New university recreational sports app aims to make exercise easier for student gymgoers

Kamryn Karr
Fri, 19 Jan 2024 02:28:49 +0000
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The new Ohio State Recreational Sports mobile app is aiming to make exercise more accessible for students.
Credit: Kamryn Karr | Lantern Reporter

A new mobile app called Ohio State Recreational Sports hit the app store Jan. 8, making exercise more accessible for students and staff alike.

The new app provides a variety of features corresponding with on-campus gym facilities and is powered by InnoSoft Fusion’s recreational sports app FusionGO, which Ohio State Recreational Sports’ member services coordinator Zach Snyder said is the most popular recreational sports software in the country.

Alice Ryan, Ohio State Recreational Sports’ assistant director of strategy and organizational effectiveness, said the main motivation behind the new app was improving communication with campus community members.

“So many, especially students, use their phones, that’s their primary source of communication,” Ryan said. “[We’re] just trying to stay up to date and accessible as best we can.”

The app’s key feature is a member ID that allows users to swiftly enter on-campus workout facilities with a digital barcode on their phone, Ryan said. She said this app-based form of identification will enable students to go to the gym without carrying their physical BuckID.

Ryan said another important feature of the app is the member profile where one can view their fitness class registrations, required payments, waivers and more. Users can also see facility operation hours, updated gym capacities, group fitness class schedules and a notification system that sends out important gym-related updates, which Ryan said can be modified to suit users’ preferences.

“It’s the same access that you would have if you logged into recregister@osu.edu, but again, it’s all here in one place, which I think is really helpful,” Ryan said.

Snyder, who oversees the operation of InnoSoft Fusion software across all Ohio State workout facilities, said he and other Recreational Sports staff members had been discussing the possibility of creating the app since spring 2022 but did not officially start collaborating with InnoSoft Fusion until February 2023.

When it comes to user feedback, Snyder said the response has been overwhelmingly positive in the short time the app has been available. Specifically, he said the most popular feature has been the easy access to fitness class registrations.

“It makes it 10 times easier because you don’t need to go to the website,” Snyder said. “It’s all right there in the palm of your hand.”

On the other hand, Snyder said some users have reported that it takes too long to log into their Ohio State accounts within the app. In response, he said the department is working alongside Student Life Technology Services to resolve the issue in a manner that ensures the safety and security of all users.

“As more students use it and realize that the technology is there for them, I’m sure we’re gonna find kinks in the system and we want to work that out as much as students want it to work,” Snyder said.

Snyder said he encourages students to share their critiques directly through the app, as every recommendation is sincerely considered in order to make the interface as efficient as possible. He said users can do so by selecting the envelope icon in the bottom right corner of the app’s home screen, labeled “CONNECT WITH US.”

“As of right now, we don’t have as much feedback,” Snyder said. “We’d love to hear it because, ideally, this is an app for the students, and we’re just kind of helping the process.”

Snyder said students can expect to see more InnoSoft Fusion products in the near future, with one being interactive QR codes that will appear on the on-campus gyms’ televisions. These codes will be offered through another one of InnoSoft Fusion’s branch companies, Fusion Wave, and will allow students to register for upcoming programs and events.

Ohio State Recreational Sports is available on the app store for both Apple and Android users. More information about the mobile app can be found here.