Why we built Abonatus
Small gyms and studios run on notebooks, spreadsheets and trust. We wanted something just as simple that also tells the owner who has paid.
Most of the venues we know don't use gym-management software. Picture a gym with one room, a dance studio, a yoga teacher with a studio of their own, a martial-arts club in a school hall, a pool.
They keep their members in a notebook, an Excel file or a Viber group. It mostly works. The owner knows the regulars, the receptionist stamps the cards, and the money goes in a box.
What doesn't work is knowing. Who has paid this month? Who is coming in on a pass that ended two weeks ago? How much came in today, and who took it? Those questions have answers, but the answers are in the notebook at the desk, and the owner is at home.
The software that exists is built for someone else
Big gym-management suites already do all of this, QR check-in included. They are built for chains: a computer at reception, turnstiles, contracts, a setup project, and a monthly price that makes sense with five hundred members, not with eighty.
A small venue needs something else: no computer, no hardware, nothing to install from an app store, and a setup measured in minutes rather than weeks.
What we built
Abonatus is two phones and a QR code.
The member opens the app on their phone and shows a QR code that changes every 30 seconds. The receptionist scans it with their own phone and gets a full-screen answer: green, come in, or red, with the reason, such as pass expired, no visits left or not started yet. The member's name and photo are on the same screen. The visit is counted at the same moment.
The owner sees, from anywhere, who is valid and who isn't, today's check-ins, today's takings, and who took them.
That's most of it, on purpose. A few decisions we made early on:
- Phone only. It runs in the browser on any phone and can be added to the home screen like an app. No App Store, no Google Play, no computer at the desk.
- No passwords. Members and staff sign in with a code sent to their email, or with a code handed over at the front desk. There's nothing to forget and nothing to reset.
- One account for everything. A member who goes to a gym, a pool and a dance class sees all three passes in the same app.
- Your members come with you. Import them from Excel with their real pass dates, without charging anyone twice.
- Three languages from day one. English, Romanian and Russian, and each person sees the app in their own.
- Data in the EU. Member details and photos are stored on servers in the European Union, and photos are visible only to the venue's signed-in team.
Where we are
Abonatus is live, and we're looking for our first venues. The pilot is free for two months, with everything the app does and our help moving your members over. In return, we ask you to tell us honestly what works and what doesn't.
What we build next depends a lot on what those venues tell us. Pausing a pass, reminders before a pass ends and online payment are all on the list. If you run a place that sells passes, we'd like to hear from you.