IT'S FINALLY HERE!


Today, myself and the team are excited to announce the launch of our new app that we’ve been calling “v2”.

This is because in our short life, we have gone from an MVP (…more like VMVP – very minimum viable product) to an improved “v1” to then completely starting from scratch and building “v2” in the background.

It’s rather incredible that to date (March 2023) we have completed around 30,000 sessions in our MVP and v1, but as we look to scale across London and a number of other cities, we are building new technology and incredible products and features to support this expansion.

This v2 product has been a passion project for the whole Solo60 team along with a small group of 100 users for about 10 months and we are now confident to launch it to thousands more today.

You will not see an “Update” for your current app if you’re using v1, but instead you will need to download it as a new app on the App Store with links at the side or bottom of this blog, dependent if you're on desktop or mobile. Simply log-in using the same email and password as our previous app and everything will migrate over with you. You can go ahead and delete the old app from your phone too!

So, what’s changed? A lot… OK… almost everything. But this blog assumes you know how Solo60 worked before. If you are new here (welcome) or if you want more information, it’s best to read our updated website because the point of this blog is to share the changes from v1 to v2, and the reasons why.

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Alright, enough blabber. Let’s get down to it:

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WE GOT A NEW LOOK 


‍A huge upgrade to this app was the overhaul of our user experience journey and the way the app looks along with much needed performance boosts. We had a lot of feedback requesting easier navigation and a more intuitive design—and we agreed, so we took this feedback on board and worked on performance, and aesthetics which we believe are hugely improved! 

My personal favourite is the new “Find Locations Near You” screen which makes finding and selecting sites so much easier in both Map View or List View!

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CREDITS ARE THE CURRENCY

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You still have the option to buy on-demand sessions like you did previously with pay-as-you-go but the only difference is that this time you must buy the credits first, and use them to purchase the session afterwards. Other than this, if you cancel the session, you’ll get the credits back to use at a later date and it’s extremely flexible on buying just what you need!
   
We love our pay-as-you-go users but during our time on our v1 app, we started to face many issues with cards as we started processing 100s of payments. These included: cards rejecting payments, insufficient funds or cards expiring which had knock on effects with entry and Solo60 having to retrieve payments. With that in mind, we switched away from this to a credit-based system only whilst still maintaining the previous flexibility of paying as you go through on-demand and multiple package options.
   
Important note: If you had credits before switching, when you log in you’ll notice that your credits will be inflated 6x in line with the new pricing structure below and if you had a v1 subscription running, we will move this to v2 and provide notice on new prices before switching you so you can make a decision. Please wait for the email in the next 7 days. Alternatively, you can cancel your v1 subscription and sign-up on v2.

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NEW PACKAGES AND PRICING

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When purchasing credits to book your sessions, you’ll notice that instead of credits being a fixed price (like 2 credits as per v1), they are now Dynamic. This is determined by many factors of data but mainly peak, off-peak and super off-peak times and days are being given different credit amounts, and therefore cost.
   
You can purchase on-demand credits and small or large packs to book sessions. If you’re left needing 1 or 2 extra to get your next session, you can buy them from the on-demand pack for £2 each, without the need to bulk buy.
   
Dependent on the session and the pack you buy, you may notice a price difference of about a 10% increase. Like everybody, we have faced immense price hikes and pressures to sustain the business and our service to you, as well as continuing huge investments like this one. This helps off-set the increases we have been experiencing across the business whilst still trying to do what’s best for our customers.


NEW CANCELLATION PROCEDURES

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We have changed our in-app cancellation from our previous 4 hours (credits) and 8 hours (pay-as-you-go) to a fixed 12 hours. You can now cancel sessions in the Coming Soon screen. Once they go to Active at 12 hours before the session, they will no longer be available to cancel.
   
This change was made as we noticed people were holding on to slots and cancelling them late which wasn't giving us enough notice to re-sell them to other users who really wanted them. This particularly upset Paul in finance!

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JOIN THE WAITING LIST 

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To help combat the above, and allow you to find your favourite slot, we added a waiting list function.

So, if there is a slot you would like, head to any gym booking page in-app, and if the session is taken (and outside the cancellation procedure), you’ll be able to click “Join the waiting list”.

If that gets cancelled, we'll notify you by email and in-app so you can book on (first-come-first-serve).

MORE CHOICE ON TIME

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A big piece of feedback was "I need another 15 minutes” ...well, now you got it!

Before booking, you can adjust the slider for up to an extra 3 hours in 15 minute intervals and if you’re ever working out and need more time, you can go to your Active booking and add additional time during your session (subject to availability).

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GROUP SESSIONS GET REWARDED

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Are you often going with a group? In v1, adding friends was confusing and you had to text links to accept... not good.
   
Now you can just book, select the amount of friends you’re going with, pay for the session and add their emails immediately after booking or in the Coming Soon tab. Your group invitees will get an email invite and it’ll be available to accept in their Coming Soon too.
   
After friends have accepted and your session is complete, if your group was 3+, we provide 1 free credit back as a reward for you. These credits can be redeemed at 10 credits and we’ll be adding different, exciting reward options later that you can get.

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IT'S JUST THE START

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‍We can’t give it all away just yet – a lot of people seem to like our ideas (if you get what I mean 😉), but, we’ll be releasing a new app update every 2 weeks and we are listening to our customers so please let us know if you have any feedback–we’d love to hear it.

Finally, if you download the app, review it on the App Store and purchase any subscription – please email hello@solo60.com before 31/03/2023 and we’ll add an additional 15 credits on your account free of charge.

Thanks for supporting Solo60, you make the hard work worth it.
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Ben Alderton
Founder & CEO

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