How SIMPLE — and you — transformed in 2023: the highlights
2023 was a year of transformation
For us. And for you.
Here’s how we came together to make change.
SIMPLE became MORE
MORE convenient.
MORE insightful.
MORE actionable.
MORE holistic.
MORE than an intermittent fasting tracker.
And you responded by taking action like true change champions.
- You logged 69 million minutes of movement — long enough to run 287,500 marathons*.
- You logged 10.2 million liters of drinks — enough liquid to fill just over five Olympic swimming pools.
- You completed 11.4 million fasts — just over two fasts for every person living in Scotland [1].
In 2023, actions like these helped you collectively lose a grand total of 1.59 million lbs.
We expanded our support
… with a host of new product features that make hitting your health goals easier, faster, smoother, and more enjoyable.
Let’s take a quick tour.
Avo: a wellness assistant to guide your journey
Instead of crossing our fingers and hoping we were answering your burning questions, we created an interactive, question-answering, motivation-offering, avocado-like wellness assistant called Avo to guide you toward your unique health goals.
Avo’s here for you. To answer your questions any time you get stuck or need some information to keep you moving forward. And to proactively provide tips and suggestions that enhance your journey, get you thinking about actions and options you might not have considered, and prompt you to try new things.
You’ve asked Avo 1.4 million questions since it launched mid-year.
You’ve also eaten more than 1 million avocados this year according to your food logs, but it’s OK. We’ve reassured Avo that it’s simply a way humans demonstrate #AvoLove.
And in response to your love for Avo (you seem to be getting along swell), we’ve poured our time and resources into making your Avo experience even more fresh and user-friendly so Avo becomes a constant, positive companion that adds value to your health journey.
Nutrition Scores hit your screens
We broke free of our intermittent-fasting-only roots to guide you not only on when to eat, but also on how to nourish your body and health with balanced eating choices — via our proprietary Nutrition Scores developed by our in-house Science team.
Since launch:
- we’ve Scored 12.5 million of your meals;
- 92% of you logged food that reached a Good or Optimal daily Nutrition Score at least once; and
- 25% of all your meals achieved an Optimal Score!
This is SIMPLE-style nutrition education: backed by science, and with a side of smiles and sparkle.
Here’s our nutrition challenge to you:
[throws down the gauntlet]
If 25% of your scored meals achieved Optimal this year … can you beat that in 2024? #BeatThatScoreIn2024
You showed us your love of bananas
Bananas were a true power food in 2023, boosting your daily diets right across the globe. They were the:
- second most logged food
- most commonly logged fruit
- most common food to break a fast
- most often logged breakfast food
#PotassiumPower
And, in a beautiful illustration of our Food Love over Food Guilt ethos, pizza retained its crusty crown as a Most Loved food, beating bananas to reign supreme as your:
- top most logged food globally
- top most logged food on Halloween (Oct 31st) in the US
We always said that healthy eating didn’t have to be #AllFiberNoFun, and we stand by that. Let’s keep kicking food guilt to the curb in 2024 and continue to embrace balance. [holds tree pose]
We doubled down on behavior change
Self awareness is key to changing your habits.
You can’t change what you don’t know. But when you do know … you have the data you need to start flipping your habits from stuck-in-the-mud to success central.
With that in mind, we set off to strengthen the ability of our app to be your self-awareness support system.
We built a quicker, easier way to log your food
We upgraded our Food Tracker to use photo, text, and voice note technology, saving you from scrolling through an endless list of food emojis. Now all you need to do is:
- eat it
- quickly log it in the format of your choice 📸 ✍️ 🎙️
- reflect on it with Nutrition Scores (← this is where the magic happens)
This gives you full habit-building potential while leaving you more time to get on with your day (after you’ve done the dishes, of course).
PS: since launching photo food logging earlier this year, we’ve been working hard to further improve the accuracy and speed of our camera recognition. We’re excited to share that the latest version of our English iOS and Android apps saw a substantial upgrade so you can now enjoy extra-fast food tracking even for complex meals! If you haven’t yet tried logging your meals via photo, start snapping and show us your photography skills.
