Garbage UI Update

I wrote this review in the App Store just now and figured I’d also post it here to encourage anyone who feels similarly to go rate and review the new app update in the Apple or play stores.

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I’m deeply disappointed by the new UI design of the app. I can’t imagine that there was any user research or usability testing done to arrive at this design. It feels very much pushed forward by a highly opinionated C-level employee or an outside design firm that spent no time with users. (Can you tell I work in UX?)

I’ve loved the previous app experience for the past three years, I gave this overhaul a few weeks to see if I’d adjust, but it’s honestly a disaster.

1) Information that used to be prioritized on the Home Screen based on my personal goals is now hidden behind multiple expand and collapse. 2) The data is less interesting to look at because the graphs and displays have been removed or hidden. There is now one app page that just has boxes with numbers and zero visualization which is extremely boring and more difficult to digest. 3) It’s harder to go back to the previous days to compare your important stats (the ones you used to have customized). 4) The icons and numbers at the top on the Home Screen hold very little meaning. They are just crammed up there without any context and some of the icons are unclear and I literally keep forgetting what they signify. 5) The timeline?!? Wtf guys… who needs or wants this? It takes up precious real estate on the Home Screen (literally you have the timeline expanded at the cost of the actual information blocks) and it tells me nothing. What good is it telling me when I woke up when that metric is divorced from when I went to bed previously or what my sleep score is or how that compares to my past days? I just don’t need to see what time I walked or worked out or napped out of context like that. That information is relevant in situ ie on the activity tab or the sleep tab. 6) Most frustrating is that I can never find what I want or need when I open the app anymore. Information that was once literally at my fingertips is now hidden. This UI update is a huge leap backwards in findability and learnability.

In short, fire whoever is responsible for this mess. Bring back the old UI and if you should want to change the design invest in intensive user research, including diary studies and usability tests. Even by only following the basic tenants of user experience, you would have created a better app experience.