Why a fitness app belongs in the stores
Nobody opens a browser tab at the gym. A store app is one tap away, keeps streaks going with notifications, and is where people expect to find a workout app.
- Streak and session reminders arrive as notifications.
- Apple Health and Health Connect integrations need a native app.
- Subscriptions bought in the store follow the member to a new phone with restore purchases.
Lovable can't submit to either store itself; see your options for publishing a Lovable app.
Do fitness subscriptions need in-app purchase?
If they unlock content in the app, yes. Workouts, plans and premium features are digital, and both stores require their own billing for them.
“If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase.”
Training that happens in the real world is different. Apple's Guideline 3.1.3(e) sends services consumed outside the app to your own checkout, and Google Play's payments policy names gym memberships as a physical service that must not use its billing.
- How it's paid in the app
- Apple's and Google's in-app purchase
- How it's paid in the app
- In-app purchase
- How it's paid in the app
- Your own checkout, such as Stripe
- How it's paid in the app
- Your own checkout
| What you sell | How it's paid in the app |
|---|---|
| Workout plans and programs in the app | Apple's and Google's in-app purchase |
| Premium features, like progress tracking | In-app purchase |
| In-person classes and personal training | Your own checkout, such as Stripe |
| Gym memberships | Your own checkout |
What App Review checks on a fitness paywall
- What members get for the price, described before they subscribe (Guideline 3.1.2(c)).
- The trial length and the price after it, shown before anyone taps subscribe.
- A way to restore purchases on a new phone (Guideline 3.1.1).
- Links to your terms and privacy policy.
Health data and health claims
Apple limits how data from HealthKit and fitness tracking can be used: not for advertising or data mining, only to improve health management or for research, and only with permission (Guideline 5.1.3). Apps that make accuracy claims about health measurements must back them up:
“Apps must clearly disclose data and methodology to support accuracy claims relating to health measurements, and if the level of accuracy or methodology cannot be validated, we will reject your app.”
On Google Play, every app completes the Health apps declaration, even apps with no health features, and fitness apps declare the features they offer. Apps that read or write Health Connect data also declare those permissions before publishing.
What else reviewers check in a fitness app
- More than a website: see how to fix a Guideline 4.2 rejection.
- In-app account deletion if members can sign up (Guideline 5.1.1(v)).
- Privacy labels and Google Play's Data safety form that match the data you collect.
- A demo account with an active subscription, so reviewers can see the paid content.
- For new personal Google Play accounts, a 14-day closed test with 12 testers.
Every fee and form is in the Lovable launch checklist and costs.
We take your Lovable app the last mile.
We convert your Lovable fitness app into a native React Native and Expo app, set up store subscriptions with trials and restore purchases, prepare the health declarations and permission texts, and submit to both stores. See pricing.