Branded mobile app for your studio's clients

A new client books through the link in your Instagram bio and installs nothing — and that's how it should be. But someone who comes every week wants your studio at hand: the schedule, their bookings and what's left on their membership one tap away, not buried in a chat with the front desk. That's what a client mobile app with your studio's name and logo is for. Here's what it can do, what it gives the studio and the client, who it pays off for and how to get one.

What a branded client app is

It's your company's own app in the App Store and Google Play: your name, an icon made from your logo, your brand colours. Inside are the schedule, bookings, specialists and memberships from the same SetNow database the front desk and specialists work in. A booking a client makes in the app shows up straight away in the calendar and in the employee app — no exports, no syncing.

The app is tied to one company: the client sees only your locations, your specialists and your schedule. There's no shop window of neighbouring studios, as in marketplace directories where competitors always sit next to your listing. If you have several locations, the client picks theirs on first launch and the schedule shows only those.

Benefits for the studio

• Your brand on the client's home screen. An icon with your logo sits next to their bank and messengers — not a browser tab that gets closed and forgotten.
• Fewer calls and messages to the front desk. Clients book, cancel, and check visits left and membership expiry on their own, at any hour.
• Membership sales outside working hours. With online payment connected, clients buy a membership in the Store in the evening or at the weekend, and the money goes to the studio's account through its own card acquiring.
• Freed-up spots don't go to waste. The waitlist offers the spot to the next person in line by push notification, and they confirm with one tap.
• A free channel to your clients. Visit reminders, messages about offers and schedule changes, studio news — by push, with no SMS costs.
• Reviews and signatures without paper. After a visit the app invites the client to rate the specialist, and contracts or consent forms are signed right on the phone.

Benefits for the client

• Sign-in with a phone number and an SMS code — no passwords, no forms: on first sign-in the app asks only for a name.
• The schedule, their bookings and memberships in one place rather than in a chat with the front desk.
• A visit reminder and a message that a waitlist spot has opened up go straight to the phone.
• A booked session goes into the phone's calendar with one button.
• The interface in English, Russian or Georgian — the client picks the language in their profile.

What the client mobile app can do

At the bottom of the screen are five tabs: Home, Schedule, My sessions, News and More. The wording adapts to the business: a school sees "lessons", a clinic sees "appointments". Section by section:

Schedule and booking group sessions

The Schedule tab shows sessions by day of the week, with a filter by studio. A session card has the time and duration, price, coach, studio, description and free spots, "N of M". Booking and cancelling take one button, and the Home screen always shows the client's upcoming sessions.

If a session is full, the client taps "Join the waitlist" and sees their place in the queue. When someone cancels, the next person gets a push — plus an SMS if the studio has turned that on. They have a window set by the studio (30 minutes by default) to tap "Book" or "Decline", and then the spot passes to the next in line.

The studio can close online booking ahead of the start — say, an hour before, to have time to get the group together and the room ready. The session card then shows "Online booking is closed" instead of the "Book" button: the client can no longer book or join the waitlist. The front desk can still book them in at the last minute.

Booking a specialist one-to-one

For one-to-one services there's "Book a specialist": location, services (several at once if needed), date and time, specialist. The steps can be taken in any order — start from a favourite specialist or from a free slot. New clients see the first-visit price if the studio has set one. Times already closed to online booking aren't shown.

There's no prepayment at booking: if the client has a suitable membership, the visit is charged to it; otherwise they pay on site. Every specialist has a page with a photo, an about section, a rating, client reviews and Instagram and Telegram links.

My sessions: bookings, cancellations and history

My sessions lists all the client's upcoming bookings, group and one-to-one, plus their waitlist places. Clients can cancel a booking themselves up to the deadline the studio has set (3 hours before the start by default); if the visit was charged to a membership, it goes back. There's no rescheduling in the app: to change the time, the client cancels and books again. My account keeps a history of group-session visits, with a "Rate" button.

Memberships, freezes and online payment

In My account the client sees active and finished memberships: visits used out of the total, validity period, end date, freezes and the renewal bonus. "How many visits do I have left?" stops being a question for the front desk.

If the studio has connected online payment through its own card acquiring — bePaid in Belarus, Flitt or Bank of Georgia in Georgia — a Store appears in the app. The client picks a membership, pays by card on the payment gateway's secure page, and the membership appears in their account as soon as the payment is confirmed. There, too, clients can freeze a membership for 7, 14 or 30 days within its limit — free or paid, according to the membership's own rules.

Without online payment connected there's no Store and no self-service freeze in the app: the front desk sells and freezes memberships, and the client sees them in their account.