We upped our reminder game
Because we know that:
- you can’t practice a habit if you forget about it, and
- you have a tendency to beat yourselves up when you forget to track your fasts, foods, and hydration — which sometimes makes you want to give up …
we found a way to come to you, so you don’t have to remember to come to us.
With our new Live Activities, you can track and control your activity with one tap on your phone’s Lock screen — no need to unlock your phone or open the SIMPLE app.
So far, it’s helped you start and finish more fasts, and log more meals and drinks. In fact, you’ve taken 7.3 million actions using Live Activities since they launched, and this feature is getting a lot of love:
“The widget on Lock screen is the best thing I have seen in this or any comparative app. In day to day busy life, that small tracker on Home is genius quick information”
“I like the countdown on the Lock screen of my phone so I don’t end my fast early.”
We’re incredibly happy you dig it! #NotAllHabitTrackersWearCapes
Intermittent fasting stays strong at SIMPLE
They say you never get over your first love. And we still adore intermittent fasting as a tool to achieve your health and weight loss goals. It’s a simple, sustainable way to nudge your calories down to where you want them to be — no tedious counting or weighing — and we see the results our users get. And how happy it makes them to feel in control, often for the first time in years.
So in 2023, we got to making a few renovations around the place to make your intermittent fasting experience better in 2 very distinct ways.
An easier, safer intermittent fasting experience
To make it easier, we:
- added a button to edit your intermittent fasting schedule directly from the app’s Home screen
- gave you the option to set No Fast Days when following a manual schedule (we know you’ve wanted that for a while!)
To make it safer, we:
- nixed fasts longer than 23 hours (the science shows the benefits over 18 hour fasts are no greater, but the risks sure are)
- added extra reminders to encourage new users to check in with their doc before starting intermittent fasting
YOU still love intermittent fasting too!
The votes have been counted … and the results are in.
16:8 is your most-loved intermittent fasting schedule in 2023, and, collectively you fasted for a whopping 187.3 million hours. That’s 21,381 years. Wow.
What’s cooking in 2024?
You inspired us in 2023.
To be better.
To do more.
To keep innovating.
And now, we want to do even more. Here’s what we’re cooking up for you in 2024.
Stress, we’re coming for you
You can’t see it, but your health sure can feel it.
We’re preparing some sweet stress-relieving self-care strategies ready for 2024 — stress better pack its bags!
Putting our efforts into energy
When you’re running on a full tank, life just feels … better. Everything is easier with energy.
The secrets to topping up and taming your energy levels won’t be so secret by this time next year — and we predict your results will go up a couple of gears too.
More of everything you need and want
MORE detailed nutrition guidance
MORE non-nutrition wellness support (like self-care, movement, etc.)
MORE proactive assistance and richer content from Avo
Our ears will stay open to your feedback
When you say “rock,” we say “roll.” [cups hand around ear]
Or, more accurately: when you tell us what you need from the SIMPLE app, we get busy building it. This is how we’ve operated till now, and how we intend to continue.
With your insightful feedback and our dynamic team, we can make self-care the priority we all want it to be.
Staying firmly in our Doability Era
Something Nanna always said that rings true for all change journeys, whether you’re a growing app or a regular human: start as you mean to go on.
SIMPLE in 2024 will continue with a firm focus on doability, consistency, and sustainability. Why? Because:
Stay tuned to our blog and socials in January to kickstart your 2024 goals in SIMPLE style!
#ResolutionRevolution
Methodology:
All the data points mentioned in this article are reflective of SIMPLE’s global user base between January 1st, 2023 and December 15th, 2023 (or since the date new features launched in 2023 until December 15th). This includes all users with a Premium subscription as well as those using the free version of the app, across iOS and Android devices.
* assuming a 4-hour marathon pace
