'm Head of Backend Engineering at GoodBarber, where we build the platform that lets anyone create native apps without writing code. My team owns what runs behind the scenes — the APIs, services, and infrastructure that turn a no-code project into real published apps, hosting, push, and a full store. I write about the engineering that keeps "no-code" working at scale, and where AI fits in. [Read more](https://www.goodbarber.com/blog/author/pierre-medori/) [![LinkedIn](https://portal.ww-cdn.com/portal_static/svg/base2021/linkedin.3ed8162e2a2b.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-laurent-medori/)