Having built all of the main screens for the partner app, our developers are currently working to set up partner app account & connection flows.

They’ve added backend functionality to allow partner app accounts to be registered & managed by partner app users. Now they’re setting up connection flows to allow partner app users to connect with main app users (and vice versa) with various possible connection states: invite sent, invite pending response, invite cancelled, invite declined, invite accepted / connection active, connection removed, connection blocked.

After completing this milestone, our developers will be moving onto setting up (near) real-time sync between main app backup accounts and our secure server. This will be a technically complex endeavour but we’re excited to move onto this, as it will facilitate our community’s long-awaited dream of seamless sharing of encrypted charting data with partners! Stay tuned for more updates as we move forward ✨

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After launching the long-awaited fertility charting settings templates feature and backup account upgrade, we were finally able to start working on the implementation of the partner app designs!

We started by implementing several screens as a separate partner view within the main Read Your Body app, in order to allow for internal testing while real-time data sync & sharing between charter / partner accounts is being set up. The following partner app screens have now been built in this way: home, chart, calendar, stats / trends.

The chart & calendar screens are pretty similar to the main app, with additional information pop-ups specifically for partners. The home screen is built similar to the main app’s data screen but with dedicated read-only partner app components for cycle day, cycle phase, fertile window status and key daily data points. The stats / trends screen contains two new views for partners, providing a visual overview of cycles and a user-friendly dashboard of key stats with their averages / ranges.

After completing these screens, we then went about setting up the partner app in the App Stores ready for internal / beta testing. The welcome flow has now also been built, providing a smooth onboarding experience into the partner app.

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Following the completion of the research & design phase, implementation of the partner app was put on hold while various technical preparations & other priority Read Your Body app features including fertility charting settings templates were delivered.

During this time, we implemented a complete upgrade to the backend system for user accounts in the main Read Your Body app. This was a huge technical endeavour that required a lot of development work and internal testing, and thankfully rolled out very smoothly to our community. We also migrated to a new server that is fully scalable & appropriate for real-time data sync / sharing, thereby laying the technical foundations for the partner app.

Our research & design phase started with several focus groups & interviews with partners of Read Your Body app charters. We asked them about their current level / nature of involvement, what they find enjoyable / frustrating in relation to charting / being the partner of a charter, how they currently communicate about fertile days & key menstrual cycle events with their charting partner, and what kind of charting data / features they’d like to see in the partner app. These conversations gave us really rich insights into the specific experiences, needs & goals of various partners in our community.

From this initial research we developed several ‘user personas’ – mapping out typical partner profiles, for example, those who are most interested in simply checking daily fertility status, and those who are keen to dive more deeply into cycle trends to understand typical patterns and support their charting partner’s wellbeing. Identifying these different user profiles through our research allowed us to design the partner app in a way that meets diverse partner needs, putting relevant data at their fingertips with various customisation options similar to the main Read Your Body app.

After shortlisting key partner app features based on what we heard from partners in those initial focus groups & interviews, we developed designs of the main app data sharing flows and the entire ‘MVP’ (minimum viable product) partner app. These interactive prototype designs were then tested with charters & partners in our community through a series of one-to-one calls with a member of our design team. During these video calls the charter / partner clicked through the screen-shared designs on their desktop, narrating their thoughts and feelings as they went, allowing us to gain real-time insights into user experience and refine the designs accordingly.