Wanted: PWDs to Test Massive Health’s New Genre of Diabetes iPhone App
Calling all people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes with iPhones! Want to be part of early testing on a brand new genre of diabetes iPhone app that is NOT a logbook, “learns” your personal details as it goes along, and actually coaches you to make healthy choices in a fun and interactive way?
That at least is the promise of the flagship app created by Massive Health, a much-hyped San Francisco startup focused on “developing patient-centered digital tools for behavior change, to treat and manage chronic disease… with an emphasis on elegance, user engagement, gamification, feedback loops, and analysis of passively-collected health and wellness data”
I had a sneak-peak preview of Massive’s “Alpha” early stage app at the recent ADA conference, and I must say, it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen for diabetes on the iPhone to date The app is code-named “Penguin” and indeed, a little Pingu-like character acts as your guide through the info bits, questions, and encouragement offered It brings to mind this year’s DiabetesMine Design Challenge grand prize winner diaPETic, only even more dynamic with Angry-Birds-like animation, if you can imagine
A few details from Massive’s co-founder and CEO Sutha Kamal:
- “We take a humorous, almost snarky but friendly tone in the app… its something people can relate to… something that helps them make sense of their information, discover trends and patterns they wouldnt see before…”
- “A lot of thought has been put into all the small touches info graphics, icons, the app layout itself We hope people find it ‘fun’ in the way that an iPhone is fun: it makes things so simple and engaging that the experience is seamless and enjoyable”
- “We use everything you tell us medication times, eating, BG readings, etc to customize the experience We think people will get meaning from the data they collect instead of having yet another logbook Theyll get encouragement in their goals, a system that learns about and adapts to them, and theyll get something thats really a joy to use
- “The Alpha testing is also a huge part of this: We want to get feedback from individuals on what things they love and what things they dont… Ultimately we cant build something that people are going to love without their input!”
Seems to me like a pretty cool chance to play around with something that may very well represent the future of UI’s for health behavior change
If you’re interested in participating, click here to register
Note: they’ll be opening up Alpha testing to around 100 people initially, and then sending out more invitations over the next several weeks — so if you sign up and don’t hear back immediately, do not be discouraged
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