The short answer: before you cancel your current software, ask in writing for all your data: members, fees, payments, photos, contracts and direct debit mandates. It’s yours, and EU law requires the provider to give it back. Load it into the new one, check fees and dates, and keep both open until the first billing run has gone through.

1. Before you give notice: your data, in writing

It’s yours. The software processes your members’ data on behalf of your gym, and when the service ends it has to return it or delete it, as you choose (EU General Data Protection Regulation, art. 28.3.g). Choose to have it returned, and ask before you cancel.
Check your contract. The notice period, the minimum term and how long you can still log in to export your data. Don’t let your access close before you have the copy.
Ask for files anyone can open. A CSV or an Excel file for each thing, not a PDF or screenshots.

2. What you need to take with you

Members: name, phone, email, join date and status (active, paused, cancelled).
Fees: what each member pays and when it’s due. It’s the hardest thing to rebuild by hand.
Payment history: for your reports and for your accountant.
Photos: they almost never come in the members file; ask for the folder separately.
Signed contracts and direct debit mandates. In the EU’s SEPA system, each mandate has a unique reference and its signature date (Spanish Banking Association), which go into every direct debit batch, and the original must be kept (EPC SEPA rules).

3. Billing, without interruptions

Your members don’t need to sign the direct debit again because you change software, as long as the creditor is still your gym: the mandate is between them and your gym. If you change bank or company, ask your bank first. What you do need is to take each mandate’s reference and date with you.
Switch right after a billing run, not just before: that gives you a whole month to check everything.
Take your time with the first batch from the new software: compare the total with last month’s before you upload it to the bank.

4. The first month

Check fees and due dates member by member. A mistake here means a member you don’t charge, or one you charge twice.
Tell your team and your members: if the app or the entry pass changes, they should know before they reach the door.
Keep the copy from the old software at least for as long as anything could still be claimed.

Frequently asked questions

Does my current software have to give me my data if I leave?

Your members' data is yours: the software processes it on your behalf. The EU General Data Protection Regulation requires the provider, when the service ends, to return or delete the data, as you choose (art. 28.3.g). Ask for it to be returned, in writing, before you cancel.

Which data do I need to take with me?

At the very least: each member's record with their contact details, their fee and its due date, the payment history, the photos, the signed contracts and the direct debit mandates with their reference and signature date.

Do my members have to sign their direct debits again?

Not because you change software, as long as the creditor is still your gym: the member signed the mandate with your gym, not with the software. What you need is to take each mandate's unique reference and signature date with you, because they go into every direct debit batch, and to keep the originals.

How long does it take to switch gym software?

It depends on how your current software exports the data. If it gives you the files, loading them takes an afternoon; what takes longer is checking that every member has the right fee and due date.

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Bring your gym over to Reverfit

Drop in the files from your old software and the photos all at once, and your members, fees and payment history are loaded. If you’re coming from Magicline, we export it for you, photos included. And you can download your backup whenever you like: your data leaves with you. The dashboard is in English. Try it free for 7 days.

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