Thinking of creating a health app? Before you get started there are several important factors to consider if you want to compete successfully in this crowded marketplace. According to research2guidance’s 2016 study, the growth of mobile health (or mHealth) app downloads has slowed, but many new apps are still being produced, so supply is outpacing demand. The study suggests that overall revenues for mHealth services will continue to grow over the next few years which means there is still a great deal of potential for new apps to find a place in the market if they provide users with real value and utility. What Health App Consumers Want With so many choices already available, be sure you are investing in an app that will stand out and attract consumers. How do you make your app indispensable? Let’s review some of the things your potential customers want from a health app. DIY Health Users like apps that allow them to gather the information they want easily. Sometimes this is as simple as looking up existing information on health-related topics, but many of the most popular mHealth apps are wellness apps that promote a healthy lifestyle. They help the user track information on their diet, exercise, heart rate, sleep, and more. Some even have social media functions built in so users can share certain information with their followers. Some apps monitor general health, while others are designed to track data related to a specific condition such as migraines, fertility, or diabetes. Having this information at their fingertips can help the user feel like they’re taking charge of their health. Sensors and Wearable Devices Diet-tracking apps generally require the user to input what they eat and drink manually, but sensors that passively collect other types of data can be even more useful. Wearable items such as patches, smartwatches and fitness tracking bands contain sensors that can detect the user’s activity levels, sleep, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, and more. The GPS in a mobile device can determine the user’s speed and distance traveled while exercising. It can also use the physical location to find information about current environmental conditions around the user, such as local weather, pollen levels, and other data that may affect health. This information is particularly useful for users tracking allergies. When developing a wearable device to connect with your mHealth app, remember that it needs to be comfortable, lightweight, and water-resistant so it’s not intrusive to the user. Personalized Messaging The information the user inputs, both actively and passively, can be used to produce push notifications with personalized messages. These can include reminders to perform an activity or take medication, updates on progress toward certain goals, or even warnings based on live data. Uses for Collected Health Data Users of these apps can choose to share their mHealth data with their doctor. This data can help patients and their doctors notice worsening or even the potential development of medical conditions before the associated symptoms become obvious, and is likely to be more accurate than the user’s self-reported information. This is especially true for data the user cannot collect by him or herself, such as ongoing heart rate and blood pressure levels or sleep cycles. On a larger scale, using such data from a group of individuals participating in clinical studies could ensure more thorough and accurate results, but it’s important that apps comply with regulations regarding patient privacy and the sharing of medical information. mHealth has immediate potential to improve patient outcomes, as well as prevent and detect medical issues. It could also reduce costs related to hospital readmission or a patient’s failure to adhere to treatment. Young users can become more engaged with monitoring their own health, leading them to develop good habits now that can help them maintain wellness as they age. The future is bright for user-friendly mHealth apps that can positively impact a user’s quality of life. Is your company planning to build an mHeath app? Contact us so we can help you make it a reality.

