Facebook moves into fitness market with acquisition of Moves app

24 Apr 2014

Facebook is continuing its expansion into multiple sectors with the acquisition of the fitness tracking app Moves for an undisclosed sum.

The app, created by Finnish-based ProtoGeo Oy, is one of the most popular apps of its kind and has been downloaded more than 4m times from the Apple App Store since it was launched in January 2013. Apple described the app as a ‘surprise hit’.

In a brief statement on its website, ProtoGeo Oy explained to its users that the deal should not change how the company is run and no changes to the app will be made.

“Now, we’re joining Facebook’s talented team to work on building and improving their products and services with a shared mission of supporting simple, efficient tools for more than a billion people.

“For those of you that use the Moves app – the Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook.”

The Moves app is designed to automatically record a person’s walking, cycling and running while measuring how fast they’re burning calories and how many they have consumed, including when they are using public transport and stopping for a coffee in a nearby café.

It also features the ability to connect with a number of other apps, such as Trail and Log My Day, to integrate more features and accuracy into the app.

The financial details for the deal have not been announced but it is understood it is significantly less than some of Facebook’s more recent acquisitions, such as the US$19bn purchase of messaging service WhatsApp.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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