IMPERIA THE1 case: fitness app, website and Apple Watch

IMPERIA THE1 is a fitness coaching app for the brand of Aram, a coach and the face of IMPERIA THE1. It is in the App Store, and it comes with Apple Watch screens, an interactive onboarding film and a website, jointhe1empire.com, with an account area and a blog. The interface is in Russian, for a Russian-speaking audience in any country, including the UAE.

This case covers what went into the product, how the parts connect, and what a business owner in Dubai should decide before ordering an app like it. The short version is on the Imperia case page.

What the product is

IMPERIA THE1 is a coaching system with three surfaces:

The iPhone app. It holds the training programs, learning modules, mentor chat and subscription.
The Apple Watch screens. You use them during a workout, when the phone is on a bench or in a locker.
The website. jointhe1empire.com has an account area and a blog.

The name is spelled IMPERIA THE1 everywhere: in the App Store, on the site and inside the app. This matters once you have a store listing, a domain, social profiles and payment receipts. With one spelling, search results and user reviews all point to a single product. With two spellings, they split between two names.

Who the app is for, and why the interface is in Russian

The audience is Russian-speaking people around the world. The interface is in Russian, and one App Store text serves every locale. In App Store Connect you can set a separate name, subtitle, description and screenshot set for each locale. Imperia uses one text for all of them, so there is one listing to keep up to date.

For a UAE business, the language question comes up on almost every project. Your clients might speak Russian, English or Arabic. Each language adds:

interface strings to translate and check on every screen;
a store description and its own screenshots;
support replies in that language.

Hypothetical example: a personal trainer in Dubai Marina whose clients mostly speak Russian. A Russian-only first version ships sooner and costs less. An English version can follow once English-speaking clients start asking for it. To keep that option cheap, ask your developer to keep every interface string in one catalog from the start. Xcode's String Catalog does this. Adding a language then means filling in a file. Nobody has to rebuild screens.

The training core: programs and a flexible week

The app ships with named programs: THE 4×4, THE 1:1 full body, THE RUN, THE MORNING and THE HOME. Each has its own structure, and the names work as brand vocabulary. A client can write "I'm on THE HOME this month" in a chat, and the coach knows the exact plan.

The week is flexible: you choose from 2 to 6 training days. A separate "Your own workout" mode has no plan attached, for days when you train outside the program.

A rigid plan breaks the first time a client misses a Tuesday. A plan that works with 2 days or with 6 keeps the client inside the app. Without it, they drift back to notes on their phone. When you brief a developer, describe what should happen when a client skips a day, travels, or trains on a rest day. Those cases decide how the training logic is built.

Apple Watch: what the wrist screen does

The Watch part has five screens. Each one answers a single question you have mid-workout:

Watch screen	Question it answers
Set	What am I doing right now?
Done	Did that set count?
Rest	How long until the next set?
Cardio	How hard am I working?
Rank	Where do I stand?

Everything else stays on the phone: programs, lessons, the mentor chat and settings.

If you order a Watch app, ask the developer these questions before the estimate:

Which three to five moments in a session happen when the client's hands are busy?
What does the Watch show if the phone is out of range, for example in a locker?
Which actions can the client confirm with one tap, and which need the phone?
Does the Watch write workouts to Apple Health, and in which direction does data flow?

A Watch app that copies every phone screen costs more to build and is harder to use mid-set.

Running by heart-rate zone with voice cues

THE RUN uses heart-rate zones. The app reads heart-rate sensors, and a voice tells you when to run and when to walk. You keep your eyes on the road and your phone in your pocket.

List voice cues in a brief as a separate feature, because they touch audio, timing and hardware. Write down:

Who voices the cues: the coach, a hired voice or generated speech.
Which languages the cues need, separate from interface languages.
What the app says or does when the heart-rate sensor loses signal.
Whether the client's music lowers in volume during a cue or pauses.
Whether cues still play when the screen is locked.

Each answer changes the estimate. Without them, a developer prices the feature as a guess.

The onboarding film

New users go through an interactive onboarding film with branches: video clips, questions with answer buttons, and a step where the user enters their name. Different answers lead to different clips, so the opening plays like a first conversation with the coach.

I shot and edited the onboarding myself, with Aram on camera. Aram's tone is direct and demanding, "man to man", without humiliating the viewer. That tone has to hold across every branch, because a user who picks a different answer still meets the same coach.

The film runs on one engine. The same engine plays the onboarding and THE RUN. One engine used for two jobs costs less than two separate players, and every fix lands in both places. I cover the onboarding in detail in an onboarding people finish.

Learning modules, podcasts and the mentor

The app has 8 learning modules: Discipline, Mindset, Training, Nutrition, Hormones, Biohacking, CNS and body, and Recovery. Lessons and podcasts keep playing in the background, so a user can listen while driving down Sheikh Zayed Road or walking to the gym.

