Simplifying family invitations and access management
Role
Product Designer
Duration
1 Week
Team
1 Product Manager 1 Product Designer 2 Engineers
Making family invitations easier to discover and complete while simplifying how members, roles, and permissions are managed.
Problem & Context
Uncovering barriers in the family invitation experience
By analyzing user behavior, feedback, and partner concerns, I uncovered key pain points that hindered usability and engagement. These issues included difficulty navigating the app, disruptions to partner workflows, and low conversion rates, all of which required a streamlined solution. Addressing these pain points presented a clear opportunity to simplify processes, clarify access levels, and improve overall user satisfaction.
User
Pain Point
A buried and complicated invitation flow reduced usability, and restricted roles made key features like ultrasounds inaccessible.
Opportunity
Simplifying the invitation process and clarifying access roles can improve user satisfaction.
Stakeholder
Pain Point
Frequent inquiries from users about adding family members disrupted clinic and hospital workflows, limiting their focus on core services.
Opportunity
Streamlining the family addition process can reduce the administrative burden on partners.
Business
Pain Point
Low family conversion rates and limited engagement impacted retention and app effectiveness.
Opportunity
Improving the flows can boost retention and engagement, fostering a seamless experience.
Where navigation and access choices became unclear
To understand what made family invitations difficult to find and complete, I mapped the More tab’s flows for managing user profiles, baby profiles, and family members. I then reviewed the invitation journey using Nielsen’s usability heuristics. The existing flow spanned six screens and nine clicks, with friction concentrated around finding family management, reaching the invitation action, and choosing relationship and access settings.
Current user flows
Family management was hidden in Settings
The route began with a settings icon in the More tab, followed by “My Baby & Family” inside Settings. Neither the entry point nor its placement made family management immediately apparent.
The invitation action required further navigation
Users then had to select a baby and open that baby’s family-member screen before reaching the invitation action. The “Go to invite” button sat at the bottom of the screen, giving this key action limited prominence.
Relationship and access choices were easy to confuse
The invitation form asked users to choose both a relationship to the baby and an access type labeled “Parent” or “Family.” The relationship selection only supplied a display label; it did not change permissions. Because both choices used family-related terms, the distinction between describing a relationship and granting access was unclear.
Priorities for the redesign
These findings set three priorities for the redesign: remove unnecessary steps and choices, make invitations and family management easier to find, and explain access levels in terms of what each person could do.
Access & Permissions
Clarifying permissions with Full and Partial Access
To start the redesign, the product manager and I redefined access levels to eliminate confusion and improve engagement. The original “Parent” and “Family” roles caused frequent misunderstandings. Users were unsure of permissions, especially for features like ultrasound access. To simplify role clarity and improve engagement, we:
Replaced vague access types with “Full Access” & “Partial Access” to better align with user expectations.
Removed unnecessary relationship selection, reducing confusion in the invitation process.
Expanded Partial Access to include ultrasound viewing, making it more valuable for family members.
Restricted Baby Diary in Partial Access to protect privacy for moms.
These changes eliminated confusion, reduced support inquiries, and made family member access types easier to understand at a glance.
Invites & Navigation
Reducing the invitation flow from six steps to four
Building on the flow analysis, I reorganized the More tab to make profile and family management easier to find. I shortened the invitation flow from six stages to four by removing navigation detours and a choice that did not affect permissions.
Direct access to family management: Brought baby profiles and family-management entry points into the More tab, removing the detour through Settings and a separate baby list.
Fewer invitation choices: Removed relationship selection so users could focus on choosing what access to grant.
The following explorations focused on how to present these entry points and actions within the More tab.
Refined user flows
Separating profile navigation from card expansion
The first exploration used expandable baby-profile cards to keep the More tab compact while letting users view linked family members without leaving the screen. Team review highlighted two challenges: distinguishing profile navigation from expansion, and keeping the layout manageable as the number of family members grew.
Team feedback highlights
Ambiguous card interactions: The baby-profile row appeared to support both opening a profile and expanding its family-member list, making the expected action unclear.
Long expanded lists: Showing every family member within an expanded card could make the More tab harder to scan, especially when managing multiple babies.
Design decisions made in response
Separated profile and family actions: In the next exploration, I gave profile navigation and inviting family members distinct controls.
Explored compact baby cards: I moved family-member details to a separate screen rather than expanding the full list within the More tab.
