Young App Developers Target Teens

Three young Australians have won a social good app development competition with apps to help teens with diabetes, tools to help address mental illness and another to encourage physical activity.

The eight finalists of the competition took part in a Samsung Adappt boot camp earlier in December to learn the ins and outs of app development and coding by digital professionals to help bring their app ideas to life.

Three teams were awarded grants to further develop their apps.

Seventeen-year-old Georgie Preston has developed an app idea call Diabeteens.

The aim is to connect Diabetic teenagers across Australia and provide a social network which eliminated feelings of isolation. The prevalence of diabetes in Australia is said to be growing at an alarming rate, with 280 Australians developing the chronic condition every day. As a young Australian with diabetes herself, Preston said she wanted to help others in a similar situation.

If developed, her app idea Diabeteens will act as a social platform to connect young people with diabetes all over Australia and provide new information about the condition, recipes that teenagers will enjoy and tips for dealing with the condition at specific times.

Twenty-four-year-old Pritika Desai has developed an app called In The Zone.

With youth suicide rates in the Northern Territory three-and-a-half times that of the national average and support services difficult to access, Desai said she and her team had created an app idea to address these alarming facts.

Their app will provide mindfulness tools and information about nearby services to give NT youth greater access and support.

Twenty-four-year-old Bridget Foley has created an app idea called Meet and Move.

Foley said her idea would encourage people to be more physically active and walk rather than drive or use public transport.

She is a physical activity researcher and activist and is concerned that many young adults do not complete the recommended 150 hours of physical activity per week.

If developed, the app will act as a social platform, connecting people travelling to similar locations and providing a social opportunity which also keeps users physically active.