Our Story
App-CONNECT: Our Story
App-CONNECT was born from my personal experience of overcoming life’s challenges. I realized how crucial it is to stay connected and supported by others.
In May 2019, I envisioned a mobile app where people could connect, show empathy, and encourage each other. A month later, my husband and I founded CONNECT Association, a Swiss non-profit. This was the beginning of App-CONNECT. I created the first prototype, presentations, a video, a website, and launched a crowdfunding campaign on HérosLocaux.ch beginning of 2020.
By February 2020, thanks to ads on Benevol-Jobs.ch, volunteers with expertise in various fields—psychologists, teachers, designers, and more—joined the project. Since then, over 40 volunteers from diverse backgrounds have worked with passion and dedication to develop the app, contributing their time and skills for free.
We completed the app’s development in early 2023 and officially launched App-CONNECT on July 6, 2023. This achievement is a result of thousands of hours of voluntary work. Together, we’ve created a free tool that combats loneliness and promotes emotional and mental health.
A heartfelt THANK YOU to the entire CONNECT team!
— Karin
In image
Creation of CONNECT Association in order to make the App-CONNECT project,
by Karin and Alejandro.
June 2019
First logo and first prototype
by Karin.
July 2019
First App map, Prototype in Proto-IO
by Karin.
October 2020
Searching for developpers, requestion quotes...
by Karin.
November 2019
First concept, publicity, etc.. by Karin.
First video
by Alejandro.
January 2020
First Crowdfunding
in HerosLocaux.ch
by Karin.
February 2020
Survey worldwide
by Juliana and Karin.
April 2020
First Wireframes designed
Prototype in Figma by Juliana.
June 2020
Various new Team members
Several UX workshops with the team.
July - Oct. - Nov. 2020
MANY trials, design, suggestions, Workshops, Zoom meetings... by UX-Team Stephanie, Nagore and Juliana.
Troughout 2020
Content creation in EN and FR + proofreading by María, Gysele, Ielyzaveta, Zsuzsanna, Lara, Elie, Isabelle, Chiara, Hanna, Profira, Justine, Pauline, Beatrice, Mirjam, Erika and Karin.
2020 - 2021
Onboarding screans developed
by Anas on Flutter.
February 2021
General Conditions and Terms under development by Marina, Maude, Lisa and Lionel.
Through 2021
First App Testing through Figma/Zoom to get feedback from future users,
by Stephanie and Profira.
July 2021
First time Karin meets with a team member in presential. With Céline (Marketing).
January 2022
Development in Flutter
by Lhoussaine .
It's taking shape :-)
since January 2022
Big steps forward in the Design in Figma by Juliana, Lenka and Nagore.
February - May 2022
Justine's Internship has been validated. Congratualtions Justine.
February 2022
Roadmap and work items created
by Nefiye.
since February 2022
Great work on App development done by Lhoussaine.
since January 2022
Mood check-in fine tuning by UX-team. Beautiful Juliana and Lenka.
June 2022
Presential meeting with Marina (Legal). It's so nice getting to know each other without a screen in between.
October 2022
Translation and proofreading in DE
by Susanne, Katrijn, Sabrina and Karin.
November 2022 through March 2023
Presential meeting with Nefiye (Project Manager).
November 2022
Presential meeting with Isabelle (Psychologist)
January 2023
Presential meeting with María (Psychologist)
March 2023
The team is testing on Androïd.
Corrections and ajustments.
March - Juin 2023
Presential meeting with Stephanie (UX-Design)
April 2023
Presential meeting with Juliana (UX-Design)
April 2023
The team is testing the App on IPhone
May - June 2023
App-CONNECT in PlayStore and AppStore !!!
Juin 2023
Pre-launch tests
June-July 2023
App-CONNECT E-LAUNCH
on YouTube
July 6th 2023
Presential meeting with Justine (Psychologist)
October 2023
FIRST PRESENTIAL TEAM MEETING in Lausanne, VD
November 18th 2023
