We Built the Muslim Fitness App We Wanted to Use Ourselves

We built Rizanah as a husband and wife. One of us is a certified fitness trainer and the other is a product engineer, and for years we used fitness apps that were never made with Muslims in mind. We wanted one app that helped us with our workouts, our meals, and our community without asking us to compromise on how we live, so we built it. This is what Rizanah does and why we made the choices we made.

The problem we kept running into

Every fitness app we tried had the same gaps. The exercise videos were not something we could show a sister without a warning first. The community felt like walking into a mixed gym. The food logging had no idea what halal meant, and there was nothing about Ramadan at all. Each app worked for a week or two, and then we drifted away from it, because keeping up with it meant working around it.

We decided that Rizanah should never ask a Muslim to explain or apologize for the way they live. Everything below comes from that one decision.

A workout plan for people who are new to working out

If you have never followed a plan before, Rizanah builds one for you. It asks about your goal, how much experience you have, which days you can train, how long you want each workout to be, and what equipment you have, whether that is nothing at home, a pair of dumbbells, or a full gym. Then it shows you your first week before you commit, with the real exercise names, sets, and repetitions, so you know what you are signing up for.

The trainer among us has watched a lot of beginners quit in the first two weeks because the plan they picked was too hard, too vague, or written for someone else. That is why the first week is a real preview and not a template.

Guidance while you train

Every exercise in Rizanah comes with instructions, form tips, and the common mistakes to avoid. When you finish a set you log it and rate how hard it felt on a scale of 1 to 10. Over time Rizanah uses your completed workouts and your effort ratings to suggest when you are ready to add weight or repetitions. It shows you one suggestion at a time, and you decide whether to take it. If an exercise does not work for your body or your equipment, you can swap it for a substitute.

If you already have a plan that works, just log it

Plenty of people have a routine they like. You do not need our plan to use Rizanah. Use the quick log to record what you did, save your own workouts so they are ready next time, and look back at your history. Rizanah has more than 300 exercises to choose from, and your history shows your personal records, the total weight you lifted, and how your effort and volume trend over the weeks. That is how you see what to improve.

The walk that convinced us

We shared Rizanah with a sister in our family. She loves to walk every day, but she never tracked her walks. She would pick a landmark and try to reach it again the next day. With Rizanah cardio she sets a 30-minute goal, and the app tells her when she is halfway so she knows exactly when to turn around. She told us that was her favorite feature. We were more excited about that than about anything else we built, because it meant we had made something useful for someone, even if it was one person.

Cardio in Rizanah covers walking, jogging, running, cycling, wheelchair and handcycle, swimming, rowing, elliptical, stair climber, jump rope, and seated cardio. If you are outdoors, Rizanah tracks the session with GPS. If you are on a machine, you log the numbers from the display when you finish. You can set a goal by time or by distance, or just start an open session. You hear three cues during the session, one at halfway, one when you are almost there, and one when you are done, and nothing else interrupts you.

Meals, your kitchen, and less food waste

Workouts are only half of Rizanah. You can log what you eat in a few seconds, scan a barcode, and watch your calories and macros update. Every food and recipe carries a halal label: Definitely Halal, Check Label, or Not Halal. There are more than 2,000 recipes from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African halal traditions, and you can save your own or import one from a link.

The part we use most is the kitchen. Rizanah keeps a record of what is in your pantry, and it suggests recipes that match what you already have. You can build a grocery list by category, and you can plan meals by day, week, or month so you are not standing in the kitchen at seven o'clock wondering what is for dinner. We built this because we were wasting food and we were tired of deciding, and both problems have the same fix: know what you have and know what you will cook.

When Ramadan comes, the fasting settings help you plan around suhoor and iftar.

A community you can actually talk in

Sometimes you just want to ask a gym sister, or for our brothers a gym brother, whether your progress is normal, or share a small win so someone else feels encouraged. In most apps that means posting in a mixed space, and a lot of Muslims never do it.

Rizanah's community is separated. Sisters have their space and brothers have theirs. You post with topic tags, run a poll, follow people whose progress inspires you, and join challenges with leaderboards that are separated the same way. You can share a completed workout when you want a word of encouragement, and you can share your niyyah, your intention, on the Niyyah Wall when you want to remind yourself and others why you started.

We wrote more about how we designed it in what a fitness community looks like when you design it around Muslim users from day one.

The Ummah journey

Right now the Makkah to Madinah journey is open. Every outdoor cardio session you track with GPS, whether you walk, cycle, or run, adds your distance to a shared total for the whole Rizanah community. The question we are all answering together is how long it takes all of us to cover the 450 kilometers from Makkah to Madinah. You can join a team of up to five people and watch three numbers move: your distance, your team's distance, and everyone's. There is a new journey every month. Here is how the journey works.

Rewards that give

Our favorite part of Rizanah is that being healthy and giving happen at the same time. You earn Seeds for the healthy things you do: a workout, a walk, logging a meal, drinking water. Seeds turn into Gems, and Rizanah uses your Gems to plant a tree, provide a meal, or fund clean water for people who need it, through our charitable partners. You can also use Gems for Premium time or, if you are in the United States, for a healthy kit that Rizanah ships to you. We explain the whole system in can getting healthier also become an act of giving.

Who Rizanah is for

Rizanah is for the person who has never worked out and needs to be told what to do and shown how to do it. It is for the person who has trained for years and wants a clean log and a community that understands them. It is for sisters who want privacy without giving anything up. It is for anyone who felt that the big fitness apps were not made for them. Rizanah is for adults 18 and older, and it does not replace advice from your doctor.

How to start

Rizanah is a mobile app for iPhone and Android. There is a free plan that never expires, and there is a seven-day free trial if you want to try Premium. Start with today's workout, or with tonight's dinner, or with a 30-minute walk. There is something for everyone, and we would be glad to have you with us.

Frequently asked questions

Who built Rizanah?

A husband and wife. He is a certified fitness trainer and she is a product engineer. We built Rizanah for ourselves first, then shared it with family, and now with the wider Ummah.

Is Rizanah free?

Yes. There is a free plan that never expires, and a seven-day free trial of Premium. Premium unlocks the full personalized workout plan and the complete nutrition tools.

Do I need a gym?

No. Tell Rizanah whether you train at home with no equipment, at home with dumbbells, or at a full gym, and the plan and exercise options fit what you have.

Can I use Rizanah with my own routine?

Yes. Use the quick log to record what you do, save your workouts for next time, and look at your history for personal records and trends. You do not have to follow our plan.

Is the community really separated?

Yes. Sisters and brothers have separate spaces, and challenge leaderboards are separated the same way. If Rizanah matches you into a journey team, it matches you with members of the same gender.

Which languages does Rizanah support?

English, Arabic with a full right-to-left layout, and Indonesian. Exercise names, recipe names, and reward items are translated too.

The main idea

We built Rizanah because we wanted a fitness app that respected how we live instead of asking us to hide it. It gives you a workout plan, guides you through each exercise, tracks your cardio, helps you plan your meals, connects you with a community that understands you, and turns your healthy habits into something given to someone else. It made one sister's daily walk better. We hope it does the same for you.