MyFitnessPal buys coaching app Sessions to bring accountability to your workouts

MyFitnessPal has all the users (50 million and counting). It has all the data, and it integrates with all the devices.

Now all it needs is a kinder, gentler drill sergeant. That’s where Sessions comes in.

This Rock Health-backed app connects users with coaches who offer advice, provide support, set goals, and demand accountability.

Sessions has been acquired by MyFitnessPal, the companies announced this morning. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor do we know anything about the fate of the existing Sessions app.

“What you’ll see in the future is a new offering from MyFitnessPal,” said a MFP rep. “We don’t know what that will look like yet.”

Whether or not a standalone Sessions remains after the deal closes is a mystery; we do know that the Sessions team, including co-founders Nick Crocker and Ben Hartney, will join the MyFitnessPal team.

“Our members have told us they want expert advice and accountability,” said MyFitnessPal co-founder Mike Lee.

“Acquiring Sessions gives us a team that’s been thinking about coaching for years to help us jumpstart our own coaching initiatives. This move positions MyFitnessPal to provide yet another layer of offerings to what we already have: the largest-ever set of health data and tools, and a living, breathing study in how to make healthy living the new normal for millions of people.”

In fact, the startups say, 90 percent of existing Sessions members have continued with their selected programs through completion.

Sessions was founded in 2012 and has taken $20,000 from Rock Health and an undisclosed amount from SV Angel and others.

In other numbers, MyFitnessPal claims it now integrates with 80 percent of wearable activity trackers (Jawbone, Fitbit, etc.). The Sessions acquisition was made on the strength of last year’s $18 million fundraise.