A new fitness app is aiming to harness the power of friendship to help people improve their fitness and lead more active lifestyles.

US-based start-up Playground Health has just launched its first app for iPhone, with ‘social fitness’ at the heart of its proposition. The free app advocates the “Quantified We” – the idea that maintaining an active lifestyle is easier (and more fun) with the friends you’re already connected to than by yourself.

The Playground app is designed to leverage the iPhone and Apple Watch in conjunction with a user’s existing Facebook friends to create activity-based social games between friends and family. In addition to competitive and co-operative challenges, the app allows users to join more than 50,000 communities, including cities around the world and universities in the United States.

“The future of social fitness is bright,” said Playground founder Ted Grajeda. “With cities and universities beginning to compete against their natural rivals, we feel people will begin to see the power of contributing steps to a common goal, instead of trying to achieve their fitness goals alone.”

The effect that friendship can have on exercise adherence has also caught the attention of scientists. Last year, the University of Bristol launched a study to assess whether a peer-led intervention could address the steep reduction in teenage girls doing physical activity at secondary school.