HealthTech · Patient app and dietitian portal
Altura by Emteq
Altura helps people eat slower. Emteq’s smart glasses count every chew and bite; the app turns that into one goal, more chews and a slower meal, so fullness arrives in time and less food is enough. A portal shows the same to their dietitian. I designed both and named the app.
- Role
- Product designer, UX and UI
- Users
- Patients and their dietitians
- Made
- Patient app, its name and icon, dietitian portal
- Platform
- iOS app and web portal, for Emteq Labs
Feeling full takes time. Fast eaters finish the plate before it arrives, so they eat more. Chewing more slows a meal down, but nobody can count their own chews. The glasses can; their output is raw.
I designed an app built around one goal, eat slower: it logs meals by itself, shows chew pace against a target and asks how full you feel. Plus a portal showing every client at once.
Used with patients in Emteq’s pilot studies. Not released in the app stores.
The problem
Fullness reaches the brain some 20 minutes into a meal. Eat fast and most of the plate is gone before it arrives. Chew more and the same meal takes longer, so you feel full on less. That is the whole point of Altura: more chews, a slower meal, less food.
Emteq’s glasses detect each chew and bite and photograph the food, all day. What comes out is raw: chew rates, bite counts and photos.
- Asks
- “How am I doing today?”
- Gets
- Calories against the plan and chew pace against a target, on one screen.
- Asks
- “Why am I still hungry?”
- Gets
- How fast they ate, and a two-tap check of how full they feel. Too fast, and fullness had no time to arrive.
- Asks
- “Who needs me this week?”
- Gets
- One row per client, and one click into their day.
My part
I owned the product and UX design of Altura, its name and icon, and the dietitian portal, with Emteq’s engineers and scientists. The glasses and models are theirs.
How a meal travels
Nobody types: the glasses detect the meal, the app adds how it felt, the dietitian sees the same numbers.
- 1GlassesChews, bites, food6 numbers and a photo
- 2Altura appMeal, fullness, moodSaved in two taps
- 3PortalThe dietitianOne row per client
- Per meal
- 6Numbers, plus the food
- Chewing found
- 88%In daily life, Emteq’s study
- Typing
- NoneTwo taps after a meal
Key decisions
The idea behind every decisionOne goal, eat slower, shown without ever making people feel judged.
The whole day on one screen
Two numbers lead the day: calories against the plan and chew pace against a target. Meals appear as the glasses detect them, each opening into chews, bites, pace, food and mood.
- Instead of
- A food diary to fill in
- Chose
- Meals that log themselves, two numbers on top
Chew pace against one line to beat
More chews per bite make a slower meal, and a slower meal fills you up on less. Nobody can feel how fast they chew, so the week is seven bars and one target line, with what slowing down bought below: calories until full. Bars above the line are amber, not red: the aim is to slow down, not feel guilty.
- Instead of
- Red warnings for eating too fast
- Chose
- One line to stay under, amber above it
Fullness and mood in two taps
The glasses record a meal, not a feeling. Fullness is the proof that slowing down works, so after a meal the app asks how full the patient is and how they feel, one tap each.
- Instead of
- A form after every meal
- Chose
- Two questions, one tap each
One tap moves you on.
Add a word, if you like
Weekly insights, with the dietitian one tab away
Weekly numbers become a few cards, one figure and one sentence each. If a number worries the patient, the dietitian is one tab away.
- Instead of
- Charts the patient has to read alone
- Chose
- One number, one sentence, a person one tab away
Every client on one screen
A dietitian follows many clients, so the portal starts with all of them, one row each, from the app’s numbers. Fast chewing shows in amber.
