Circadian Health
Research App
For a US research institute studying how the timing of eating, sleep and activity affects health, we built React Native participant apps for iOS and Android, a Next.js coordinator portal and a Django API, on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure.
- 2
- Mobile platforms: iOS and Android
- HIPAA
- Compliant infrastructure
- Offline
- Save, share and sync
- 2
- Health data sources: HealthKit and Google Fit
Client not named. App and portal screens on this page are illustrative.
The client
A biological research institute in the United States, studying how the daily timing of eating, sleeping and activity affects health and wellbeing. The client is not named here.
Its research team wanted to study the effect of timing food intake in people. That meant collecting what participants ate, slept and did, and when, from their daily lives rather than from a lab.
The need
- Mobile apps for both iOS and Android.
- Participants log daily food intake, sleep, exercise, supplements and medication.
- Participants share food photos with research coordinators.
- With each participant’s consent, read step count, distance cycled, heart rate, walking and sleep data from Apple HealthKit and Google Fit.
- Automatic surveys on a schedule the researchers set, with results returned to the research team.
- A custom Feedogram chart so participants can see their own daily food, sleep, exercise and health data.
The approach
We built one platform with three parts. Participants use a React Native app, shipped to both iOS and Android from one codebase. Research coordinators use a coordinator portal built in Next.js. A Django backend API sits between them and holds the single record both sides read.
Because the data is personal health information, the platform runs on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, data is encrypted in transit, and images and files go to secure cloud storage.
Participants log throughout the day, often without a signal, so the app saves, shares and syncs offline and catches up with the server automatically when they sign in.
How it fits together
Participants log on their phones, coordinators review in a web portal, and one Django API sits between them, so both sides always see the same encrypted record.
Device data is read only with each participant's consent, through Apple HealthKit on iOS and Google Fit on Android.
What we delivered
Participant apps on both mobile platforms, the coordinator portal, and the API and infrastructure behind them.
- Participant app for iOS
- React Native app for iPhone, integrated with Apple HealthKit.
- Participant app for Android
- The same React Native codebase on Android, integrated with Google Fit.
- Coordinator portal
- Next.js web app where research coordinators review logged data, photos and surveys.
- Backend API
- Django API behind both the apps and the portal.
- HIPAA-compliant infrastructure
- The apps, API and storage run on infrastructure built for protected health information.
- Encrypted data transmission
- Data is encrypted between the apps, the portal and the API.
- Offline save, share and sync
- Logging works without a connection and syncs with the server on sign-in.
- HealthKit and Google Fit integration
- Steps, distance, heart rate, walking and sleep data, with participant consent.
- Scheduled surveys
- Surveys sent automatically on the researchers’ schedule, with responses returned to the team.
- Feedogram charts
- Custom charts plotting each participant’s food, sleep, exercise and health data over the day.
- Secure file storage
- Food photos and other files stored securely in cloud storage.
- Reminders and tips
- Medicine reminders and customised health surveys and tips for participants.
The participant app and the coordinator portal
Participants see their own day as a Feedogram: when they ate, slept, moved and took supplements. Coordinators see every participant's logging, sync and survey status in one place.
| Participant | Study week | Logging adherence | Last sync | Survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-1042 | Week 6 | 94% | 12 min ago | Done |
| P-1057 | Week 4 | 88% | 1 h ago | Done |
| P-1063 | Week 2 | 71% | 9 h ago | Due today |
| P-1071 | Week 8 | 97% | 25 min ago | Done |
| P-1088 | Week 1 | 63% | 2 d ago | Overdue |
Results
What participants, coordinators and researchers can now do with the platform.
- Participants track their sleep habits and see their sleep quality.
- Participants track their exercise routine, health vitals and lab reports.
- Coordinators and participants see a Feedogram timeline of food and supplement intake.
- Researchers draw insights from data collected across many participants.
- Participants set medicine reminders and receive customised health surveys and tips.
Technology
Three parts of one platform, each on the framework that suits it.
Building an app for a research study?
Tell us what participants need to log and what your coordinators need to see. We will map the apps, portal and infrastructure it would take, including the compliance work.
We can sign an NDA before the first technical conversation.