Back in 2009, pool operators’ websites in London weren’t great,” says Dan Morgan, founder of the world’s most popular swimming app.
“I couldn’t fathom why – at a time when even Transport for London had made its travel info easy to get hold of – there was nothing for swimming.
Not being able to access timetables is only a small barrier – but it only takes small barriers to prevent people doing exercise.”
Rather than lament the lack of a service, he set out to provide one. The iPhone 2 had just been launched and its capabilities were transforming a number of services – a fact that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Morgan.
“The iPhone was becoming a part of people’s lives,” he says. “Developers were creating Apps people could access from their pockets, so I decided to find out how it worked and create something using the iOS platform.”
In at the deep end
Morgan’s idea for an app was simple: find a pool and book a swim. There was only one problem – he didn’t know anything about coding.
“Rather than go back to college to learn to code, I bought some books and got my head around it,” he says. “It was an intense learning experience – it took a year and had me dreaming in iOS code – but by the end of that year, I had the nucleus of an app.”
Morgan entered his app, which he named SplashPath, into a Channel 4 competition for young tech entrepreneurs. He won it and secured £70,000-worth of funding for the project. This enabled him to employ a developer, improve the app’s functionality and bring SplashPath to market.
As well as a locator and timetables, the app is a motivational tool. “It’s like Strava for swimmers,” says Morgan. “You can set goals, track swims, challenge friends, comment and connect with fellow swimmers.”
In 2012, SplashPath was rebranded SpeedoFit after a chance meeting with representatives of the swimwear giant. Having a globally recognised name has aided the app’s spread and it now has more than 400,000 users globally – from the US to China.
The next step, according to Morgan, is to literally take it into the pool. “We’re hoping the next Apple Watch is waterproof,” he says. “That will open new opportunities, such as tracking heart rates and automatically charting swimming distances.”
