FitforU: An Evidence-Based Health Mobile Application Facilitating Shorter Bursts of Exercise Throughout the Busywork Day

Countries like Canada are experiencing a transition towards more sedentary occupations (Prince et al., 2020). This is troubling as sedentary behaviors and lifestyles can negatively impact an individual's health. This research examines the lack of evidence-based applications in the fitness market that target individuals who are struggling with maintaining a work-life balance, specifically individuals with sedentary occupations. FitforU is a mobile platform that aims to implement social support and use behavior-change techniques alongside other features to create an effective and enjoyable platform. In this paper, a review of existing literature was conducted to understand the significance of mobile health interventions, the risks of sedentary behavior, and the benefits of shorter bursts of exercise. Alongside the literature review, a competitive analysis was created to identify FitForU's standing in the market, as well as identifying user personas, potential pain points that they face, creating a mobile prototype, and auditing the final product. The proposed mobile app will fill a gap in knowledge by providing an efficient digital tool that assists, guides, and motivates users in their fitness journey. The application uses a variety of behavior change techniques and promotes shorter bursts of exercise to effectively influence users.