23rd March 2023

Building A Subscription-Based Online Fitness Platform

Metafit-Training.com is an online fitness platform that offers high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts for fitness enthusiasts worldwide. When the client approached us with the unique requirement to build a subscription-based platform that would offer access to video and audio files via a content delivery network (CDN), with the added flexibility of an app and API to allow users to access the content across multiple channels, we were ready to help.

Here’s how we went about it:

1. Migrated the Website to Symfony
   We had migrated the Metafit website to the Symfony platform prior to the start of this project (it was previously split across a hybrid of WordPress and Magento). This helped to ensure that the platform was secure and seamless, and provided a solid foundation for us to build upon.
2. Integrated Payment Gateways
   To ensure a secure and seamless payment experience for users, we integrated PayPal and Stripe as payment gateways. We created different subscription plans, ranging from monthly to yearly, with varying pricing tiers to cater to the needs of our users. Users would first have to book a course and receive a certification before being allowed to subscribe.
3. Overcame the Content Delivery Challenge
   To deliver the content reliably, the first challenge was the integration of the CDN to ensure that users could access the video and audio files efficiently. We overcame this challenge by integrating CloudFlare, which ensured fast and reliable delivery of the content to users worldwide. The CDN also provided enhanced security measures to protect the content against piracy and unauthorised access.
4. Created an App and API
   The second challenge was to create an app and API that would provide users with the flexibility to access the content across multiple channels, rather than just the website. We developed a mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms that allowed users to access the content seamlessly. The app integrated with the API that we developed to provide a consistent user experience across different channels.
5. Robust User Management System
   The platform featured a robust user management system that enabled users to log in, manage their subscription plans, and access the content efficiently. We had already created a user-friendly web interface that made it easy for users to log into the platform and access their content, and we now needed to make the authentication process more generic by breaking this out into an OAuth2 microservice to allow the app to authenticate via the API.

The Results: The success of the platform relied heavily on the seamless integration of the different components, including Symfony, CDN, PayPal, Stripe, app, and API. By leveraging the power of these tools and overcoming the challenges, we were able to build a robust and flexible platform that provided users with a seamless and secure payment experience, along with the added flexibility of an app and API to access the content across multiple channels.

If you’re looking to create an online platform that requires the integration of different components to provide a seamless experience to users, we can help. We have a team of experts who specialise in building custom software solutions that are tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients.