Digital Health Users - What's on Their Phones?

DIGITAL HEALTH
USERS – WHAT’S
ON THEIR PHONES?
User interviews
www.panacea.digital

These digital health user proﬁles were created based
on my monthly mini user interviews.
Research participants were asked to give me a ‘virtual
tour’ of their phones and tell me about any apps
they use to manage their health and wellness.
If you’re a health app founder you can use them to
better understand user needs and to create user
personas for your product.

PETER
37 years old
UK
🎯 GOALS
Feel safe that if anything happens people
can contact his family.
His medical information to be accurate and
available in case of emergency.
Feel good that he’s looking after himslef in
terms of health and fitness.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Sometimes has issues with Fitbit syncing to
his app.
Doesn’t see value in some of the questions
in symptom tracker.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Logs in daily to sync his Fitbit with the app
Enters medication he’s taking into Health
App.
Activates Map My Walk when running or
walking a dog.
Checks symptoms when unwell.
Entered emergency contacts in Health App.
💎 VALUES
Reliable step tracking
Valid information
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Mainly search in App Store.
Found Ada through App Store ad, had a
health concern at that time so decided to
download.
Ada
Symptom
checking
Health
App
(iOS)
Personal
health
profile
Activity
tracker
Activity
tracker
Fitbit Map My
Walk
“It helps me
ensure that if
something
happened,
someone can just
pick up my phone
and get hold of
my family.”
Created by Panacea Digital | www.panacea.digital
Participants’ names and images are fictional to protect their privacy.

GRACE
56 years old
US, TX
GOALS
Lower stress levels and think positive
thoughts.
Get enough activity to help with her ankle
injury recovery.
Have a reminder to stick to health goals.
Feel good about eating out
Keeping track of healthy habits.
FRUSTRATIONS
Ankle injury and sitting job makes it difficult
to get enough activity.
Doesn’t know how to set a cutsom steps goal
in the tracking app.
The step tracker isn’t as accurate as she’d like.
BEHAVIOURS
Checks for healthy restaurants when eating
out or travelling.
Listens to relaxing sounds when stressed.
Tracks habits related to health.
Adds gratitude journal entries.
Checks positive afirmations throughout the
day
VALUES
User experience
APP DISCOVERY
Mainly search in Play Store, sometimes
searches in Google for recommendations.
Might download several similar apps, try all
and keep the ones she likes best.
Positive
affirmatio
ns
Step
tracker
Relaxing
sounds
Habit
tracker
Gratitude
journal
Healthy
restauran
t finder
“I wanted to find
apps that I felt
were really
supportive of me
and the lifestyle
that I like to have -
the healthy, happy
lifestyle.”

SOPHIE
26 years old
UK
GOALS
Know if her symptoms are serious and
wthether she should see a doctor.
Know when to expect her period and
associated symptoms.
Track her moles in an organised way and
separate from main photos on her phone.
Be able to quickly calm down when panic
attack starts.
FRUSTRATIONS
Struggles with panic attacks.
Not sure how to judge when moles are
unusual.
BEHAVIOURS
Logs in daily to Clue to track different
aspects of wellbeing.
Checks symptoms when feeling unwell.
Uses Pacifica breathing exercises when in
panic attack.
Takes pictures of moles with Skin Vision app
On few occasions printed out Clue cycle
report to discuss with her doctor.
VALUES
User experience
Reliable, objective information
APP DISCOVERY
Search in App Store.
Social media.
Downloads few apps of the same type to try
and then keeps the ones she likes.
Ada
Symptom
checking
Pacifica
Mental
health
and
wellness
Cycle
tracker
Mole
tracker
Clue Skin
Vision
“It really lets me
manage my
health and
wellness, while
before I would
panic when I had
symptoms I knew
nothing about.”

SARAH
39 years old
UK
🎯 GOALS
Maintain optimal body weight she has
achieved after loosing few extra pounds.
Know how much calories she burnt when
walking.
Know how much calories she can consume
in a day.
Enter food she consumed quickly and easily.
Used Fertility Friend to know when she had
best chances to conceive.
Liked the calendar layout because it allowed
her to easily see everything for that month.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
User-generated entries in My Fitness Pal are
often incorrect.
Map My Walk doesn’t always accurately
track the distance.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks what she eats in My Fitness Pal.
Activates Map My Walk when trying out a
new route.
Enters period start and end date to Fertility
Friend. Also tracked temperature when was
trying to conceive.
💎 VALUES
Valid information
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Found both My Fitness Pal and Fertility
Friend through recommendations in a blog
post.
My
Fitness
Pal
Fitness
and
nutrition
Fertility
Friend
Cycle
tracker
Weight
tracker
Activity
tracker
Weight
Tracker
Map My
Walk
“I want to have a
clear picture of
how many calories
I take in and out.
Otherwise I would
probably eat too
much.”
Participants’ names and images are changed.

ROBERT
46 years old
UK
Fitness
and
workouts
Fitness
and
workouts
Fitness
and
Workouts
“I was always self-
motivated
individual so when
the medication
made me gain
weight I took steps
to fight the
adverse effects.”
🎯 GOALS
Loose fat from belly area after he put on
weight due to side effects of medication he
was taking.
Increase the flexibility and reduce muscle
stiffness - also side effect of the medication.
Exercise regime that is easy to follow at own
pace and increases the intensity gradually.
Have fun and be engaged while exercising.
Find exercise that will effectively target
specific body area.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Finds it difficult to deal with the side effects
of medication (weight gain) since he was
always an active and fit person and would
like his body to return to the previous state.
Doesn’t like the workout instructor in the
app shouting out directions, would rather
follow the exercise in quiet.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Follows the 30 day exercise regime from the
app.
Stretches after the workouts.
💎 VALUES
Fun and engaging design
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Searched in Google Play Store for workout
apps that would target belly area.
Tried a few and decided which ones to keep.
6 Pack in
30 Days
Loose
Belly Fat
Stretching

BRIAN
45 years old
UK
Huawei
Health
Activity
tracker
Activity
tracker
Google
Fit App
“I read about
what I can do to
improve my
sleep in the app
so it even gives
me insight into
what to do next.”
🎯 GOALS
Improve sleep quality.
Meet daily steps goal in Google Fit app.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Has troubles sleeping and wakes up a lot
during the night.
Sometimes the smartwatch doesn’t record
his sleep data.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Wears his smartwatch at night to track
sleep.
Checks sleep quality report every morning.
Checks tips on how to improve sleep in
Huawei Health app.
Enters exercise details in Google Fit app.
Checks health information on the NHS
websites when something comes up.
💎 VALUES
Detailed data breakdown.
Comprehensive library of exercise.
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
The apps came as default with either his
smartwatch or phone.
Huawei
Smartwatch
Sleep tracking

JIM
30 years old
UK
🎯 GOALS
Keep track of weights used at the gym to
monitor progress.
Likes that his mobile phone has a heart rate
built in that syncs with the health app, which
makes it more convenient to keep track of
his health.
Easily track food intake without having to
enter foods manually.
Make sure his diet contains all the macros,
which can be challenging when being
vegetarian.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Adverts in the apps are interrupting
workout ﬂow.
Not enough workouts in the database.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Enters weights used on diﬀerent machines
at the gym.
Checks calories in My Fitness Pal when
cooking a new recipe.
Checks daily intake of macros.
Tracks heart rate and water intake in
Samsung Health app.
💎 VALUES
Convenience
Ease of use
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Search in Google Play Store.
Downloads few apps of the same type and
sticks to the one he likes most.
Samsung Health came with the phone so
started using it.
Fitness &
Bodybuil
ding
Fitness
and
workouts
Health
tracking
and
advice
Fitness
and
nutrition
Samsung
Health
App
My
Fitness
Pal
“I can see the
macros for the day
which is very
important when
being a
vegetarian.”

NATALIE
24 years old
UK
Mental
health
tracking
“I love how
customisable it is.
People experience
emotions in
different ways so
it’s really
important to
make it relevant.”
🎯 GOALS
Understand how her new antidepressant
medication is affecting her mental health and
overall wellbeing.
Improve medication adherence.
Being able to customise the tracking categories
and make them relevant to her needs.
Adjust her activities to take the most out of her
days based on identified patterns.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Phone reminders didn’t work for her in the past
because they didn’t prompt her to track
medication intake.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Started taking SSRI medication about a year ago.
Checks mood charts to see if there are any
patterns.
Uses the app to set reminders for taking
medication and track adherence.
Shows mental health charts to her doctor during
checkups.
Tracks her mood daily after the medication
reminder and then additionally if anything comes
up that she wants to record.
💎 VALUES
Customisation
Data presentation
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Found Daylio through a recommendation in a
Reddit thread.
Started with a free version and then purchased
premium to get more data presentation options.
Daylio

MATTHEW
65 years old
UK
NHS App
Health
informati
on
“I looked for
other apps but
this one seemed
genuine since it’s
from the NHS.”
🎯 GOALS
Learn more about his condition - high blood
pressure.
Get tips and recommendations for how to
improve lifestyle.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Checks the app regularly to see if there is
new content about blood pressure.
Checks general health and wellness articles.
💎 VALUES
Reliable information
Trustworthy source
Ease of use
Convenience
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Read about the app on the NHS website.

ELEANOR
52 years old
US, FL
🎯 GOALS
Loose weight by following a Keto diet.
Have an overview of her daily intake of macros
to meet the requirements of Keto diet.
Simplify the calculation of macros.
Make sure she’s getting enough exercise and
physical activity.
Automatically track both exercise and food (scan
label) without having to add manually.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Activity tracking on Apple Watch is sometimes
confusing, it’s not intuitive how to stop it once
the exercise is finished.
Previously was using the Weight Watchers to
track food but found it confusing and annoying
to use.
Would like the Carb Manager to allow her to
easily copy previous day’s meals since she
usually cooks for more than one day.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks meals in Carb Manager.
Tracks activity on My Fitness Pal or Apple
Watch when going on a walk.
Synced Apple Watch with the Carb Manager so
that any exercise is automatically reflected in
the calories allowance.
💎 VALUES
Usability
Results
Data visualisation
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Carb Manager was recommended to her by a
colleague who had previously lost significant
amount of weight thanks to the app.
Carb
Manager
Food
tracking
Food and
fitness
tracking
General
health
tracking
My
Fitness
Pal
Apple
Health
App
“I lost 10 pounds
and I probably
wouldn’t do it
without the app. I
just wouldn’t want
to deal with the
calculations for
net carbs and
other macros.”
Apple Watch
Workout
tracking

OSCAR
25 years old
UK
Fitness
and
nutrition
“If the app doesn’t
provide an easy
way to visualise
progress and
analyse what I’ve
done, then
probably it won’t
be for me.”
🎯 GOALS
Know if he’s having the right amount of calories
and macros per day so he can adjust if needed.
Be able to calm down his mind when the daily
stress and to-do lists pile up.
Feel more in-touch with inner self.
Monitor progress towards his workout goals.
Minimise time it takes to record food and
exercise in the apps.
See progress in a visual way. Visualise
information that otherwise is diﬃcult to track.
Add structure to his health and wellness
routines.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Tracking food and exercise takes him a lot of time
each day.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Meditates twice a day - ﬁrst thing in the morning
and last thing before bed.
Adds workout goals in the exercise tracker app
before each session at the gym. Tracks the
details for the session.
Records whether he found a particular session
easy or hard.
Tracks meals three times a day - breakfast, lunch,
dinner - and also the snacks in between.
💎 VALUES
Data visualisation
Ease of use
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Search on App Store, then choose based on
screenshots and reviews.
My
Fitness
Pal
Meditation Workout
tracker
Insight
Timer

LEAH
31 years old
US, NY
My
Fitness
Pal
Food
tracking
“I like that you
can organise
things by meals,
save recipes and
plan your days in
advance.”
🎯 GOALS
Track and monitor daily calories intake.
Keep track of vitamins and nutrients.
Simplify and organise meal planning and
grocery shopping.
Being a beginner in mindfulness practice,
having a structured programme helped her
commit and ease into regular practice.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks food intake on a daily basis.
Uses My Fitness Pal to plan her meals for
the day ahead and make sure she stays
within her goals. She then uses that to put
together her shopping list.
Follows guided meditations in Headspace
app for 5-10 minutes per day.
💎 VALUES
Comprehensive data-base of meals
Accurate and reliable information
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Chose My Fitness Pal because it seemed to
be the most popular and most frequently
recommended on social media.
Headspace was recommended to her by a
therapist.
Meditati-
on
Head-
space
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Food items in My Fitness Pal data-base are
sometimes wrong.
Would like to access more meditations without
premium subscription.

