Kurbo adds chat to its mobile weight loss app

Kurbo chat inside the app

Kurbo Health has updated its mobile weight loss app for children and teens with new in-app chat and messaging features to provide additional support and coaching channels for users to eat smart, and reach their healthier weight. Until this update, Kurbo users communicated with their coaches via text message and phone or video calls; now they can do the same through in-app chat window. This, of course, presumes we’re talking about premium/paid users.

“Kurbo kids love to talk to their coaches,” explained Kurbo founder and CEO Joanna Strober. “And because regular interaction between Kurbo kids and their coaches is so critical to their successes, we wanted to build the ability to easily engage and communicate right into our app.”

Kurbo is not a calorie-counting software that is typically used for adult-oriented programs; instead, it is made as a digital adaptation of Stanford’s pediatric weight control program. Kurbo follows the “Traffic Light Diet” food classification system, which encourages users to consume fewer “red foods” (i.e. processed foods high in sugar and fat), more “greens” (most fruits and vegetables) and “yellows” (whole grain breads, dairy products, lean meats, etc.) in moderation.

Within the Kurbo app, features include the food and exercise tracker, as well as games, budgeting tools, videos, weekly challenges and progress screens. Users also receive feedback and recommendations based on tracker entries, along with personal coaching in the form of weekly phone calls or video chats with a live coach.