FA App

PM, DESIGN, iOS, ANDROID, WEB, QA

/ 2021

_{ON A MISSION}

FA App — Powering the search for a cure for Friedreich’s Ataxia, a rare condition affecting roughly 15,000 people worldwide.

Long story short

The goal of The FA App is to unite and empower the Friedreich's Ataxia community, allowing FAers to participate in finding a cure by enabling novel forms of research. STRV is honored to have designed and built the entire app, and is still providing ongoing support.

FA App Highlights

— Is structurally and permanently not-for-profit
— Meets data protection requirements across 190 countries
— Holds a 5.0 rating on the App Store
— More details about the Discovery Phase

Services / Deliverables

— Product Management
— Product Design
— Frontend Engineering
— Backend Engineering
— iOS Engineering
— Android Engineering
— QA

Elsewhere

— iOS ↗
— Android ↗

About FA App

_{UNITE & EMPOWER}

Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA or FRDA) is a debilitating neuro-muscular disorder for which there is currently no known cure. The FA App project is spearheaded by EndFA working closely with FARA (the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance), which has been pursuing treatments and a cure for over two decades.

To connect the disparate global FA community, the project brought in various advocacy groups and researchers from around the world. Based on the insight provided, STRV was able to design and build an app that is highly accessible, taking into account the many physical limitations that often come with the condition. The FA App also comes in nine languages and is structurally (and permanently) not-for-profit.

Challenge

_{FA-ERS FIRST}

The goal of The FA App is to unite people affected by the condition globally, to empower and involve them in novel forms of virtual research.

We began with an in-depth Discovery Phase to figure out: How do we take a scattered global community and unite it in one app, letting researchers do their work more efficiently and accelerating the progress towards a cure? How do we tailor the product to all stakeholders (researchers, advocacy organizations, individuals and families living with FA, and clinicians)?

We also set out to create an accessible app that keeps in mind FA symptoms such as hand tremors, coordination difficulties and vision/hearing loss; a seamless admin solution ideal for rapid sharing of information and gathering diverse feedback; and data protection across all jurisdictions.

Solution

_{JOINT EFFORT}

The Discovery Phase helped us understand the community through intensive focus groups and interviews. People all over the world shared personal journeys, explained their needs and played an incomparable role in helping us design and develop the product.

The FA App we know today includes two main parts. The first facilitates a connection amongst community members with features such as news and Q&As. The second gives space to novel research projects, allowing FAers globally to enroll and participate in virtual research studies. The data from these studies flows to the commissioning researchers who are working on a cure.

The App includes an integration with a translation platform, comes with an impressive accessibility rating (a user can go through every user flow with fully limited sight) and the admin panel simplifies content and user management, making admin/user interactions effortless. All design and implementation was done in coordination with Data Protection Officers. The FA App meets all legal and security requirements across 190 countries.

Just days after its release and through word of mouth alone, the app was embraced by hundreds within the community. We have since prolonged our cooperation and are honored to be working on the FA App’s next stage, which includes more robust virtual research possibilities.