What it does
Heartly is a mobile health application designed to be an all-in-one hub for tracking key wellness metrics. Its core feature is a heart rate monitor that uses the phone's camera and flash to take a reading. Beyond that, it functions as a digital logbook for manually entering and tracking blood pressure, blood sugar, and BMI. The app also expands into mental wellness with various psychological self-assessment tests and provides a library of health-related articles and recipes.
Where it shines
The app's standout feature is its camera-based heart rate measurement (01:06). The interface for this is clear, with a visual guide showing the user where to place their finger and a real-time pulsing animation that provides feedback during the measurement. Heartly also offers a surprisingly broad set of features, from a 'Heart Score' challenge (01:55) to a 'Heart Age' assessment quiz (04:02) and even a social anxiety test (06:06), attempting to provide a holistic view of a user's health.
UX highlights
- Consolidated Dashboard: The main screen provides a quick overview of the latest results for heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and BMI, which is convenient for at-a-glance tracking (03:58).
- Simple Data Entry: The app uses large, clear number scrollers for inputting data like blood pressure (02:57) and height/weight (03:42), which simplifies the manual entry process.
- Guided Measurement: The heart rate measurement process includes clear instructions and visual feedback, guiding the user to a successful reading (00:55).
- Action-Oriented Content: The 'Protect the heart with diet' section (05:12) doesn't just provide information, it links directly to recipes with a 'How To Cook' call to action.
- Multi-faceted Assessments: The app goes beyond simple vitals by offering psychological tests, adding a layer of mental wellness tracking to its physical health features (06:06).
Monetization & growth
Heartly employs a very aggressive and fragmented monetization strategy. From the moment the app opens, the user is funneled into a hard paywall (00:17) before they can access any features. This paywall uses a potentially deceptive framing, advertising a low price for '7-Day Full Access' that turns out to be a much more expensive weekly subscription (00:42). Even if a user were to subscribe, many features like detailed reports for EKG, Stress, and HRV remain locked behind further 'Pro' paywalls (01:51). For non-paying users, the experience is frequently interrupted by full-screen interstitial ads (00:49, 01:45), creating strong pressure to subscribe to remove them.
Who it’s for
The app is targeted at individuals who want to track multiple health metrics without needing external hardware like a smartwatch or dedicated medical devices. It's for users who are comfortable with manual data entry and are looking for a single app to log heart rate, blood pressure, sugar, and BMI. The inclusion of mental health quizzes suggests it also aims to attract users interested in a more holistic, though less medically rigorous, approach to wellness.
Notes & opportunities
The user experience is significantly hampered by its monetization model. The constant interruption by ads and layered paywalls creates a frustrating loop that prevents users from fully exploring the app's value. The misleading pricing on the initial paywall is a major point of friction that erodes user trust from the start. A clearer, more honest approach, perhaps offering one core feature for free (like the heart rate monitor) and gating the rest, could build more goodwill and potentially lead to better long-term conversion.