Like us after a high-octane spin class, this Canadian fitness app is completely spent and ready to die.
Driving the news: Vancouver-based app Flex AI is winding down operations after running out of money and failing to secure a buyout, per BetaKit. The app, which accrued nearly one million users as of 2022, is still online as the company liquidates its remaining assets.
Flex billed itself as a “personal AI trainer” that provided AI feedback in addition to workout tracking.
Why it’s happening: Flex didn’t confirm the reason for its misfortunes, but the likely cause is the glut of fitness apps saturating the market. There are thousands of competitors offering similar services — and with the rise of apps made via vibecoding, more are surely coming.
A Fortune Business Insights report cited “high market saturation and user retention” as challenges facing fitness apps, noting that “approximately 49% of users regularly switch between multiple fitness platforms seeking… personalized experiences.”
Why it matters: Flex is the exact type of product (fitness-related or not) facing an existential threat from vibecoding — a replicable idea, with little in the way of a proprietary advantage to act as a moat, which users can now easily make their own personalized version of.
Yes, but: Vibecoding has led to a spike in apps, with the number of new apps released in Apple’s App Store growing 30% last year and doubling in the first half of 2026. But that doesn’t mean people will use them — App Store downloads only grew 3% last year.—QH
