User:Fortinm
Contents
Background
MyFitnessPal is a Health and fitness app that recommends a calorie and nutrition program based on the user's weight loss or health goals. The app then allows users to track the calories and nutritional values of their food, by either scanning a barcode or searching an extensive database, to ensure they are working towards their goals. The app provides some users with the data and structure that is needed to meet health-related target behaviors. Overall MyFitnessPal is a database of over 14 million foods, with more than 200 million members in over 120 countries, and with this reach, it has raised multiple ethical concerns.
History
Mike Lee began building the app that became MyFitnessPal in 2005 as a way to track his weight before his wedding without needing to tediously record every meal on pen and paper as his doctors recommended. After noticing interest from friends and family he began working on it full time with his brother and cofounder Albert Lee. With both brothers working full time on the app it was able to launch on iOS in 2009, where the app quickly exploded in growth.
In 2013 MyFitnessPal received an $18 million funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, which marked the first official and not bootstrapped funding to the company. Only 2 years later, in 2015, the brothers sold their company to the sports apparel giant Under Armour for $475 million. Since then other fitness trends and brands have emerged, like Peloton and SoulCycle, slowing the app's growth and causing Under Armor to sell MyFitnessPal to investment firm Francisco Partners for $345 million.
Under the new ownership, MyFitnessPal announced the launch of the MyFitnessPal Simple Start Challenge at the end of December 2021. This challenge is aimed at empowering wellness education with a two-week program developed to help members create healthy habits through daily nutrition and wellness tips, education, tracking reminders, prizes, and incentives for users. Additionally, the program includes a stronger community component and support from Registered Dietitian, Erin Palinski-Wade, and Hollywood Trainer, Jeanette Jenkins.
Monetization
MyFitnessPal is free but does offer a premium, ad-free, version for $9.99 per month. Prior to developing the premium version, the app derived all of its revenue from selling ad space with the help of mobile ad networks.
Users
The user base of MyFitnessPal was initially healthy and overweight populations to help users reach weight and health goals. However, the company did not adequately design the application informed by the experiences, interests, and needs of its users who struggle with body image problems and eating disorders. This pitfall in identifying their user base has lead to many ethical concerns regarding the application, specifically related to eating disorders. MyFitnessPal is designed for their 'ideal' users who have a functional relationship with food, and thus the app fails to provide effective attention and provision to vulnerable users who have a dysfunctional relationship with food.
How it works
The ap is based around Goal Setting
Ethical Concerns
Innacurate data
Risk of obsession for users with eating disorders
Similar Apps
See Also
References
