Last fall, the Cornell AppDev project team launched a new app to make information available on the Cornell Fitness Center, which serves upward of 12,000 Cornellians, more accessible and user-friendly. Uplift currently serves 900 users, according to Yi Hsin Wei ’21, the app’s team leader.
“It is definitely something that was needed,” Michael Ferguson ’21 said. “It was eye-opening as to how many classes were offered. And just being able to see the times they’re available and times they are closed.”
For Ferguson, having access to this information encouraged him to visit the fitness facilities more often.
Bert Adams-Kucik, the current director of CFC, said that “it’s a nice tool for the members to use. It has the basic information for each Fitness Center. They have created a nice display of the Group Fitness Classes. I like the favorites aspect of the app as well.”
Despite the positive review from Adams-Kucik, Wei expressed that the app has faced difficulties as CFC isn’t willing to work with AppDev — from marketing and advertising to providing data to the app team.
The team has struggled to address some of their issues due to lack of collaboration, Wei said.
“The only thing I’m not positive about is when it says it’s not busy,” Ferguson said, later suggesting that the app developers should add a live update feature or social media platform where the busyness of the gym facilities can be updated.
In order to do this, they would need more accurate data from CFC. Adams-Kucik, though, said she’d be happy to collaborate further with the app team.
“I did meet with some of the students working on the development of the app last year,” Adams-Kucik said, later stating that she was unsure why CFC and Uplift don’t have a partnership. However, Adams-Kucik expressed interest in further discussion with the app team.
Despite barriers that CFC poses to the development team, Wei remains optimistic about Uplift’s trajectory.
“I think that Uplift has gone through multiple iterations,” Wei said, “We’re shifting back to maximizing utility.”
Within the coming weeks, Wei says that the team will be adding features that allow users to access facility hours, holiday hours and availability of gym equipment. Long term goals include expanding the app for Android users.