So I joined a new gym last year and was pleasantly surprised. They gave me a smart card to get in and out, that’s it, no app, no accounts, no nothing. Well, today I got to the gym and saw the announcement that they are phasing out the access with the smart card and starting to use, you guessed it, an app.
Now, I know this is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But I’m just tired of this trend of replacing perfectly functioning systems with apps (public transport tickets come to mind). Just more ways to harvest people’s data, I guess…
Ah and by the way, in my previous gym they not only required an app for accessing the place, they also incentivized people to track their workouts, meals and bodyweight using the gym’s app (of course I never used any of these features).
My old college dorm did this, I told them I don’t have a smartphone (lie) and they gave me an access card that works 100% of the time without needing a charge. They might do the same at your gym.
The apps requirement pisses me off. Both Android/IOS have some sort of pass system.
They also don’t work sometimes. Had power go out for 2 minutes from a snowstorm and we lost internet for the day, couldn’t use the phone to open locks but the card worked fine lol