Industry Served: HealthTech
PillBuddy, A Smart Medication Companion App By Hexia Health
A Dedicated Medication Reminder and Disease Guide App, Turning Medication Adherence Into a Rewarding, Manageable Daily Habit
Healthcare That Puts You First
Discuss your projectMedication non-adherence is one of the most persistent and costly problems in healthcare. Patients with chronic conditions, managing daily prescriptions for hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or other long-term conditions, miss doses not because they choose to, but because life gets in the way. A missed dose becomes a habit; a habit becomes a health outcome.
Hexia Health was founded by Odunola Oyegade, a pharmacist and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in healthcare, with a clear conviction: technology should make it easier for people to stay consistent with their medications, understand their conditions better, and take genuine control of their health journey. PillBuddy is the product of that conviction.
We were the development partner for PillBuddy, building an iOS and Android app that goes well beyond a simple reminder, combining intelligent medication tracking, AI-powered alerts, caregiver connectivity, gamified adherence streaks and a disease guide into a single, accessible health management platform.
Project Challenges & Needs
Beyond The Basic Reminder
Simple alarm-based reminders exist in every smartphone. Hexia Health needed a platform that understood medication management as a health behaviour, not a calendar event, one that tracked adherence, visualised progress and motivated users to stay consistent rather than just alerting them.
Caregiver And Family Connectivity
For elderly patients, people with complex conditions or anyone managing medications across a household, a solo app is not enough. The platform needed to support automatic notifications to a trusted contact when a dose was missed, turning a private health habit into a supported one.
Medication Shortages And Refill Friction
Running out of medication is one of the most common causes of treatment interruption. The app needed to track stock levels, alert users ahead of running out and, critically, allow direct refill orders to a trusted pharmacy from within the app, removing the friction that causes delays.
Understanding Conditions Alongside Medications
Patients who understand their condition take medications more consistently. The disease guide provides clear information about conditions and medications, helping users understand their prescriptions and follow their treatment with greater confidence.
Sustaining Adherence Over The Long Term
Starting a new medication is straightforward; sustaining it over months or years is not. The platform needed engagement mechanics that rewarded consistency, streaks, milestones and encouragement, making adherence feel like progress rather than obligation.
Personal Health Insights For Better Decisions
A user who can see their adherence history, mood patterns and symptom trends over time is better equipped to have an informed conversation with their doctor. The app needed to aggregate this personal data into meaningful insights rather than leaving it as raw log entries.
Our Solution
We built a cross-platform mobile app for iOS and Android, delivering:
Interfaces We Developed
Patient-Facing Mobile App (IOS & Android)
The primary product, used daily for medication management and health tracking:
- Registration via email or Google Sign-In, with biometric lock on subsequent access
- Customisable reminder alerts with snooze, skip and mark-as-taken actions
- Medication setup: drug name, dosage, frequency, meal timing, photo and start date
- Adherence dashboard: daily schedule view, progress bar, weekly and monthly charts
- Gamified streaks: track and celebrate consecutive days of full adherence
- AI-powered shortage alerts with pharmacy refill integration
- Disease guide: condition and medication information accessible within the app
- PDF health report generation for sharing with healthcare providers
- Missed dose caregiver alert: automatic notification to a contact when a dose is missed
- Mood and symptom log: daily mood entry, symptom selection and pain level rating
- Drug interaction checker: safety warnings flagged within the medication setup flow
- Home screen and lock screen widgets for dose marking without opening the app
- Stock tracking: current supply count, low stock alerts and refill reminders
- Personalised health insights: trends across adherence, mood and symptoms over time
- Doctor appointment manager with date, time and reminder settings
- Dark mode (light, dark and system-follow) and backup and restore
Key Features & Capabilities
Gamified Adherence Streaks
Consecutive days of full adherence build into streaks, with milestone celebrations and encouragement animations rewarding consistency. The mechanic transforms medication taking from a daily obligation into a tracked habit with visible progress, a meaningful difference for patients managing long-term conditions.
Caregiver Missed-Dose Alerts
When a dose is missed, PillBuddy can automatically notify a designated caregiver or family member. The alert turns a private lapse into a timely prompt from someone the user trusts, particularly valuable for elderly patients or anyone managing a complex medication regimen with family support.
AI-Powered Shortage Alerts And Refill Orders
The app tracks current medication stock and flags potential shortages in advance, with the option to reorder directly from a trusted pharmacy from within the app. Getting ahead of supply issues removes one of the most common causes of treatment interruption.
Mood, Symptom And Pain Logging
Daily mood, symptom and pain level entries build a personal health record over time. The data feeds into personalised insights that help users spot patterns, and gives them something concrete to share with their doctor rather than relying on recollection at an appointment.
Drug Interaction Safety Warnings
When a new medication is added, the app checks for known interactions with existing medications and surfaces a warning in the setup flow. The feature gives users a safety net without requiring them to research interactions independently, a particularly important layer for patients managing multiple prescriptions.
PDF Health Reports
Users can generate a professional PDF health report covering their adherence history, medication log and symptom data, formatted for sharing with a healthcare provider. The report makes a GP or specialist appointment more productive by replacing verbal summaries with a structured record.
Home Screen Widgets
Small, medium and large home screen widgets let users mark doses as taken directly from the home screen or lock screen, without opening the app. The reduced friction means doses are marked in the moment rather than forgotten, improving the accuracy of adherence data as well as actual adherence.
Disease Guide
An in-app reference covering conditions and medications gives users accessible information alongside their reminders. Understanding why a medication matters is one of the strongest predictors of adherence, the guide addresses the knowledge gap that generic reminder apps leave entirely unaddressed.
Outcomes And Impact
A Full Health Management System
Product
PillBuddy launched as a medication reminder and became a complete health management platform, covering adherence tracking, symptom logging, caregiver connectivity, shortage alerts, pharmacy integration and health reporting in a single, accessible app.
Never Managing Health Alone
Support
The caregiver alert system and family connectivity features mean users with complex medication needs, elderly patients, people managing chronic conditions, have a support layer built into their daily health routine without requiring active effort from the caregiver.
Adherence Made Rewarding
Engagement
Gamified streaks, milestone celebrations and personalised encouragement create a positive feedback loop around medication consistency, addressing the engagement problem that causes most medication apps to be deleted within weeks of download.
Technologies Used To Develop The Solution
Mobile App
React Native
Cross-platform iOS and Android app from a single codebase, with native widgets and biometric authentication support.
Backend
Node.Js
API layer covering user accounts, medication schedules, adherence records, caregiver alerts and pharmacy integration.
Database
PostgreSQL
Medication records, adherence history, mood and symptom logs, appointment data and user health reports.
AI & Intelligence
AI Shortage Detection & Insights Engine
AI-powered medication shortage prediction and personalised health insights generated from adherence, mood and symptom data.
Notifications
Firebase Cloud Messaging
Medication reminders, missed-dose caregiver alerts, stock level warnings and refill notifications.
Authentication
Email, Google Sign-In & Biometrics
Google Sign-In for frictionless onboarding, with Face ID and Touch ID for secure subsequent access.
Widgets
IOS WidgetKit & Android Widgets
Home screen and lock screen widgets for dose marking without opening the app, in small, medium and large sizes.
Reports
PDF Generation
Professional health reports generated on-device from the user's adherence, symptom and appointment data, shareable with healthcare providers.
Security
Encryption & GDPR Controls
Health data encrypted at rest and in transit, with backup, restore and data deletion controls for user-managed data portability.
Get in touch
Share a few details about what you're building, and we'll take it from there.
