Gamified AR fitness & calorie tracking iOS application
Yifan Wang · DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) · 2026
The problem of user retention in fitness applications is very prominent. After downloading an application, ordinary users will use it seriously for a week or two, record their diet and steps, and then gradually stop using it. The application remains unused on the device, occasionally opened again but rarely sustained, and is eventually deleted when cleaning up storage. This pattern is widely observed in many fitness applications. The function itself is rarely the problem. Calorie counters, step trackers, and exercise logs generally work as intended. However, using these tools day after day requires discipline while offering very limited return. Users do not feel a sense of accomplishment. There is little reason to continue using the application consistently. Therefore, the experience becomes repetitive and unengaging. This project aims to solve this issue through a game-based iOS fitness application. This application integrates three motion-based games and a calorie tracker with visualisation into a single platform. Instead of separating exercise from interaction, the application uses the iPhone camera to convert body movements into gameplay. The three games implemented in the application have different interaction modes. Aerial Fruit Slice uses real-time gesture detection, where users swipe in front of the camera to slice fruits. Temple Sprint uses full-body pose estimation, players must jump and squat according to prompts. Pixel Dance Party introduces rhythm-based interaction, the performance are evaluated as “perfect”, “good”, or “miss”. From a technical perspective, the system is built on Apple’s Vision framework for hand and body detection. Game rendering is handled by AVFoundation and SpriteKit and manage real-time state updates. SwiftUI is used to build the interface. The application also includes diet tracking, BMI and BMR calculation, and a dashboard that combines food intake, calories burned through games, weight changes and achievement milestones. The project combines health tracking and motion-based games into a single system. Gameplay contributes directly to calorie tracking and progress, while health data gives additional meaning to the game experience, providing a more engaging alternative to traditional fitness applications.