MELISSA
45 years old
US, FL
🎯 GOALS
Increase physical activity through reaching daily
walking goal.
Get additional motivation to increase step count
through exchanging points for rewards.
Loves that with Sweatcoin she can ‘kill two birds
with one stone’ - getting her health in check and
get points she can exchange for purchases or
cash.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
It takes a long time to build up the point balance
to exchange for rewards.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Checks the Sweatcoin app on a daily basis.
Checks the points balance and how much
more she needs to accumulate for certain
rewards.
💎 VALUES
Gamiﬁcation
Rewards
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Initially she was searching for a ﬁtness band
recommendations online and came across
Sweatcoin app through a Youtube review
video.
Achieve-
ment
Health
tracking
and
rewards
Step
tracking
and
rewards
Sweat-
coin
“In the past I’ve
been walking out
of my own accord.
However, with
Sweatcoin, it gives
you an additional,
tangible reason to
get into a
routine.”

PAULA
43 years old
Spain / UK
Step
tracker
“I’m not aiming for
speciﬁc results,
but just want to
know that I’m
doing the
minimum required
for my health.”
🎯 GOALS
Initially started walking daily to lose weight.
Currently she wants to maintain that healthy
habit and make sure she is doing the minimum
required for her health.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Knows that sitting job isn’t good for her health
but doesn’t have time to go to the gym on a
regular basis.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Checks the daily step count, mainly out of
curiosity as normally she has an idea of how far
she is from her goal.
If she didn’t meet the goal for certain days, she
tries to make up for it the next day.
Records period start and end date in the cycle
tracking app.
💎 VALUES
Usability
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Chooses apps based on popularity and number
of reviews in the App Store.
Cycle
tracker

MAX
23 years old
UK
My
Fitness
Pal
Food
tracking
“I want to make
sure that I take
care of my
overall health,
not just physical
but mental
health as well.”
🎯 GOALS
Get optimal results from his weight training at
the gym.
Get guidance on healthy eating and track
results.
Make sure that he is proactive about both
physical and mental health as he thinks both
are equally important.
Clear his mind and step back from daily tasks.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Goes to gym.
Tracks food in My Fitness Pal to make sure he
gets the right amount of macros.
Listens to guided mediations 2-3 times a week.
Usually in the evening as it makes it easier for
him when it’s dark outside.
Checks the stats about his sleep in Pillow out of
curiosity.
💎 VALUES
Usability
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
My Fitness Pal was recommended by a friend.
Discovered Headspace through featured
section in the App Store.
Meditati-
on
Head-
space
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Even though the barcode scanning is very useful,
it still takes a lot of time to track all the food,
because you have to think back through your day
and remember everything you had.
Sleep
tracker
Pillow

GILBERT
21 years old
AUS
🎯 GOALS
Get his knee stronger and more stable after a
knee injury.
Make sure he does the exercises correctly. He
likes the video demonstrations that show him
how to do them. The number of reps for each
session helps him keep track of his recovery
programme.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
The app doesn’t show the progress of where he
is with his programme.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Follows the exercises from the app 4-5 times a
week, usually at the gym.
The exercises are set up for him by a
physiotherapist.
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
The app was recommended to him by a
physiotherapist, to help her communicate the
plan and required exercises.
Physi
App
Physio-
therapy
“If I’m not sure
exactly how do it,
the video
demonstrations
allow me to look
at the technique.”

SAI
20 years old
India
Workouts
“Six months back I
was really lazy, not
able to do any
workout. Now I
feel really
motivated and I
have confidence in
myself.”
🎯 GOALS
Feel more energised, confident and motivated.
Stay healthy and get a fit body.
Be able to exercise at home and without any
equipment.
Be able to easily find relevant workouts for
different body parts.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Doesn’t have a gym anywhere near where he
lives.
Gym equipment is expensive.
Number of adverts in the Home Workouts. While
he understands that it is a free app and needs
the ad revenue to keep creating new content, he
does find the ads frustrating and disruptive to
the workout experience.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Follows the exercises from Home Workouts in
the morning at home.
Tracks the number of steps and burnt calories in
Mi Fit app.
💎 VALUES
Large library of workouts
Ease of finding relevant workouts
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Search in Google Play Store. Chose the app
based on the number of reviews and downloads.
Activity
tracker
Home
Workout
s
Mi Fit
Xiomi Mi
Activity
tracking

