Health and fitness apps sell a habit: workouts, meditation, sleep, running plans, nutrition coaching. People subscribe at a moment of high motivation and cancel when that motivation fades, when they get injured, or when they decide they can do it on their own. Billing is often split between the web and the app stores. NoChurn helps keep the payment side working, gives members a pause instead of a cancel when they need a break, and predicts churn from usage, not from anything about their body.
NoChurn does not need health data, and you should not send it. No weights, heart rates, diagnoses, cycles, moods or sleep scores. Usage counts such as “workouts completed this month” are enough for everything on this page.
How subscribers pay
- Inside the app, through the App Store and Google Play. Apple and Google charge, retry and own the cancel button. NoChurn reads those events. See App Store and Google Play.
- On the web, by card, often through Stripe, sometimes with Paddle as merchant of record.
- Annual plans after a trial, very common in this category, which makes the one renewal a year a big moment. See annual renewal reminders.
- Coaching and studio memberships billed monthly by card or direct debit, through Stripe, GoCardless or Mollie.
Why health and fitness subscribers churn
Involuntary churn
- The card used for the trial has changed by the time the annual plan renews. See expiring cards.
- Prepaid and virtual cards used to try the app without commitment. See prepaid and virtual cards.
- Store billing issues. On iOS and Android, Apple and Google retry and may hold access for a while; your app should tell the user. See App Store billing retry and Google Play grace period.
Voluntary churn
- Motivation fades. Sessions drop from four a week to one, then zero, and the renewal feels like a reminder of a broken resolution.
- A temporary break. Injury, illness, travel, a new baby, exam season. The member wants to stop for a while, not forever.
- Reaching the goal. Some people cancel because the plan worked, which is a different conversation from failure.
- “I can do it on my own now.” A free app or a routine they already know replaces the paid plan.
How NoChurn handles it
Failed payments
On Stripe, NoChurn retries failed web payments at times based on the decline reason and likely paydays, or you can keep Stripe Smart Retries. On other billing tools, their own dunning stays and NoChurn adds AI emails and a card update link next to it. Emails can be reviewed before they go out, so the tone can stay encouraging rather than sound like a bill collector. The hosted card update page works on a phone. Card data stays with your payment provider. See failed payments.
For App Store and Google Play subscribers, NoChurn does not retry. It tells the user in your app or by email and points them to the store’s subscription page.
Cancel flow built around a break
| Reason | Offer that fits |
|---|---|
| Injured, ill or taking a break | Pause for one to three months |
| Not using it enough | Plan change to a cheaper tier with fewer features |
| Too expensive | Discount |
| Reached my goal | A lighter maintenance plan, or let them go with thanks |
Wording matters here. A member who cancels because of an injury should never see a cheerful “are you sure?” screen. Write reason labels that let people say “taking a break” without explaining why; you do not need to know.
A one-click “cancel now” button is visible on every step, and a cancel that is asked for is carried out. Most apps draw the flow natively with the headless API, in SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose or a cross-platform framework; the hosted modal suits web billing. For store subscribers, your app shows the flow first and the store’s cancel button always works. See cancel flows, pause vs discount and Google Play cancellation survey.
Churn score from usage
Each subscriber gets a score from 0 to 100 at signup and on every change, from payment method, signup source and your custom data. In fitness, a fall in sessions usually comes before a cancel, so sending a simple usage count gives the score something to work with. A subscriber who removes their card before a renewal also gets a higher score. See churn score.
Win-back
Former members get win-back emails at 30, 60 and 90 days, written from their cancel reason. A member who paused for an injury can be invited back gently; one who left over price can hear about a cheaper plan. You can review every draft. See win-back.
Custom data worth sending (and what to leave out)
Send behaviour, not bodies:
sessions_last_30_days: workouts, meditations, lessons, as a count.last_session_atstreak_days: the current streak, if your app has one.program_startedandprogram_completed: yes/no, or a date.signup_source: paid social, app store search, a referral, a coach.trial_daysandplanplatform: web, iOS or Android, as your own attribute
Leave out anything a person would consider health information. NoChurn shows which attributes go with churn, with sample sizes. Correlation, not causation: a cohort that churns more may just have signed up at a time of year when people try many apps. See custom data.
Integrations that fit
- App Store and Google Play for in-app subscriptions.
- Stripe for web billing, in one click.
- GoCardless or Mollie for studio or coaching memberships on direct debit.
- Intercom or Crisp for in-app support, read only. Support messages can contain health details people chose to share; NoChurn treats message text as customer content and reads it only when needed, such as dispute evidence.
What to watch out for
- No health data, ever. It is not needed for any NoChurn feature.
- Store subscribers. Retries, grace periods and the cancel button stay with Apple and Google.
- Pause should be a real pause. Make sure your app actually stops charging and keeps the member’s progress.
- When NoChurn is not the right tool. For a gym billed at the front desk with one-off passes, a gym management system is the better fit.
Pricing
Every feature is on every plan, and the price depends only on your MRR: free up to $300, then from $9 a month in small steps up to $399 at $500k, custom above. NoChurn never takes a share of recovered revenue. See pricing, or the pages for mobile apps and consumer subscriptions.