Amongst the 2022 Apple Retailer Awards winners, Gentler Streak emerged because the Apple Watch App of the 12 months. For these of you who haven’t heard of it, the app — designed for iPhone and Apple Watch use — is a exercise and health tracker that comes with a twist: a self-compassionate strategy to train.
Gentler Streak is the primary product of Gentler Tales, a Slovenian-based cellular app studio that focuses on options for a sustainable way of life. The ladies-led firm was based in February 2021 by three Apple Entrepreneur Camp alumni and one alumnus of Y Combinator, a startup accelerator.
The app was launched in September 2021, and though it’s been out for a little bit over a 12 months, it has been steadily gaining reputation.
In essence, Gentler Streak is a health app, which implies it helps customers monitor exercise actions, distance, coronary heart price zones, and exercise stats, amongst others.
However what’s actually distinctive about it’s its gentler strategy that additionally focuses on restoration time.
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In contrast to Apple’s Exercises app for example, relaxation days on Gentler Streak don’t break your train strike. In reality, the app’s objective is to advertise a wholesome exercise stage with out inflicting strain to compete towards day-to-day targets that don’t actually correspond to the physique’s precise wants or each day circumstances (damage, or illness for instance).
In keeping with analysis by the College of Galway, health apps could be a double-edged sword, as some customers might develop obsessive tendencies or maladaptive perceptions of train and burnout in the long term.
Gentler Streak goals to rework varieties of maladaptive health behaviors into viable lifelong habits.
To do this, it responds to the customers’ particular person health standing and proposes optimum train ranges via a customized Exercise Path. Customers also can make use of the Go Gentler function which displays exercise depth and alerts them to step up or decelerate, bearing in mind relaxation and lively restoration periods.
Since its launch, the app is being constantly tweaked with a few of the newest updates together with social media sharing and the addition of the Spanish language.
Commenting on the app’s fast rise to success, Tom Henriksson, Common Accomplice at early-stage European VC agency OpenOcean, famous: “Gentler Streak emerges from a powerful custom of software program startups from smaller European international locations punching above their weight.”
As he defined, this corresponds to a wider pattern in Jap Europe, which has emerged “as a hotbed of technological innovation” — the place quite a few sensible concepts and tech founders might be discovered.
“Gentler Streak seems to have received over the judges with its solution-oriented strategy to improvement,” Henriksson added.
“As a substitute of attempting to battle bigger rivals on efficiency or design alone, the builders have original a extremely rated Apple Watch health app that understands customers’ readiness and balances properly between coaching and relaxation.”
The app is free to obtain on the App Retailer, however requires a subscription to take full benefit of it. The premium month-to-month worth is $7.99 and the premium yearly is $24.99.