There are two plans, Basic and Pro, with 3 days free. Pro adds a chat with a mentor.

Background playback looks like a small line in a brief. It changes how the audio player is built and how the app behaves when the screen locks, so name it early. The mentor chat raises a staffing question before a technical one: who answers, in which hours and how fast. Settle that before you sell Pro.

The water tracker and open-source credit

The project also has a water tracker. It adds a third ring on the Today screen and a tile on the Home screen, with quick buttons for +250 ml and +500 ml plus a custom amount. It syncs with Apple Health in both directions, takes a separate target for each day and can be switched off. It was built in a test branch, so check the current App Store version to see whether it is there yet. The app's screens are being reworked at the moment, so the current build may look different from older screenshots.

The water animation is based on the open-source shader eugenemindset/water by Eugene Yarovoi, released under the MIT licence, and the copyright notice stays in the project. If your developer uses open-source code, ask for a list of libraries with their licences. MIT asks for credit. Some other licences put conditions on how you distribute your app.

The website and the brand around the app

jointhe1empire.com carries the account area and the blog. App Store search only covers the store. Google and AI assistants read web pages, and a blog gives them text about the product to index and quote. For more on how assistants pick sources, see GEO.

Demand for Russian-language fitness content exists outside the store. OpenSEO data (October 2026, Kazakhstan, Russian-language queries) shows monthly volumes of 320 for "программа тренировок в зале" (gym workout program), 210 for "тренировка дома" (home workout), 210 for "упражнение на грудь в зале" (chest exercise at the gym), 140 for "программа тренировок" (workout program) and 90 for "приложения для тренировок дома" (home workout apps). Several of these match programs the app already has, such as THE HOME, which gives the blog a starting topic list.

The app also sits inside a personal brand. I come up with and run Aram's personal brand on TikTok and Yandex Zen, including shoots such as a night garden session. My position is that a personal brand works, and an expert app benefits from a face people already know. I cover the platform side in TikTok and Yandex Zen for experts.

What not to do

Ordering an app before the method exists. Programs, lessons and tone of voice are the product. Without them, the developer builds empty screens.
Copying every phone screen to the Watch. Pick the three to five moments when the client's hands are busy.
Treating onboarding as a settings form. In a coaching app, onboarding is the first session with the coach. Script it and shoot it.
Promising features in the store listing that are still in testing. Apple checks the listing against the build. I go through what reviewers look at in what Apple checks in review.
Launching Pro without a mentor schedule. A paid chat that nobody answers turns into refund requests.
Skipping the website. Without web pages, search engines and AI assistants have nothing to read about you.
Using open-source code without tracking licences. Keep the list from the first commit.

Checklist: decide this before you commission a coaching app

Question	Why it matters	Example from IMPERIA THE1
Which language comes first?	Every language multiplies texts and store pages	Russian interface, one storefront text for all locales
What are the named programs?	Names become brand vocabulary and blog topics	THE 4×4, THE 1:1, THE RUN, THE MORNING, THE HOME
How does the plan handle missed days?	Rigid plans lose clients after one bad week	Flexible week from 2 to 6 days, plus "Your own workout"
What happens on the wrist?	Watch screens cost money and need focus	Set, done, rest, cardio, rank
Are there voice cues?	Audio, timing and sensor rules add work	THE RUN: voice says when to run and when to walk
Does audio play in the background?	Changes how the player is built	Lessons and podcasts keep playing
Who answers the paid chat?	A staffing question you settle before the tech	Mentor chat in Pro
Is there a free period?	Shapes onboarding and the paywall	Basic and Pro, 3 days free
Which open-source parts are used?	Licences carry conditions	Water shader under MIT, credit kept
Where can search engines read about you?	App screens are invisible to Google and AI	jointhe1empire.com with account area and blog

Each row you answer with "yes, we need that" adds screens and logic to the estimate. My app development work starts from AED 35,000 (Special offer), and the final scope follows from this table.

Questions and answers

Is IMPERIA THE1 available in the UAE App Store?

Yes. The app is listed in the App Store, including the UAE storefront. The interface is in Russian because the audience is Russian-speaking, and one storefront text covers every locale.

Does the app work with Apple Watch?

Yes. The Watch has its own screens for the current set, a 'done' confirmation, rest, cardio and rank. You can follow the workout from your wrist while the phone stays in your pocket or on a bench.

Can a fitness coach in Dubai get a similar app?

Yes, if the coach already has a method and content to put inside it. My app work starts from AED 35,000 (Special offer). The final price depends on how many programs, screens and integrations you need.

Do I need a website if I already have an app?

Search engines and AI assistants read web pages. They cannot read the screens inside an app. A website with an account area and a blog gives people a way to find you before they install anything.