P85YKU - Super Singhs - Promise Pals

Inspiration

Most people give up on their health goals, and there are psychological reasons for this.

50% of people fail to stick to home based exercise programs (JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2018) Just because people intend to do an activity does not mean they will follow through. A meta-analysis of experiments showed that there was only a small to medium effect of behavior change when intentions were changed by a medium to large amount (Webb and Sheeran, 2006). Just intending to do your physio is not enough. However, if people have concrete plans then they are much more likely to achieve their goals. In 94 independent studies it was shown that those who had decided exactly when and where they would do their activity were much more likely to achieve their goal (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006). (d=0.65). This was a medium to large effect. Habits take significantly longer to develop than most people think. On average, it takes 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Some people took up to 254 days (Lally et al., 2009) to turn their new behavior into a habit. The popular 21 days is completely unfounded. However, it was found that missing one day made little difference to habit formation. However, those who were extremely inconsistent did not develop a habit. It is much more important to attend than be perfect. Having a strict streak will not help. Keeping track of progress will help. In 138 trials it was found that keeping track of progress helped people achieve their goals. They were even more likely to do so if they shared their progress (Harkin et al., 2016).

All of this means that having a concrete plan for each day, being patient throughout the long middle of developing a habit, and being lenient with yourself on the odd off day will help. Most health apps are individual and many are based around tracking steps. This means those doing physio at home, recovering from injury/surgery, those in wheelchairs and those whose goals cannot be tracked with a number will struggle. Their most important tasks will be quiet, repetitive and easy to give up on. Usually there is no one there to notice.

However, Duolingo shows that with the correct design this can be overcome. Learning a language can be a slow, repetitive task that is easy to give up on. However millions of people open Duolingo everyday. There are similar problems with health goals. Whilst there is a real benefit, it is a long term benefit and the daily task is boring. No one has created an experience like Duolingo for health goals. The issue is that there is no real person. Whilst Duolingo has streaks and a mascot to keep you coming back, your friends will mainly just see a number. Promise Pals gives you a concrete time each day. Someone real in your area of Calgary will see you checking in and confirm. If you have a bad day they will be empathetic. You will feel pressure to attend because you don’t want to let them down.

What it does

Promise Pals will match you with a real person in your local Calgary area that is also working towards a similar health goal. As it is designed for people not tracked by step counters, any goal can be used including doing physio exercises, sleeping, getting outdoors, mobility exercises or wheelchair exercises.

Create a promise Choose your goal and time you want to complete your task everyday. Meet your partner View your partner’s first name, picture, Calgary community and goal. Daily confirmation Either take a picture of what you have done or link your Fitbit. Your partner will confirm you have completed your task and you will gain a streak together.

How we built it

Frontend: [Next.js / React / TypeScript / Tailwind]. Mobile first design with a retro pixel art theme. Backend/Database: VSCode Authentication: Email and password. Image and goal verification: [AI Model/API used]. Matching: Matched by Calgary community, goal type and time. Fitbit: OAuth via Google login Pixel Character & Avatar: The character has logic to change depending on what is happening. Clinic Dashboard: General data only. Data will not be shown until there are 5 people in the group.

Challenges we ran into

Trusting without chat. We felt it was a risk to match strangers so we removed any free text. This meant we had to make sure the messages were friendly and personal.

Meeting safely. Whilst it can be beneficial to meet people, we felt it was a risk to meet someone you don’t know. We have suggested meeting in public places and it is optional.

Verification without being intrusive. Whilst taking a picture everyday makes you feel like you have completed your task, we didn’t want people to take inappropriate pictures or ones that are not relevant. We have used AI to verify all goals and pictures. There is also a Why? section.

Designing for those not tracked by step counters. Many goals cannot be measured by steps such as physio exercises and wheelchair exercises. We have made it so anyone can use it by taking a picture and having your partner confirm. Fitbit is optional.

Non-punishing streaks. Whilst streaks like in Duolingo are very effective, it can cause problems with health goals. We don’t want someone with an injury or a bad week to feel guilty to stop doing their task. The character and streak has been designed so that if you have a bad day they will be understanding.

Useful for clinics but safe for patients. We wanted clinics to see real impact but not see individuals. Data will only be shown once there are 5 people.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Working end to end flow. Promises, matching, daily images, partner confirmation and shared streak. Designed for people not usually considered by most fitness apps. Designed with safety in mind. Only adults (18+), only first names, all content has been verified by AI, suggestions to meet in public places and can be ended in one click. No chat. Friendly character and avatar. Clinic dashboard that protects privacy. [Other achievements. E.g. User testing, Talked to clinic, Polished demo.]

What we learned

Duolingo shows that small actions everyday, a friendly character and tracking progress can help make a difficult habit stick. Adding a real person makes it even more important. Human accountability is best. The app should make it easy and stress free. Inclusive design should ask who is not usually measured. Many decisions were made around safety. This influenced the product.

What's next for Promise Pals

Pilot with a Physio clinic in Calgary or campus program. Expand to Apple step tracking and other ways of tracking fitness More wearables. E.g. Apple Health & Google Fit. Voice notes and reactions to images between partners. Expand to other cities.