Your feedback in action

We are very excited to announce that we have introduced some great new accessibility features to the Tracker App. We want this app to work for everyone and with this update you will now be able to use your device’s accessibility features including switch access and larger font. We hope that these new options will make your daily tracking easier!

We also have exciting news for the future of the app; at the end of last year, we ran a survey asking for your feedback and your response was fantastic! You gave us some strong ideas to take forward, including increasing the daily rating screen from three faces to five. We hope that these new options will enable you to track your days more accurately. We are also very excited to announce that the number of tracking points on the body map is also increasing. You asked and we heard you, we hope that this increase will allow you to better pinpoint which joints are giving you trouble.

We hope that these updates will help empower you further to take control of your condition, giving you access to more detailed information that you can take to your medical appointments.

Thank you for everyone that took part in the survey and provided feedback through the app. We are very excited moving into 2024 and have more plans to improve the app with your support. Keep an eye out for more updates coming this year!

We are incredibly excited to introduce you to our brand-new version of Arthritis Tracker. We’ve packed an awful lot into one update. This new release means you can now:

• Move your Arthritis Tracker app and data to another device.
• Quickly and easily pinpoint where your pain is, and how bad it has been, on a body map.
• Track how you were feeling on any day in the past: now it’s not a problem if you forgot to track yesterday, the day before or last week.
• Be even more confident that the information you put into Arthritis Tracker is backed up safely and securely.
• Add additional levels of security by setting up passcode protection.
• Edit and delete notes that you have previously created.

We’ve been working hard in the background to make these improvements. We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who got in touch to tell us what improvements are most important to you and took part in surveys and focus groups to help us make sure the body map is useful and easy to use.

If you have any questions about the updates we are making, have a look at our user guide or reach out to us at apps@versusarthritis.org.

We’re getting ready for some exciting upgrades to Arthritis Tracker later this year, and as part of this we are making some changes to how Arthritis Tracker works with your data.

Changes happening in September 2021:

• You will be asked to give permission for your data to be uploaded to a secure online account. (You won’t need to have internet connection in order to track your day: the app will save your information and upload it next time you are connected.)
• This new account will mean that your data is always kept secure. Once you’ve set up an account, if you change your phone or temporarily uninstall the app all you need to do is download the app and log in. You will be able to see all your previous data and continue tracking as normal. (There will also be a host of new features to play with, including a body map and the ability to track a previous day!)
• We will be storing this information safely for you on our systems, including information about your age. You can read more about how your data will be treated in our terms and conditions.

Changes that are happening now (August 2021)

• To give you additional peace of mind as we prepare for your data being uploaded to an online account, you can now export a back-up copy of your data on to your phone. This will allow you to keep an extra copy of your historical data on your phone while the transfer is taking place. You don't have to do this, but we wanted to offer it to you if you would like to. Read more about how to export your data in our user guide.
• If you have notifications enabled on your device, we will send you a reminder to export your data a week before the new release becomes available.

If you have any questions about the changes we are making, you can email us at apps@versusarthritis.org.

Thank you to everybody who reached out, and requested the ability to add notes about your day. We’ve listened and this feature is now available in the app. To get started, just scroll down to the bottom of the “Today” screen and you’ll see the new “Add a Note” button.

There’s lots of ways that you can use the notes feature, from keeping a diary about how you’ve been feeling, to using them as reminders for later on. We’ve written a blog that is full of ideas for how you can use the notes section.

Coming up next year:

• Track where you are sore more quickly and easily with a body map
• Edit and track days in the past
• And more…

A fresh look

The Information and Tips page has a fresh new look! It’s now easier to browse the topics available, and discover helpful tips and information using the accordion-style format. We hope you like it as much as we do.

New topics added

We have added two new topics to the Information and Tips section:

• What is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).
• What is Psoriatic Arthritis.

These new buttons lead to a helpful video explaining a little more about these conditions.

What’s New button

We want to make sure you have access to the most up to date information and stories on our website. That’s why we’ve added a “What’s New” button so that you can discover brand new stories, information and articles on our website. There is lots to of new content to explore!

Thanks to the incredibly helpful feedback we receive, we know that we need to make it easier for people to track where is sore, particularly for people who often track multiple painful joints in one day. This is a big priority for us, and we are working on potential solutions.

In the meantime, we have made a few adjustments to help make it easier to navigate the drop-down menu for selecting where is sore. You can now select a category such as legs, arms, head or torso, which then provides you with a smaller list so that you can find the joint you’re looking for quicker.

This is part one of the improvements we are making to this part of the app. Keep an eye out for future improvements here, or join the feedback network by emailing apps@versusarthritis.org to get involved in improving this section.

