{"id":134534,"date":"2023-06-06T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T01:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=uiiopcl8"},"modified":"2023-06-06T01:00:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T01:00:29","slug":"behind-the-design-any-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/06\/06\/behind-the-design-any-distance\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Design: Any Distance"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Workout tracking has never looked \u2014 or felt \u2014 like it does in Any Distance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building something for everyone, not just athletes,\u201d says Luke Beard, the Atlanta-based designer who created this Swift app with engineer Daniel Kuntz. \u201cWe\u2019re not athletically inclined people. We\u2019re kind of dorks! I want to retire and take photos in Iceland one day. Dan wants to retire and play music in the desert. We\u2019re not looking to go to the Olympics, but we do want to live long, healthy lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"*Any<\/div>\n

Their app is a design-forward fitness tracker and social network that delivers workout stats in beautiful and shareable formats \u2014 dynamic charts and graphs, animated 3D maps, AR experiences, and gorgeous cards \u2014 that can integrate photos. It draws heavily on SF Symbols \u2014 as Beard cheekily puts it, \u201cSF Symbols is the single greatest contribution to design Apple has ever made.\u201d It offers elegant in-app collectibles and an in-house social network aimed at connecting people with a small circle of friends. And its name is also its philosophy: Any Distance<\/em> counts, not just a swim or bike ride, but a walking meeting, stroller run, or its most popular option, a dog walk. <\/p>\n

\"Luke<\/div>\n

Any Distance<\/em> is heavily powered by Apple tools and technologies. It uses ARKit for rendering routes, HealthKit for workout data, Metal rendering for what Kuntz calls the \u201cgradient background swirly thing,\u201d SceneKit for rendering, MapKit, Apple Watch integration, and more. It also demonstrates Any Distance’s<\/em> commitment to privacy. “Your data is all in HealthKit; we don\u2019t store it unless you post it to your friends,\u201d Beard says. \u201cWe don\u2019t let you share a map. Route clipping (in which the beginning and end of your routes are trimmed from public view) is on by default.\u201d And people can choose exactly what data they want to share with friends by simply tapping the eye icon under each metric.<\/p>\n

\n

SF Symbols is the single greatest contribution to design Apple has ever made.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Luke Beard, Any Distance<\/em> founder<\/p>\n

<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beard conceived of the idea for Any Distance<\/em> during the pandemic, when his lifestyle wasn\u2019t quite as healthy as he would have liked. To shake himself out of his funk, he began going on long walks, posting photos of his journeys along the way. \u201cI\u2019m a chronic oversharer,\u201d laughs Beard, \u201cand a photographer at heart. And I was getting good feedback.\u201d Eventually, he started designing templates for his social media posts. \u201cHonestly, it was just a photo in a mask \u2014 the oval that\u2019s now one of our main brand characteristics \u2014 with the route and stats in a fun font. But people would ask, \u2018What app is making those?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Just<\/div>\n

By this point, he\u2019d already connected with Daniel Kuntz, a programmer and musician who already had a few titles on the App Store. \u201cAs a developer, I\u2019m often asked, \u2018Hey, can you make this app?\u2019 And I\u2019m always like, \u2018Nah,\u2019\u201d says Kuntz. \u201cIn this case, Luke had it all fleshed out. He had iOS components and a Sketch file. It was simple and clear and really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the team also plans to add more unorthodox activity options like trick-or-treating. \u201cEventually we want to organize group bike rides or group dog walks,\u201d says Beard. \u201cThe last few years have accelerated the loneliness epidemic so much, and we think working out or being active together is the new hanging out. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re walking half a mile, taking a stroller walk with your kid, or walking with a cane \u2014 there should be a space for you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Download Any Distance from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Behind the Design is a series that explores design practices and philosophies from each of the winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how they brought their remarkable creations to life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Explore more of the 2023 Behind the Design series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workout tracking has never looked \u2014 or felt \u2014 like it does in Any Distance. \u201cWe\u2019re building something for everyone, not just athletes,\u201d says Luke Beard, the Atlanta-based designer who created this Swift app with engineer Daniel Kuntz. \u201cWe\u2019re not athletically inclined people. We\u2019re kind of dorks! I want to retire and take photos in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}