Removing duplicate buttons and keeping family members visible
Building on feedback from the first exploration, I introduced compact baby cards with a dedicated “Add Family” button in the More tab. The aim was to make invitations easier to find while separating them from profile navigation. Team review then highlighted how this approach repeated an existing action, exposed disabled controls to Partial Access users, and left family-member information too far down the profile screen.
Team feedback highlights
Duplicate invitation controls: “Add Family” appeared both on baby cards in the More tab and on the baby-profile screen, repeating the same action across both surfaces.
Disabled controls in the More tab: For Partial Access users, the card-level “Add Family” button remained visible even though they could not use it.
Family members below the fold: Baby-profile information occupied the top of the detail screen, pushing the family-member list further down.
Design decisions made in response
Consolidated the invitation action: Placed invitations within the family-member screen and removed the repeated invitation button from the More tab.
Changed the card-level entry point: Replaced “Add Family” with a “Family Members” link, removing the disabled invitation control from the baby card while preserving access to family management.
Created a dedicated family-member screen: Separated the member list from baby-profile details so users could reach family information without scrolling through profile fields first.
Final Experience
Connecting baby profiles, family invitations, and access settings
Building on iterative design explorations, I created a streamlined solution that simplifies navigation, clarifies roles, and scales effortlessly for families with multiple members or children. The final design improves both the structure and functionality of family-related features within the "More" tab, making access easier and engagement more natural. Key improvements include:
Streamlined family invitation flow that reduces steps and minimizes friction.
Dedicated profile management that separates user, baby, and family controls for clarity.
Simplified access levels with renamed roles and restructured permissions.
Redesigned the “More” screen with improved hierarchy to reduce navigation time.
These updates transform a confusing, fragmented flow into a smooth, accessible experience, empowering families to manage profiles and permissions confidently.
Accessing user, baby, and family settings from More
To reduce confusion and improve navigation efficiency, I restructured the “More” tab into a clearly segmented profile management area. The updated design distinctly separates user profiles, baby profiles, and family member controls, eliminating the previous ambiguity around profile switching and management. Key improvements include:
Dedicated profile management section for easy access to user, baby, and family settings.
Card-based baby profile switching to replace the unclear icon-based method.
Streamlined settings menu with clearly labeled sections and icons for faster task completion.
This redesign empowers users to manage profiles with clarity and confidence, while laying a stronger foundation for future scalability.
Inviting family members and choosing their access
To make the family invitation process more intuitive, I reduced unnecessary steps, improved entry points, and clarified access levels. The redesigned flow removes friction and gives users more control over who can do what while keeping the experience accessible for first-time and returning users. Key improvements include:
Direct access to family management from the “More” tab to reduce navigation depth.
Dedicated Family Members screen that clearly displays roles and permissions.
Refined access levels with simplified labels (Full & Partial Access) for easier decision-making.
These changes make it easier for families to collaborate within the app, improving usability.
Impact
More families connected with less need for support
The redesigned experience made family invitations easier to navigate, with increased invitation uptake and fewer reported support inquiries.
100%+ growth in accepted invitations: Accepted family invitations more than doubled within the first month after launch.
Six steps reduced to four: The redesigned flow shortened the path to inviting family.
Fewer support inquiries: Local support teams and partner hospitals and clinics reported fewer questions and support tickets about family invitations, indicating less confusion around the process.
The update also simplified navigation across baby profiles and family member management. Daily unique visitors to these screens remained above pre-launch levels in the following months, showing continued use of the broader family management experience.
100%+
Growth in accepted invitations
Partner Feedback
Since the update, we’ve noticed far fewer patient questions about inviting family members. This allows us to focus more on patient care.
Bomee Partner Clinic in Indonesia
We've noticed a clear decrease in support tickets about family invitations. The redesign has made the process easier to understand, significantly lowering confusion.
Bomee Vietnam Support Team
Reflection
Keeping family relationships and access clear
One exploration used expandable baby-profile cards to keep family information compact. However, the profile area could be interpreted as either a link to the baby’s profile or a control for expanding the family-member list. Adding more family members also risked making the layout harder to scan.
I separated those navigation actions and replaced relationship-based permission labels with Full Access and Partial Access, making it clearer what an invited family member would be able to do. The project taught me to judge simplicity through the decisions people need to make: finding the right child, managing family members, and understanding the access they are granting.