Reform RX – Story of a Unified Fitness Experience
The Client
People were inspired. The idea struck a chord with fitness lovers and athletes alike. But off the record, the tech was barely holding together.
The vision was strong. The execution needed help.
The Problem: Too Many Hands, Too Little Control
As usage increased, the gaps became clear: bugs stayed unresolved longer, new features took more time to roll out, and no one had full visibility of the system. Adding to the challenge, the code and hosting were tied to vendor-owned accounts, leaving Reform RX without full control of its platform. This setup was not sustainable for their long-term goals.
Why Bobcares
The immediate goal was clear:
- Migrate all app and backend code into a centralized repo owned by Reform RX
- Standardize deployment pipelines using a single toolset
- Ensure app releases to Azure could continue smoothly, even after transitioning away from the previous teams
But beyond that, we had our eyes set on something bigger: stability, speed, and innovation.
What We Did
Clean Handover
We started by reviewing what each team had built. The backend and frontend were split between two companies, and each was using a completely different setup.
We brought everything into a new Bitbucket account that Reform RX owned. This meant their entire codebase was finally under their control. No more vendor lock-in. No more “we don’t have access.”
Then we rebuilt the deployment process so that the whole platform, app and backend, could be updated in a predictable, reliable way.
Fixing What Was Broken
Once we had access, we started fixing problems users had been dealing with for months:
- Bugs that broke workout tracking
- Inaccurate or missing session data
- Issues with heart rate sync
We also added new tools to give the product team better visibility:
- Logged Wi-Fi strength during sessions so poor connections wouldn’t go unnoticed
- Built a real-time scoring engine to show users how they were doing mid-workout
- Created a brand-new Apple Watch app that worked alongside the existing Whoop band
Troubleshooting Under Fire
Some of the toughest challenges never make it to the user’s screen, but they can make or break a release. During the transition, we hit two such roadblocks.
- 404 errors on subpaths
Trying to open pages like /login threw a 404. This came from an NGINX routing setup that didn’t fully support Angular’s single-page app routing. We added a startup script so the correct NGINX config is applied automatically after every reboot or deployment.
- Pipeline deployment failures
The build pipeline was breaking because @angular-devkit/build-angular in package.json didn’t match the version in package-lock.json. We updated the version to match, and the builds started passing again.
These issues put our troubleshooting skills to use, but with some quick coordination and the right fixes, we had them sorted without slowing the project down.
Real Testing, Real Results
The old testing process was mostly manual and easy to miss things. We set up automated testing across the board, which helped us catch bugs before they went live and freed up our QA team to focus on tougher edge cases.
Handling Real People, Not Just Code
Reform RX wasn’t just struggling with development silos. Their customer engagement lacked structure too.
There was no proper system for users to raise queries or report issues, everything was handled manually or inconsistently.
Our Installations and CRE teams stepped in to bridge this gap:
- Set up a dedicated help-desk system (OS Tickets) to receive and organize customer queries
- Built a custom knowledge base using internal documentation and multiple deep-dive sessions with the client
- Took over end-to-end support management, including ticket resolution and escalation handling
Now, customer concerns are logged, tracked, and addressed on time, with complete visibility across the team.
Going Live
With the new setup, we could push updates much more often, without the fear of breaking things. Some major milestones:
- Apple Watch support went live in beta and began receiving positive feedback from early testers
- Real-time workout scoring transformed how users engaged with each session
- Deployment cycles dropped from days to just hours
- QA efforts dropped by 60%; thanks to automation
- And, most importantly: not a single minute of downtime during production deployments after the migration
The Impact
With Bobcares taking over full-stack ownership and infrastructure, Reform RX is no longer weighed down by technical debt or disjointed processes.
They now have:
- A fully owned, centralized codebase
- A dependable release process they could trust
- Stable Azure deployments independent of third-party vendors
- Faster response time for users
- Fewer bugs, quicker fixes, smoother updates
- A fitness platform that’s faster, smarter, and built for scale
- A help-desk system that keeps customer concerns from falling through the cracks
