It’s a free iPhone app for anyone living with diabetes, whether they measure their blood glucose or support someone who does. It’s been developed by Made by Many along with Rob Brougham, former BT Telehealth MD, and a team of advisors and supporters from the clinical and commercial worlds. Throughout the process of designing and building it we’ve tested it extensively with people with diabetes, their friends and families and healthcare professionals across the UK.

Bloop lets you privately share readings from your blood glucometer with a friend, parent or trusted guardian. In turn, they can help you manage your diabetes by sending you quick messages of support and encouragement.

The pilot starts today, and you can sign up to be added to the waitlist.

The pilot version of Bloop is the result of months of research into the area of telehealth, its specific application to diabetes care and our investigation into how technology can help better serve the needs of people affected by diabetes.

For the pilot, we’ve used Apple’s HealthKit framework to allow us to ignore the complexity of hardware integration and focus on developing a great software experience.

As a result, Bloop should work with any blood glucose meter that connects to the Health app and Apple HealthKit, including the Accu-Chek Aviva Connect, AgaMatrix WaveSense JAZZ Wireless, Dario All-in-One Smart Meter, iHealth Align, iHealth Smart and LifeScan OneTouch VerioSync.

Of course, there’s a tradeoff here – no Android support for the time being – but this is one example of how we’ve massively reduced our time to market, and it’ll help us to test the core product proposition as quickly and effectively as possible before making decisions on where we go next.

We’re hoping to learn a significant amount over the coming months. At a fundamental level, we’re looking to establish whether people using the Bloop app report better health or wellbeing outcomes, and we’re also keen to establish whether or not the peer support mechanic is effective in supporting these.

Do you know anyone living with diabetes (particularly Type 1 diabetes)? Or a doctor, nurse, parent or friend who supports people who are affected by it themselves?

Please let them know about the pilot and encourage them to spread the word.