Gamified health

Alan Play was designed to make prevention fun. One of its features, daily challenges, encouraged members to take small steps toward healthier habits, from movement to mindfulness.

Ahead of the global launch, we needed to help more members get started and give them reasons to come back.

Working under the Alan Play product lead, I led the Daily Challenges initiative. In parallel, I led the localization of Alan Play into three additional languages for the international launch.

  • Research
  • Product strategy
  • ROADMAP
  • Iterations
  • Global launch
  • Localization
  • Alan Play home: “150 berries today” with the bear mascot and the daily activity list.
  • “Master your breath” breathing exercise with a two-minute guide.
  • “Well done” completion screen with the meditating bear and a Collect my berries button.
  • Exchange screen with avatar options to buy with berries.
  • Avatar preview in the exchange shop.
  • Charity donation screen where berries support a cause.
  • “1 day streak!” celebration screen.

13

USER INTERVIEWS

2×

DAU WITH ALAN PLAY

4

COUNTRIES

01 — SCOPING

Getting started was easy. Building a habit wasn't.

Alan Play was built around gamification: daily challenges, streaks, rewards and leaderboards encouraged members to take small steps toward better health.

But our usage data revealed a gap between initial interest and sustained engagement. While some highly engaged members maintained long streaks, many struggled to get started or return consistently.

The question wasn't how to make the game more competitive, but how to make healthy actions easier to integrate into everyday life.

Challenges were not directly connected to health benefits

Some perceived them primarily as another way to earn berries (Alan Play's reward currency).

Challenges targeted competitive profiles rather than everyday routines

The limited catalog and fixed selection restricted the ways members could participate and get excited.

Users valued the app's existing health & wellbeing content

Users said they would value integrating journaling and health programs (already in-app) as new challenges.

02 — FRAMING

Relevance over novelty.

Our research pointed to an opportunity beyond strengthening streaks and rewards: making daily challenges more adapted, varied and accessible.

With many possible improvements on the table, I led the prioritization of experiments with design and engineering, focusing on changes we could deliver and learn from quickly.

What would make a member come back
tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow?

Three Alan Play screens: 100 berries earned, the home with daily challenges, and a completed walk

Rather than investing in strengthening the leaderboard experience, put in place collective challenges or costly new experiences, we prioritized expanding and adapting our existing health content.

03 — HOW THE FEATURE EVOLVED

Making everyday challenges more flexible.

More challenges

Expand the selection of healthy activities available to members, bringing in back pain exercises, journaling, meditations and breathing exercises that were already available in-app.

A challenge library view

Let members explore a broader catalog and complete additional challenges beyond the daily recommendations.

Contextual challenges

Dynamically adapt the recommended selection to morning, lunch and evening routines.