Many of you have used the feedback form to let us know how we can make the app better. We wanted to make sure that you can access information about the improvements we’ve made, so that you can see your feedback in action.

Now, when you tap on the pink “Feedback button” you will have the option to “Give Feedback” or see “Improvement’s We’ve Made” – which will bring you to this very page you are on now!

We have added arrows in to the 3 Month Summary, so that you can now navigate back in time to previous 3 month summaries, or compare one three month period with another three month period.

This will be particularly helpful for people who have their health appointments spread out roughly every three months, in order to compare how they have been feeling leading up to this appointment compared to the previous appointment.

Thank you to those who got in touch to let us know that you were having a problem with the app. Thanks to the detailed feedback you gave us, we were able to investigate the problem, and come up with a solution. This issue should now be resolved! Remember if you have any problems using the app, you can always contact apps@versusarthritis.org and we will try our best to help you.

If the app has stopped working for you, we’re sorry to hear that. We would like to help you as best we can.

Do not uninstall the app yet

It’s important that you do not uninstall Arthritis Tracker off your phone, as this will mean you will lose the data you’ve been tracking on the app. In the future we will be adding the ability to back-up your data, however this is not currently available.

Things you can do:

1. The first thing to try will be to check if your phone operating software needs to be updated, and check that you have the most recent version of Arthritis Tracker. Sometimes this can be a quick fix.
2. If you are still experiencing problems, please email apps@versusarthritis.org to let us know and we will try our best to help you. The more detail you can give us the more we can help you – in your email please tell us:

• What the problem is.
• Roughly how long ago did you download the app?
• Important information about your phone. (You can find the information below in Settings > About/ About Phone)
• Your Phone model e.g. iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S8
• Your operating system version e.g. iOS 12.4.6 or Android 8.3
• Any screenshots/ video recordings showing the problem (if relevant/possible) or else a description of exactly what you saw on your screen when it crashed/ the problem occurred?

We’ve listened to your feedback and ideas to improve our app.

Thank you to the health professionals and young people who told us that the name ‘Arthritis Tracker for Teens’ is harder to relate to for older teenagers and those in their early twenties, who also use the app.

We knew this was something we needed to change and so we took the opportunity to review the name.

What we’ve done

We asked young people, Versus Arthritis staff and a team of experts to come up with some new name suggestions.

From this we ended up with a long list of possibilities, which whittled down to a shortlist of five, including a shorter version of the original ‘Arthritis Tracker’.

We left it completely up to young people to vote for the name they wanted and a few weeks later, the results were in!

Our standout winner was ‘Arthritis Tracker’, a simplified version of the original name which is inclusive for both teens and young adults and describes exactly what you get from the app.

Thank you to everyone who voted and gave us feedback on what the app should be called.

When you download an app for the first time, you’re usually greeted with a ‘welcome’ journey. These screens show you how the app works, so you feel confident in using it.

What’s changed

We’ve given the welcome screens a re-fresh, added a big splash of colour and some ‘Getting to know you’ screens.

A splash of colour

Have a look below to see how colourful these welcome screens now look:

We’ve added three new questions onto the welcome screens. These include:

• Your experience of describing how you’ve been at appointments
• Your confidence when it comes to managing your day-to-day symptoms
• How connected you are with Versus Arthritis and the services we offer

These questions will help you to reflect how the app might benefit you personally and it will signpost you to useful sections of the app.

The questions will also help us to measure the difference the app is making.

We’ve had a lot of requests for the ability to track where is sore, not just if you’ve been sore.

This was already on the top of our ‘to do’ list and we’re pleased to announce it’s ready and live on the app.

What we’ve done

Now, when you tap the sad face within the ‘pain’ section (e.g. you’ve had a painful day), a box will pop up allowing you to add multiple joints that have been sore.

Once you select ‘Done’, it will be saved for the day and you can review it by tapping on the ‘Where’ button beside ‘Pain’. When you visit your summary, this information will appear in a list when you tap the ‘More Info’ button beside ‘Pain’.

Your opinions and feedback are vital in helping us make this app better.

Over 100 young people and health professionals have contributed to this app in some way, and we would love to hear from you too.

Tell us what you think

Filling in a survey is one of the simplest and most helpful ways you can help us develop the app.

Whether you are a young person, parent or health professional, please take a few moments to share your opinion by clicking the link below.

• Vote for new features for the app (now closed)

How to provide general feedback

If you are using the app, tap the ‘feedback’ button to share your ideas about how the app can be improved, or email apps@versusarthritis.org.