Text Me That
Turning text-based reminders into a smarter way to stay on track.
Text Me That is an iOS mobile app that uses SMS reminders to help people stay on top of what matters most—like taking medications on time. During research, we discovered that many users relied on the app for managing prescriptions, an insight that inspired new features to support that use case. The redesign focused on simplifying scheduling, adding group and location-based reminders, and creating a more approachable interface.
Role
UX Research & UI Design
Tools
Adobe XD, Zeplin, Firebase, Illustrator, Photoshop
Leadership Perspective:
“Josiah was instrumental in the redesign and successful relaunch of Text Me That. He combines strong UX strategy with technical precision, transforming the app’s usability and visual identity. His ability to align design goals with development needs made the entire process faster and more cohesive — a rare blend of creativity and execution.”
- Ethan Bonin
Owner & Developer, Text Me That (now CTO, Prahsys Inc.)
The Challenge
Despite the simplicity of sending a text, creating reliable SMS reminders presented its own challenges. The original app struggled with a dated interface, limited scheduling options, and unclear user flows. Users often felt friction when setting up recurring or location-based reminders, and accessibility was inconsistent across devices.
Through research and user feedback, I set out to modernize the experience—making reminders faster to set, easier to manage, and more dependable day to day.
Redesign the reminder flow to reduce setup time.
Improve readability and accessibility for older users.
Introduce new scheduling flexibility (recurring, location, and group reminders).
Modernize the visual system while maintaining simplicity and trust.
Project Goals
Skip the case study?
Text Me That is live — experience it now on the Apple App Store.
Research & Insights
To understand how people used text-based reminders in their daily routines, I conducted user interviews, surveys, and a competitive analysis of leading reminder apps. Users revealed that while reminders were simple in concept, most apps made them feel complicated or easy to overlook. Push notifications blended into background noise, while SMS reminders felt immediate and hard to miss — validating Text Me That’s core advantage.
An unexpected finding was that many users relied on the app to track medication schedules and refill reminders. While not the app’s original focus, this reinforced the need for a dependable, easy-to-use experience.
From this research, the team focused on improving:
Ease of setup to encourage recurring use
Scheduling flexibility for one-time, recurring, and location-based reminders
Group sharing to help users remind friends and family
Visual clarity to build trust and confirm reminders were saved correctly
These insights shaped the redesign around four core principles: clarity, reliability, flexibility, and trust.
Design Approach
Research & Ideation
Interviews and competitive analysis revealed that while most reminder apps felt cluttered or confusing, SMS reminders felt more personal and harder to ignore. These insights shaped early sketches focused on making reminders quicker to set and easier to track.
Prototyping & Testing
Low- and high-fidelity prototypes helped define a streamlined reminder flow. User feedback emphasized the need for simpler scheduling tools and group reminders, which became core features of the redesign.
Refinement & Delivery
I refined the visual system for readability and trust, improving accessibility through contrast, larger touch targets, and a calmer visual rhythm. The final interface introduced warmer, conversational tones and a cohesive brand identity built around dependability and ease.
Design Highlights
The redesign aimed to cut through digital clutter and create a clean, dependable experience for everyday users. Each decision prioritized visibility, trust, and simplicity—creating an app that feels dependable at a glance and effortless to use day after day.
Bold, Simple UI
Orange accents and minimal layouts highlight primary actions while adding warmth and energy to the interface.
Readable Typography & Icons
Rounded type and simplified icons improve readability and reduce visual noise, creating a more approachable look for users of all ages.
Cohesive Design System
A consistent set of components—buttons, inputs, and color treatments—unifies every screen and reinforces the app’s reliable, professional tone.
These visual and interaction refinements brought clarity and personality to the experience, transforming Text Me That from a simple reminder app into a dependable daily companion. The next step was translating these ideas into a cohesive, production-ready mobile experience.
From Insights to Implementation
Text Me That evolved into a complete mobile experience that makes managing reminders fast, flexible, and dependable. Each screen was refined to support everyday use with clear communication, reduced friction, and confident scheduling.
Onboarding
The onboarding flow was rebuilt to guide users through setup in under a minute. It introduces the app’s SMS-based reminders and showcases location and group features upfront for immediate clarity.
Outcome: A faster, more welcoming start that builds trust and sets expectations early.
Reminder Features
Scheduling reminders became the core of the experience. Users can now create one-time, recurring, or location-based reminders within a single streamlined flow. Clear visual hierarchy and descriptive microcopy help users stay oriented at every step.
Outcome: Reduced cognitive load and fewer setup errors across all testing groups.
Dashboard View
The dashboard was designed to balance clarity and efficiency, showing users their active reminders with clear prioritization and minimal friction. Visual hierarchy, urgency cues, and shortcut actions were intentionally combined to reduce cognitive load and support frequent daily use. This view highlights how small interaction details elevate overall usability.
Outcome: Dashboard showcasing active reminders, color-coded urgency, and quick-add shortcuts.
Product Page
The final purchase flow and product screens emphasize transparency and consistency. The visual language reinforces dependability while aligning with the new app identity and subscription model.
Outcome: Increased user confidence and continuity across the entire experience.
Testing & Refinement
User testing played a key role in validating the redesigned experience and shaping the final release. Across several test rounds, participants emphasized reliability, simplicity, and trust as the most valued aspects of the new design.
Key Testing Insights
Adoption: Testers strongly preferred SMS-based reminders, noting they were harder to overlook than standard app notifications.
Scheduling Flow: Early testers found recurring and location-based reminders intuitive, but feedback led to simplified permissions and clearer step-by-step prompts.
Navigation Improvements: Adjustments to icon clarity and menu labeling reduced confusion across core tasks.
Accessibility Feedback: High-contrast text, larger tap areas, and improved spacing increased readability across age groups.
Outcome
Post-testing, users reported greater confidence and satisfaction using the app daily, with setup time cut nearly in half and task completion rates improving across every user group. We witnessed an almost immediate jump in users and paid customer retention rates.
Next Steps
Building on testing insights, the next phase would focus on expanding accessibility and platform reach. Future iterations could explore deeper integrations with calendars, wearable devices, and voice assistants to simplify scheduling even further.
Goal: Continue balancing automation with user control while maintaining the approachable, dependable tone that defines Text Me That.
Lessons Learned
Throughout the evolution of Text Me That, several key insights shaped both the product and my design approach:
Text Reminders Drive Engagement: SMS-based alerts consistently outperformed push notifications, showing the power of meeting users where attention is highest.
Simplify Complex Features: Streamlining scheduling, location triggers, and group reminders proved essential for usability and long-term adoption.
Transparency Builds Trust: Clear explanations around permissions, location use, and data handling removed hesitation and strengthened user confidence.
These takeaways reinforced how clarity, honesty, and focused functionality can turn a simple app into something people rely on daily.
Thanks for reading! Text Me That is live and ready to try —
download it on the Apple App Store to see it in action.
