Your Workout Videos Are Private (Here's How We Do It)

The Privacy Problem With Fitness Apps

Let's talk about something most fitness apps don't want you to know: when you use their AI features, your workout videos are being uploaded to their servers.

That video of you in your home gym? It's on someone's cloud server. Maybe it gets deleted after processing. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's used to train their AI models. You usually don't know.

When I started building WorkoutMate, I knew this had to be different. Your workout footage is personal. It shows your home, your body, your routine. That data should never leave your device.

How On-Device Processing Works

WorkoutMate uses something called on-device AI. Here's what that means:

• Your camera captures your workout in real-time
• The AI model runs locally on your phone or computer
• Form analysis happens instantly without any internet connection
• The video is never saved or uploaded anywhere

Think of it like your phone's Face ID. The processing happens on your device, not on Apple's servers. Your face data never leaves your phone. WorkoutMate works the same way.

The Technology Behind It

We use Google's MoveNet model, which is specifically designed to run efficiently on mobile and desktop devices. It tracks 17 body keypoints (shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, etc.) at up to 60 frames per second.

The AI doesn't need your actual video to analyze your form—it only needs the position of those keypoints. So what gets temporarily stored in memory is just coordinates, not images.

// What WorkoutMate processes (simplified)
{
  leftShoulder: { x: 245, y: 180, confidence: 0.98 },
  rightShoulder: { x: 395, y: 182, confidence: 0.97 },
  leftKnee: { x: 210, y: 520, confidence: 0.95 },
  // ... 14 more keypoints
}

No video footage. No images. Just math that tells us if your form is correct.

What Data Do We Actually Collect?

Full transparency: we do sync some data to the cloud so you can access your progress across devices. Here's exactly what we store:

• Your workout logs (exercise, sets, reps, weight)
• Form scores (just the percentage, not the video)
• Progress photos you explicitly upload
• Body measurements and weight if you track them

None of this includes your workout videos or live camera feed. That stays on your device, always.

Works Offline, Too

Because everything runs on your device, WorkoutMate works completely offline. No internet? No problem. Your form analysis still functions perfectly.

Your workout data will sync to the cloud the next time you're connected, but the core features—form analysis, rep counting, rest timers—all work without any connection.

Privacy Should Be Default, Not a Feature

You shouldn't have to choose between getting great AI feedback and protecting your privacy. WorkoutMate proves you can have both.

Try it yourself. Open the app, start a workout, and put your device in airplane mode. Everything still works. Because your videos never needed to leave your device in the first place.