NICOLE
24 years old
Philippines
Water
tracker
“I’m not a type of
person who
would naturally
pay attention to
what I eat, so
having the
information right
in from of me
really helps.”
🎯 GOALS
Lose weight after having a baby.
She is not a person that would naturally pay
attention to what she eats so having the
information in front of her helps her stay on
track.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks water intake. Follows a timeline to drink
enough water at certain times of the day.
Checks the calories intake 1-2 times a week.
💎 VALUES
User experience
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Search on Google Play Store. Chose apps
based on reviews and number of downloads.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Gained weight after having a baby.
Can’t perform more vigorous exercise due to
recovering from C-section.
Activity
and food
tracker

AMAR
26 years old
BIH
🎯 GOALS
He walks a lot so wants to track the number of
miles on a daily and weekly basis.
Wants to be able to set up a custom goal and
see his progress towards that goal.
Wants to see basic information about his
movement and understand how that affects hid
body.
Would like to get recommendations for what
food or diet would improve his overall
wellbeing.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Would like heart rate meter to be more
accurate.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks distance walked, calories burnt and
consumed and heart rate in Huawei health
app.
Sets custom goals in the app.
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Huawei health app came preinstalled.
Initially used it only for tracking miles but with
time he discovered additional functions and
became interested in those.
Initially looked on Google Play Store but didn’t
find suitable apps.
Huawei
Health
App
Activity
tracking
“I wanted to keep
track of overall
miles because I
walk a lot. And to
know basic
information about
my movements
and how that
affects my body.”
💎 VALUES
Accuracy of readings.

AUREL
23 years old
HUN
Journaling
app
“I used to work out
back in the days
and didn’t get
results. Since I
started using
Fitness Pal I
realised that I
wasn’t eating
enough.”
🎯 GOALS
Destress and declutter mind at the end of the
day and feel happier.
Know how different foods affect his energy levels
and sleep.
Maintain the right amount of protein to achieve
desired workout results.
Know if he needs to adjust his food intake for the
day e.g. add a protein-rich snack.
Minimise the time it takes to tracks food and
easily input unusual e.g. ethnic foods.
Get accurate readings on macronutrients in his
diet.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Hasn’t been able to get into the habit of
journaling each day.
Finds that My Fitness Pal is slow to load
sometimes.
Would like an easier way to correlate his food
intake with sleep and energy levels, so he can
understand how food affects those things.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks food in My Fitness Pal after each meal.
💎 VALUES
Big database of foods to search from.
Ease of entering and analysing information.
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Read in a newsletter that gratefulness and
journaling practice can be beneficial so decided
to find a tool that would help him do that.
My Fitness Pal was recommended by one of the
fitness influencers he follows.
Grateful-
ness app
Food and
activity
tracking
My Fitness
Pal

JEFFREY
51 years old
USA
Activity
tracking
“I checked Apple
Health this
morning to see
how it’s going to
wrap up June,
what my average
steps and miles
were, and how it
compares to May.”
🎯 GOALS
See how his activity level is changing every
month.
See general trends whether his activity levels
went up or down.
Get extra rewards for the activities he is doing
(Achievement app).
Know if he needs to walk or hike more the
next day or week to maintain desired levels of
activity.
📱 BEHAVIOURS
Tracks the distance while walking or hiking.
Tracks general activity stats in Apple Health e.g.
ﬂights of stairs.
Collects points for activity in Achievements app
and cashes out rewards.
Reads articles and answers surveys for points in
Achievements app.
Compares his activity levels month to month in
Apple Health and Run Keeper.
Uses an internet browser to search for health
symptoms.
💎 VALUES
Accuracy of readings.
Gamiﬁcation and rewards.
🔍 APP DISCOVERY
Blog posts and articles online.
Run Keeper was recommended by a friend.
😡 FRUSTRATIONS
Not sure how apple health interprets the data as
it sometimes seems very inaccurate.
Can’t track elevation on treadmill workouts.
Rewards
Run
Keeper
Achieve
ments
Health
tracking
Apple
Health
App

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