Andrew Armour ’12 creates app to monitor screentime
Andrew Armour ‘12 (Business Management & Administration, minor in Information Systems) is an incredible example of using his education for service. He always dreamed of owning a business, and four years ago, his dreams started becoming reality. After spending a weekend with family, he noticed that the kids didn’t want to play outside and enjoy the weather. They were content to be sitting inside on their devices.
Armour said, “The idea for Activate Fitness didn’t strike me right then, but it was something later that night that popped into my head as I was attempting to sleep. I woke up instantly after coming up with the idea around 2-3 AM and started researching to see if anyone else offers this service and if not, how can I get it developed and out to the public for use.”
Once he had a solid framework of what he wanted, he outsourced to a company in Pakistan after meeting their CEO. He credits this company as the reason he has a product today. According to the product website, “Activate Fitness is a patented technology that regulates screen time based on daily activity levels. Activate Fitness grants or denies screen time depending on the amount of daily activity that was performed by the device owner. Daily activity levels are generated through the use of Apple Health, Google Fit or a wearable fitness tracker like a Fitbit. Through the use of wearable fitness trackers we can regulate the amount of time spent on our mobile device and push individuals & families towards a more healthy and active lifestyle.”
Since current events have caused a large number of Americans to be home much more than they are used to, it follows that many more kids are also spending more time on devices. Armour believes that his app is the perfect solution to this problem. Instead of parents working from home having to stop their work to monitor their child’s screen time, they can simply install his free app to do the monitoring for them.
Armour’s time spent at UIndy was spent playing baseball from 2009-2011, and basketball in 2012. He still keeps in touch with many of his old teammates and friends. His advice to students centers around connections like these.
“Create connections, work on your people skills and get to know others on a personal level. You never know when you will need to reconnect to that person for assistance in the future,” he said. “Connecting to people isn’t a course you get a grade on at UIndy and it doesn’t cost you a dime in tuition. It just takes a little courage and outgoingness to potentially positively impact your future.”