Alongside: Move
Who it's for.
Your body. Your wellbeing. A coach that adapts to how you actually feel, not how you're supposed to feel. Built for people mainstream fitness culture has let down: neurodivergent adults, people dealing with burnout, hormonal change, or long-term conditions.
The four people below are made up. Each is drawn from the reasons people give for giving up on other apps. They are not customers and these are not reviews: Alongside is still being tested.
Four people it was built for
Neurodivergent adult, ADHD, mid-30s
What she's after: An app that notices what's going on, instead of deciding for her.
What's been hard
- Streaks, guilt notifications and broken-chain messages punish exactly the inconsistency her ADHD produces.
- A small pool of workouts reshuffled to look varied feels repetitive, and she drifts away.
- Long sign-up forms feel like a test she's failing; every extra step is another reason to leave.
How Alongside helps
- FreeNo streaks. Nothing counts days in a row, so nothing resets after a missed week.
- FreeThree quick questions each day: energy, mood, and anything sore. The session changes when your day does.
- PlanFour doors, by what you came for: get stronger, keep moving, stretch or move to feel better.
- PlanYou see the whole plan after you check in, and can swap any exercise or choose something different.
Woman going through perimenopause, late 40s
What she's after: Something that takes a hard day seriously instead of telling her to push through.
What's been hard
- Fitness apps treat every day the same, when hers aren't.
- Plans assume this week will be like last week.
- Wellness marketing says push harder, instead of accepting that today is different from yesterday.
How Alongside helps
- FreeThree quick questions each day: energy, mood, and anything sore. The session changes when your day does.
- FreeWhen your energy has been low for a while, the coach says so and keeps things gentle until it lifts.
- FreeAll of Wellbeing is free on both tiers: breathing, mindful awareness, the journal and In Step.
- PlanYou tell the coach where you're heading, something you want to be able to do or just a direction, and it builds towards it.
- PlanProgress over 90 days, with your arc read back to you: what has come up, and what your logged weights show.
Woman in general fitness, early 30s
What she's after: Not a transformation. Something that doesn't make her feel she has failed every time life gets in the way.
What's been hard
- Apps built on streaks and comparison pushed her into overdoing it, then guilt, then giving up.
- A lot of fitness content quietly turns movement into managing how you look.
- Missing one week meant starting from zero again.
How Alongside helps
- FreeNo streaks. Nothing counts days in a row, so nothing resets after a missed week.
- FreeA busy few days makes the next plan lighter.
- FreeIt never counts calories.
- PlanChoose how long you've got, and the plan says what that comes to.
- PlanYou tell the coach where you're heading, something you want to be able to do or just a direction, and it builds towards it.
Coming back after illness or long-term pain, mid-40s
What he's after: Something that remembers he isn't starting from zero, and that some days really are harder than others.
What's been hard
- Most apps give a blanket disclaimer instead of taking account of what actually hurts.
- Advice after a session has nothing to do with what he did that day.
- Coming back means being pushed into generic beginner content that ignores what he has done before.
How Alongside helps
- FreeTell the coach what's sore today and the session works around it.
- FreeIt asks at the start what you're coming back from, and you can change your answer in Settings.
- FreeEverything that keeps you safe is the same on both tiers. Safety is never something you pay for.
- PlanLeave a session part-way and carry on later, exactly where you stopped.
- PlanYou tell the coach where you're heading, something you want to be able to do or just a direction, and it builds towards it.
Free vs the Plan.
Safety and wellbeing are the same on both. Everything else, row by row, is what the app does today.
| Area | Free | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Choose any kind of session, or let the coach suggest one from your check-in | Four doors, by what you came for: get stronger, keep moving, stretch or move to feel better, and one suggestion for today from your check-in |
| Check-in | Three quick questions: energy, mood, and anything sore. The session changes when your day does | The same three questions |
| After you check in | One suggested session with every exercise named, and Start | The full plan: swap any exercise, choose something different, see what you lifted last time |
| I know what I want | Not included. Home on Free lets you choose any kind of session | Pick the kind of session and how long yourself, and save sessions to start again |
| Make it up as I go | Not included. Log what I did, in the Library, records anything you did | Log each move and set as you go, and it counts as a full session |
| Where you are heading | Each session meets you where you are today | You tell the coach where you are heading, and it builds towards it |
| Progress | Your sessions today and over the last 7, 14 or 30 days, and ways to share them | The same, and 90 days, with your arc read back to you: what has come up and your logged weights |
| Weight | Not included | Weight tracking, off unless you turn it on; then losing weight can be a goal |
| Coming back | A gentler start after time away; a session the phone closed can still be saved | The same, and a session you left part-way carries on where you stopped |
| Where the five percent goes | Each session you finish counts once | Each session you finish counts twice |
| Wellbeing | Everything: breathing, mindful awareness, the journal, In Step | Everything, the same |
| Safety | Everything that keeps you safe, always | Everything, the same |