Inspirers – Supporting Hypertension Patients: UX in Health Apps

Challenge #1: Offline Mode

The elderly audience often lacks stable internet access, so offline functionality was critical. For a medical adherence app, this poses serious risks for data accessibility and usability.

Solution

We built a local-first data architecture where all patient data is stored directly on the user’s device. Our custom sync flow merges updates across devices once internet access is restored, minimising data loss and improving reliability.

Challenge #2: Localisation

The app needed to support both Portuguese and English, with drastically different UI requirements (title lengths, date/time formats). The client also wanted to expand to Spanish quickly.

Solution

We decoupled all UI text from the codebase and structured translations in XML, allowing the client to add new languages independently — no dev team needed. We also validated the UI against localisation quirks for Portugal and the UK.

Challenge #3: Push Notifications

We couldn’t find a single cross-platform solution that worked consistently across iOS and Android. Notifications are critical in a health context, so stability was non-negotiable.

Solution

After testing multiple tools, we used two open-source libraries — Shiny.Notifications (iOS) and localnotificationsplugin (Android) — to deliver a robust notification system tailored to each platform.

Challenge #4: Hidden Logic and Beta Feedback

Beta testers needed more flexible ways to track edge cases — like half-pills, skipped doses, or off-schedule medication. These weren’t originally requested but proved essential for usability.

Solution

We expanded the app’s logic to accommodate nuanced user behaviours. This included smarter dose tracking, pill-splitting support, and UX tweaks for out-of-schedule usage — all based on real user input.

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UX Results: Improved Health App Engagement and Adherence

Currently, Inspirers is in its beta version. The app facilitates control over hypertension measurements and medicine intake, with two corresponding modules and an additional module that generates reports on the user's progress.

Within features of the medication module, users add drug lists from prescriptions, including required dosages and intake schedules. They receive notifications when it’s time to take their pill and are prompted to take photographs of the blister pack. That promotes accountability & makes adherence easy: patients don’t skip pills and don’t take the same pills twice if they forgot if they’ve already taken one. As a result, Inspirers increases treatment efficiency and helps doctors save lives.

In the blood pressure measurement module, patients first create a plan and indicate how often and when they would like to measure their blood pressure (or they can choose a standard, 7-day measuring plan.) To record the data, a user takes a picture of the display of their measuring device.

Within Inspirers, we’ve built the following features:

• Medication intake scheduler, with intuitive UX design for health apps to track SOS medication
• User profile, customised for older users, optimised through health app UX best practices
• Reports about patients’ adherence are built automatically and can be shared with doctors, which helps them support and guide a user in their treatment
• Schedule-based push notifications that prompt sticking to a medication schedule and better health management
• Multiple device support and offline mode, which mean better accessibility & adherence in almost any circumstance as the data in the app is synchronised. It’s also protection from losing patient data
• Portuguese localisation with adaptable UI.

By turning complex healthcare requirements into clear, actionable features, we created a mobile solution that improves medication adherence, reduces doctor workload, and empowers patients — all through UX design tailored specifically for health and wellness apps.