Healthcare Case study
FitMi: smart-scale nutrition and exercise tracker
FitMi, native iOS and Android apps that weigh food on a Bluetooth smart scale, log meals with nutrition data and track weight, sleep, water and exercise.
- Client
- FitMi
- Service
- Mobile apps, Integrations, Web apps
- Years
- 2016–2018 (2 years)
- Stack
- Android Studio, MySQL, PHP, Java and 5 more
- Platforms
- Android, Web
Overview
FitMi is a health and fitness app for people working on weight loss and fitness goals. It pairs with a Bluetooth smart food scale, so the weight of each portion goes straight into the food log with its calories and nutrition facts, and it adds a planner and trackers for weight, blood pressure, sleep, water and exercise, with separate profiles for several users. We worked on the iOS and Android apps, the server API behind them and an admin panel for health articles between 2016 and 2018, including the Android code migration to Android Studio.
The challenge
The scale and the app each hold a weight and a unit. Taring the scale, switching between units and keeping both in step had to work from either side, on two native platforms, and food logging had to keep working when the phone was offline.
What we built
- iOS and Android apps with a dashboard, food logging with favourites, a meal planner, profile and device management, and settings
- Two-way Bluetooth link to the smart scale: live weight into the food log, tare from the app, units changed from the app or the scale, and automatic background sync
- Barcode scanning and nutrition facts for quick food entry, with food data from Nutritionix
- Trackers with graphs for weight, blood pressure, sleep, water and activity, with several user profiles per account
- Account features such as sign-up, sign-in and password reset, and a PDF generation endpoint
- PHP API endpoints and a database rebuild behind the apps, and an admin panel for managing articles and content
- Icon and screen design work, testing across both platforms, and the migration of the Android code base to Android Studio
How a system like this fits together
Reference architecture: smart-scale nutrition and exercise tracker
Simplified reference architecture, not a client schematic.
- The app pairs with the smart food scale over Bluetooth LE. The weight on the scale appears in the app, and pressing tare or changing the unit in the app is sent to the scale, so both always show the same reading.
- To log food, the user searches by name or scans a barcode on Android, and the app fetches nutrition facts from Nutritionix.
- The app saves the meal with its weight and calories in a local database, so logging works without a connection, and talks to the PHP API over REST for accounts, profiles, meals, the planner and the trackers.
- The API stores users, food logs, plans and weight, blood pressure, sleep, water and exercise entries in MySQL.
Technology used
| Layer | Choice | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Data | MySQL on the server, local database on the phone | user data and offline logging |
| API | PHP (Slim) REST endpoints | accounts, meals, planner, trackers and uploads |
| Android | Java app built with Android Studio, background sync service | same features, barcode scanning and automatic scale sync |
| Devices | Bluetooth LE with the scale maker's SDK | live weight, tare and unit changes in both directions |
| Food data | Nutritionix | food search and nutrition facts |
| iOS | Objective-C app with local storage | logging, planner, trackers and scale pairing |
What happened next
- Delivered
The work described above was delivered to the client.
- Operational facts
- Our work on this project spanned 2016–2018.
Could this be your project?
- You are planning an iOS or Android app, or have one that needs a stronger back end behind it. Mobile app development
- Your product has to connect to payment, accounting, messaging or other third-party systems.
- You work in healthcare and want a team that has built for it before. Healthcare work
Questions about this project
How long did this project take?
Our work on it ran from 2016 to 2018.
What technology was used?
Android Studio, MySQL, PHP, Java, Slim, SQLite, Bluetooth LE, Nutritionix, Objective-C.
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