Moves App
ProtoGeo develops the Moves app to track daily physical activity and promote fitness awareness.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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ProtoGeo Oy, the entity behind the Moves application, was established in January 2012 by a team of designers, engineers, and scientists. The company was founded by Sampo Karjalainen, Aapo Kyrola, Janne Pihlajaniemi, and Zsolt Szasz. Karjalainen, previously known for co-founding Sulake and the popular virtual world Habbo Hotel, brought his experience in creating engaging digital communities to the health and fitness space. This background was pivotal in shaping an application focused on user experience and passive data collection. The Moves app was conceptualized to offer a simple, battery-efficient way for individuals to track their daily physical activities merely by carrying their smartphones.
The Moves application operated in the mobile health and fitness tracking market, targeting a broad consumer base interested in understanding their daily activity levels without the need for dedicated wearable hardware. Its business model centered on providing the application for free to end-users, with the long-term strategy likely focused on data monetization or integration into larger health ecosystems, a common approach for free fitness apps. The app's core function was to automatically recognize and record activities like walking, cycling, and running, and to map the user's daily movements, presenting this information in a visually clear timeline. This automatic, passive tracking was its primary differentiator, offering a lower-effort alternative to manual-entry fitness logs.
In a significant milestone, Facebook acquired ProtoGeo in April 2014, with the Moves team being integrated into the social media giant's operations. Following the acquisition, the Moves app continued to operate as a standalone application. However, on July 19, 2018, Facebook announced the discontinuation of the Moves app, along with other apps like Hello and tbh, citing low usage as the reason for the shutdown. The app and its data were officially deprecated and deleted 90 days after the announcement.
Keywords: activity tracking, fitness app, passive data collection, mobile health, location tracking, ProtoGeo, user-generated data, quantified self, Facebook acquisition, app shutdown