Push notifications: reminders, open spots and news

Pushes land on the phone's screen, and tapping one opens the right section of the app. The client receives:

• A visit reminder — 30 minutes, an hour, two hours or a day before; the studio chooses.
• A spot offer from the waitlist.
• Confirmation that a membership payment went through — even if the client closed the app before seeing the result.
• A document awaiting signature.
• An invitation to rate the visit — about an hour after the session, if the studio has turned it on.
• Studio broadcasts to selected clients: an offer, a new class, a schedule change.

Unread notifications show on the bell on the Home screen and as a badge on the app icon. A separate News tab carries the studio's announcements. One thing to keep in mind: the studio picks one reminder channel for everyone — SMS or push. Pushes are free but reach only those who have the app installed, so switch reminders to push once most of your regular clients use the app.

Documents, digital entry pass and reviews

In My documents the client opens a contract or consent form, ticks the box and signs with a finger on the screen. They can sign as a representative — a parent for a child, say — or decline and give a reason. Documents waiting for a signature are marked with a badge.

If the studio uses entry control, the app has My pass — a QR code that refreshes every 30 seconds, is tied to the client's phone and works even offline. A screenshot of the code goes stale quickly, so the pass can't be handed on as a photo.

Clients leave a review after a visit: one to five stars and a comment. The rating and reviews appear on the specialist's page, which makes it easier for new clients to choose a specialist or coach.

How the app gets your brand

Your name under the icon and in the store, an icon and splash screen made from your logo, interface colours matched to your brand. The app is published in the App Store and Google Play under your company's developer accounts, so the store lists you as the publisher, not SetNow.

We take care of building and publishing; the store page — description and screenshots — is prepared by the company, so it speaks in your voice. The app's code is shared with SetNow, so new features and fixes reach every branded app without separate development for you.

App or booking link: which one?

You don't have to choose — you need both. The online booking link is for the first visit: a new client books from Instagram, maps, a messenger or your website in the browser, with nothing to install. Asking someone to download an app just to make a first booking is a sure way to lose them.

The app is for people who already come regularly. A setup that works: first booking by link, then after the visit the front desk suggests installing the app — a QR code at the desk, a link in a message or in your social media profile. The client signs in with the same phone number and immediately sees their bookings and memberships.

Who a branded app pays off for

The app works for retention, not acquisition: on its own it won't bring new clients. It pays off if at least one of these is true:

• Memberships are your main product: fitness and yoga, dance and martial arts, kids' clubs, group studios.
• Clients come often — once a week or more.
• You have several locations and clients visit different ones.
• You have a base of regulars you want to keep with reminders and broadcasts, without spending on SMS.

If clients come once every month or two for a haircut or a facial, they're unlikely to install an app for that — a booking link and an SMS reminder are enough.

How to get a client app

• Run your bookings in SetNow: schedule, services, specialists and memberships — the app takes its data from there.
• Send a request through the contact page — we'll discuss the name, logo and timeline.
• Set up Apple and Google developer accounts for your company if you don't have them yet: Apple charges a yearly fee, Google a one-off one. Register the Google account as an organisation — personal Google Play accounts must run a closed test before publishing.
• Prepare the description and screenshots for the app's store pages. We handle the build and submission for review.
• Once the stores approve it, tell your clients: a QR code at the desk, a message after the visit, a link in your social media profile.

The branded app is a paid service on top of the SetNow subscription and isn't included in the 14-day trial; we quote the price on request. The studio connects online payment itself in settings: the acquiring contract is signed directly with a bank or payment provider.

Frequently asked questions

• Do clients need to sign up? No. They sign in with a phone number and an SMS code; on first sign-in the app asks only for a name. If the client has booked with the studio before, their bookings and memberships are already there.
• Can a booking be rescheduled in the app? No. A booking can be cancelled up to the deadline the studio has set (3 hours before the start by default), and the client can then book another time.
• Can a single visit be paid for online? Not yet. Membership purchases and paid freezes are paid online; a single visit is paid on site or charged to a membership.
• Will clients see other studios in the app? No. The app is tied to your company: it has only your locations, specialists and schedule.
• Which languages does the app support? English, Russian and Georgian — the client picks the language in their profile.
• Can a client delete their account? Yes, with a button in the profile — App Store and Google Play rules require it.

In SetNow the client app runs on the same database as the web dashboard and the employee app: schedule, one-to-one booking, waitlist, memberships with online payment and freezes, push reminders, documents and a digital entry pass. It's released under your company's name and logo in the App Store and Google Play and is set up on request — and booking by link works without it.