The world receives healthcare far differently than ever before, thanks to rapidly improving technology. For instance, we can tap around a few times on our smartphones and about 45 minutes later, a pizza will arrive at the door. That’s healthy, right? Outside of the benefits of cheesy bread, technology gives us a wide range of opportunities we can use to improve and monitor our health. From Fitbits to mobile blood sugar monitors, we now have an expansive world of options to feel better and decrease discomfort. One discomfort that is extremely common is located in one of the most vital parts of our bodies - our backs. No kidding, a reported 80% of us will suffer from back pain at some point in our lives. 80%! We were approached by a revolutionary company called Nuspine, whose aim was to improve that terrible statistic. Nuspine’s vision was to work with what you’ve got, right where you are. They wanted an easy-to-use solution that back pain sufferers could access from the comfort of their home, in a convenient way. We add the convenient bit because, sure, a few taps on a smartphone could cause a spine expert to arrive at your door much like the aforementioned pizza, but who has time for that anyway? Instead, they assembled a group of spine and back experts and got to work designing exercises and routines that the common back pain sufferer could access and use on an everyday basis. Putting it all together, they developed a training program designed to reduce spine compression, which aids in reducing overall back pain. Once we took on this project, we knew that simple UI/UX was going to be key. These folks are dealing with back pain, the last thing they need is an app that’s confusing, complicated, and ultimately frustrating. The team also realized the challenge of moving a user through a training system as sophisticated as one dealing with improving the health of the user. As such, the exercises are delivered through a step-by-step progression learning system, guiding the patient through modules in order to learn more techniques, and improve spinal health. As further steps are taken through the Nuspine system, the user unlocks bonus tips that help the patient further understand the principles of back pain, and how the body is influenced by the environment around them. Nuspine also includes a tracking journal, developed by the National Institute of Health, helping the user further understand the impact back pain has on their lifestyle. As the patient moves through the training, the journal keeps track of exactly when they improve, which helps them understand which elements of Nuspine were the most effective. This innovative system was created for on-the-go patients, physicians, and clinicians, in order to work together to streamline the healing process for those 80% of us who have ever suffered from back pain. Which means, if you’re reading this right now and feel discomfort in your back - it’s time to give Nuspine a try. Barefoot Solutions works with a wide range of innovators to create apps that people will use, apps that make money, and apps that improve everyday lives. Have an idea? Let’s hear it.

There are fitness trackers, and then there’s the Naked 3D Fitness Tracker. Clickbait name aside, this new fitness tracking device has the potential to seriously disrupt the market for individuals who want regular, accurate, and motivating details about their fitness journey. In recent years, most fitness tracking developments have come in the form of wearables and other devices that are meant to gamify the process of losing weight. Naked 3D Fitness Tracker is not that. In simple terms, it’s an app for iOS and Android, paired with a high-tech mirror and turntable scale. Pitched as “the world’s first home body scanner,” the device creates a 3D model of your body as you stand on a Bluetooth-connected scale. That scale rotates 360º while the full-length mirror uses Intel RealSense Depth Sensors to do a full body scan in just 20 seconds. Those sensor images are stitched together to create a 3D avatar visualization of your body. That image appears on your app, complete with metrics galore: weight, body fat, muscle gain and loss, circumference of muscles, and more. That 3D visualization isn’t a stagnant image. Instead, built in heat maps highlight where you’ve lost fat and gained muscle over time. Compare your 3D avatar from one month to the next and it’s easy and astounding to see the progress that has been made. It’s the measurement of incremental daily improvements that helps users stay on track with their fitness goals — rather than being motivated by questions such as “am I getting healthier?” The Reasoning Behind Naked 3D Naked 3D was developed by a San Francisco-based startup called Naked Labs. Farhad Farahbakhshian, the CEO and co-founder, is an electrical engineer and former spin teacher who wanted to give people of all sizes an objective and accurate picture of their appearance, health, and fitness level. Farahbakhshian told TechCrunch that without the help of technology, eyes can focus on problem areas, which can lead to inaccurate perceptions of how a body looks. Not only that, but appearance is just one piece of the puzzle: one person can look great but not have enough fat, and another person can be overweight but not realize how out of sync their muscle and fat levels are. While some may challenge the device as promoting body shaming or putting too much emphasis on one’s physical appearance, that’s not the purpose at all. Rather, it’s meant to help people visualize beyond their physical appearance, and use science to keep people on track as they work towards improving their health. Unlike intelligent scales and other devices that estimate body fat within a margin of 8%, Naked 3D can get that estimate to within 1.5%, making it comparable to a water displacement test. Implications for Future Use Projections of body fat and muscle gain are just the start for Naked 3D. Farahbakhshian says the startup is open to integrating with other fitness trackers and services in order to provide people with a more holistic view of their body and exercise routine. He told Wareable that Naked 3D could also be used to detect asymmetries in a person’s body, quirks that could pose the potential for future injuries. With a full picture of your body and its development over time, the device will also likely have the potential to show targeted areas of improvement to prevent strain and increase overall health. Finally, Naked Fit also envisions working virtually with trainers so people can get personalized exercise tips along the way. Naked 3D has been beta testing on real people since 2015 and you can see the results for yourself as of March 2017 when shipping for the mirror and scale begins.