She didn't start with a business model, let alone a subscription. She started with passion. With the simple but radical conviction that women have a right to reliable health information, without barriers. That was the essence of Amber Vodegel's keynote speech that concluded the ICT&health World Conference in Maastricht.
A personal story that grew into a broader reflection on technology, responsibility and inequality in healthcare. Vodegel took her audience back to the early days of the App Store.
To 2008, when mobile apps were still seen as a temporary hype. What started as an experiment alongside a full-time job grew in those early years into a pregnancy app that guided women through one of the most defining phases of their lives. Not because the technology was already perfect at the time, but because she looked closely at what users needed and what she thought was missing.
‘Those first steps were small and instructive. Without a marketing budget, without investors and with limited resources, I discovered how algorithms worked and how important findability was,’ said Vodegel. She explained how creativity often arises from scarcity: strategic naming, smart use of existing platforms and a focus on accessibility quickly resulted in hundreds of thousands of downloads of “her app”. At the same time, not everything went smoothly. Starting a business with friends turned out not to be a sustainable choice, and technically she had to start over several times. Changing what already exists, she learned, is often more difficult than building something new.
Pregnancy+
Those lessons formed the basis for Pregnancy+, an app that was designed from the outset with scalability in mind. From her bedroom and later in the basement of her house, she worked with a small but exceptionally talented team to build a product that was not only functional, but also visually appealing and reliable in terms of content. ‘I worked with people from unexpected sectors, such as the gaming industry, to develop high-quality 3D models and an intuitive user experience. At the same time, clinical validation remained paramount. It was precisely this combination of accessible design and medically sound information that proved decisive,’ says Vodegel.
Social impact
‘The impact only really became apparent when millions of women started using the app on a daily basis. With ultimately around two million pregnant daily users and a global reach of 150 million women, the scale really became tangible,’ said the speaker. Vodegel spoke openly about the responsibility that comes with this. Many users have low literacy skills and rely more on social media than on official authorities. ‘That makes health apps not neutral. What you say, and how you say it, can have a direct impact on behaviour and choices,’ said Vodegel. Entertainment is fine, she said, but only if the information is accurate.
The enormous success did not go unnoticed. The company was sold to Philips, marking the beginning of a new phase. The acquisition was successful and led to years of collaboration with young, international teams. However, this was followed by a period of reflection. Inspired by the idea of “moral ambition”, Vodegel's focus shifted from growth and reach to social impact. She saw first-hand how unequally health skills are distributed worldwide. ‘While a small group has access to paid health apps and comprehensive care, basic knowledge remains out of reach for millions of people, often simply because it is behind a paywall. I thought it was time for that to change,’ says Vodegel.
No cloud solutions
That observation became the starting point for a new initiative called 28X. With the goal of reaching 100 million monthly users within five years, Vodegel consciously opted for a fundamentally different technological model. "No subscriptions, no data sales and no cloud solutions. Everything is processed locally on the user's device with on-device AI. Data remains private and secure, out of reach of governments or commercial parties. The app is accessible free of charge, regardless of income or location. Health is not a product; basic information must be available to everyone," says Vodegel.
The platform initially focuses on women's health, with topics ranging from menstruation and fertility to mental health, contraception and domestic violence.
All content is clinically validated, available in multiple languages and tailored to different reading levels. ‘Any profits will largely be reinvested in research and education. This positions the initiative explicitly as a social movement, not a traditional tech company,’ says Vodegel.
In her keynote speech, Amber Vodegel showed how technological innovation, personal responsibility and social ambition can come together. Her story was not a success story in the traditional sense, but a plea for a different way of thinking about technology and healthcare. Less focused on revenue models, more on inclusion and impact. It was a fitting conclusion to the ICT&health World Conference, which revolved around innovation and a reminder that real progress begins with the question of who we are actually building that innovation for.
