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What should a gym or studio app do?

The features members and parents actually use every week, and the ones that look good in a demo but rarely get opened.

By Elie du Temple de Rougemont, LOMY. Updated 14 October 2026. 6 min read.

The short answerA gym or studio app earns its place on the home screen when it makes booking, paying and turning up easier than any alternative. Twelve features do most of the work: class booking, a waiting list, cancellation rules, memberships and packs, Apple Pay, freezes, reminders, nudges for members who drift away, junior accounts for parents, events, an assistant for questions, and a dashboard for you.

Booking

1. Class booking in two taps

The timetable by day, the places left, and a single button to book or cancel. This is what members open the app for, several times a week.

2. A waiting list that fills itself

When a place frees up, the next person on the list is offered it automatically, with a time limit to accept. Full classes stay full without anyone at the desk.

3. Your cancellation rules

A late cancellation window, a credit used for no-shows, or a fee for repeat offenders. The app applies the rules the same way for everyone. See how to reduce no-shows.

Money

4. Memberships and class packs

Monthly plans, packs of credits and pay as you go, bought and renewed in the app.

5. Apple Pay and saved cards

Paying in one tap removes the moment when people put off buying. For in-person classes, payments go through your own provider, with no App Store commission.

6. Freezes and plan changes

Members freeze for an injury or a holiday, or change plan, within your rules, without e-mails back and forth.

Turning up

7. Reminders before each class

A notification a couple of hours before, with a link to cancel if plans change, so the place goes to someone else.

8. A nudge for members who drift away

When someone has not booked for a few weeks, the app notices and sends a friendly message. You see who it went to.

Families and community

9. Juniors and parents

One parent account for several children, each with their own classes, credits, attendance and notes from the coach. Essential for boxing and martial arts clubs, swim schools and dance schools.

10. Events and competitions

Fight nights, gradings, leagues and socials, with registration, tickets and reminders.

Answers and insight

11. An assistant that knows your gym

Members ask about prices, times, freezes or what to bring, at any hour, and get answers from your own information. It can book or cancel for them after they confirm, and it hands over to you when it should.

12. A dashboard for you

Bookings, show-up rate, payments, and the members at risk of leaving, in one place.

Features that rarely get used

Some features look good in a demo but are seldom opened: social feeds, step counters, and long video libraries that are not part of what you sell. Start with the twelve above, then add what your members ask for.

See what this looks like for gyms and studios, boxing and martial arts clubs and Pilates and yoga studios.

Questions

Booking, the waiting list, memberships and payments, and reminders. Those four change how your gym runs from the first week. The rest can follow.

Yes, where the platform allows connections. Many gyms connect first and move fully to their own app later.

For quick questions, yes: times, prices, freezes and what to bring. Its value is that it answers at night and at weekends, when no one is at the desk.

Want to see it for your business?

A 15-minute call is enough to see what an app of your own would do for you, and what it would cost.