- Instead of
- Opening clients one by one
- Chose
- Every client in one table, fast pace in amber
Portal
Admin panel
11 clients · Tuesday 14 January 2025
| Client | Wear time | Calories | Meals | Snacks | Meal, min | Chews/bite | Chews/s | Active, min | Steps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emma Johnson | 10h 43m | 2,484 | 3 | 4 | 21.2 | 20 | 1.89 | 87 | 7,902 |
| Liam Smith | 11h 37m | 3,379 | 3 | 6 | 15.8 | 17 | 2.15 | 118 | 10,091 |
| Olivia MillerOpen day | 9h 51m | 4,238 | 4 | 8 | 10.5 | 12 | 2.33 | 145 | 11,438 |
| Ava Taylor | 12h 14m | 3,208 | 3 | 5 | 16.9 | 20 | 2.05 | 121 | 10,215 |
| James Thomas | 8h 29m | 2,104 | 2 | 3 | 25.1 | 31 | 1.78 | 72 | 5,720 |
| Mia Moore | 10h 07m | 3,725 | 3 | 7 | 14.4 | 19 | 2.22 | 132 | 11,048 |
| Sophia Brown | 9h 36m | 1,785 | 2 | 1 | 29.8 | 38 | 1.53 | 68 | 4,579 |
| Charlotte Davis | 13h 05m | 2,897 | 3 | 4 | 18.7 | 23 | 1.97 | 103 | 8,332 |
| Lucas White | 11h 48m | 4,153 | 4 | 9 | 12.3 | 14 | 2.41 | 156 | 11,856 |
| Isabella Wilson | 10h 19m | 3,516 | 3 | 6 | 15.2 | 22 | 2.12 | 127 | 9,903 |
| John Carter | 12h 02m | 2,310 | 3 | 2 | 17.4 | 24 | 1.31 | 96 | 8,120 |
From the day’s totals down to one bite
A client’s day opens on six totals. Each meal expands into what the glasses measured, its photos and the patient’s answers, with two short AI summaries to start the conversation.
- Instead of
- Every measurement on one long page
- Chose
- Six totals first, each meal on demand
Portal
Recent
- Start
- 07:48
- End
- 07:57
- Duration
- 8m 40s
- Chewing time
- 4m 10s
- Chew rate
- 2.4/s
- Total chews
- 600
- Bites
- 46
- Chews per bite
- 13
- Start
- 12:31
- End
- 12:41
- Duration
- 10m 12s
- Chewing time
- 5m 06s
- Chew rate
- 2.3/s
- Total chews
- 704
- Bites
- 64
- Chews per bite
- 11
- Start
- 15:55
- End
- 16:04
- Duration
- 9m 05s
- Chewing time
- 4m 02s
- Chew rate
- 2.2/s
- Total chews
- 532
- Bites
- 44
- Chews per bite
- 12
- Start
- 19:20
- End
- 19:34
- Duration
- 14m 03s
- Chewing time
- 6m 30s
- Chew rate
- 2.4/s
- Total chews
- 936
- Bites
- 78
- Chews per bite
- 12
Evening snacks again. Ask about a short walk after dinner instead of TV.
Add a noteThe app is used in closed circles by selected clinics. Patients get in through an access link from their clinician.
The name and the icon
Four names, one mark: a scale in a green tile. Altura won: it means height, so it sounds like going up, not dieting. Green, so it feels like a good day.
- FoToo short
- SculptoraAbout the body
- AlturaChosen
- AscentiaHard to say
- Altura green
#1E7B4B - Mint
#E8F5EE - Amber, for fast
#E8912A - Mood lavender
#C29BD8 - Insight blue
#1F9BD6
Results
Used with patients in Emteq’s pilot studies, not released in the stores. The app’s numbers rest on Emteq’s published 88% chewing detection in daily life.
How success would be measured
- PaceAverage chews per minute against the target, week on week.
- Full on lessCalories eaten before patients feel full, as their pace slows.
- Dietitian timeHow long it takes to find the clients who need attention.
What I’d change
-
Everywhere One number, three units
Home says 95 chews a minute. The chewing screen says 1.3 a second. The portal says chews per second again. Same pace, three ways to read it.
FixOne unit everywhere: chews a minute, with the target next to it.
-
Meal check “Fed up” doesn’t mean full
The fullness scale reads Very hungry, Hungry, Fed up, Overeaten. In English, fed up means annoyed.
FixVery hungry, Hungry, Full, Too full.
-
Portal A table, not a to-do list
Ten columns, every client equal. To find who needs help, the dietitian reads every row.
FixSort by change since last week and flag who’s off target.
Not mine: the glasses, sensors and detection models, which are Emteq’s, as are the research numbers.
About the screens: rebuilt in HTML from my Figma files. Names and numbers are examples.
