Our recreational rower named Lauren wants to start tracking the boat's performance for race training and to keep her family aware of where the boat is in Boston Harbor so they can monitor for safety and piece-of-mind. Using the mobile app appears to be the answer.
The current app experience is a web-based hybrid solution. The current solution acts more like a website than an app which makes for unexpected interaction patterns. The small touch targets allows for making mistakes easily. Navigation is redundant and confusing. First impressions of the app do not draw me in with interest. It's more of the opposite feeling at first glance.
Tracking rowing history on the boats for race training purposes is cumbersome because it is mostly a manual activity interfering with actually rowing today. Also, family members of the rowers occasionally get concerned when the boats are out in less than optimal weather. This also interferes with rowing as folks need to check in via text or phone calls while on the boats are out rowing.
If we can optimize use of space, add a consistent approach to the navigation and create interactions that are more natural to mobile devices, than we can expect more users of the app and happier users. This can also lead to improved customer service and reduced help calls. This could also lead to the ability to increase the cost of use without losing retention of clubs or users.
Currently, we are looking at a pure native build of the app so we can take full advantage of the technology for an improved user experience.
We do recognize a set of native builds for the app may not be realistic with the time and resources available. A hybrid HTML solution creates an interesting challenge for the designs.
Creating a common responsive web interface that can be used across web browsers on large devices and respond inside a mobile apps with large touch targets may be the way to go. But, not yet...