ZOE & Spector post-COVID

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bob sterman
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ZOE & Spector post-COVID

Post by bob sterman » Mon Oct 10, 2022 5:37 am

ZOE is now a (subscription-based) personalised nutrition programme....

https://joinzoe.com/
From our at-home test kit, to personalized food recommendations – discover how your body responds to food with the ZOE program
And TIm Spector is writing for the Daily Mail...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/arti ... -food.html

While the government funding a COVID symptom tracking app may have been a good idea during the pandemic - I'm uneasy about how they were able to brand that exercise using the name of the private company involved "ZOE Global Limited" and now roll that name "ZOE" forward into what will likely be a highly profitable unrelated venture.

Apparently over 4 million people downloaded the COVID ZOE symptom tracking app - and it looks like the app has now been converted into the ZOE Health Study app in app stores.

I haven't had it installed for a while. Perhaps someone who did can let us know - did you get a seamless "upgrade" to the version built around this new commercial nutrition venture?

bagpuss
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Re: ZOE & Spector post-COVID

Post by bagpuss » Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:23 pm

bob sterman wrote:
Mon Oct 10, 2022 5:37 am
ZOE is now a (subscription-based) personalised nutrition programme....

https://joinzoe.com/
From our at-home test kit, to personalized food recommendations – discover how your body responds to food with the ZOE program
And TIm Spector is writing for the Daily Mail...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/arti ... -food.html

While the government funding a COVID symptom tracking app may have been a good idea during the pandemic - I'm uneasy about how they were able to brand that exercise using the name of the private company involved "ZOE Global Limited" and now roll that name "ZOE" forward into what will likely be a highly profitable unrelated venture.

Apparently over 4 million people downloaded the COVID ZOE symptom tracking app - and it looks like the app has now been converted into the ZOE Health Study app in app stores.

I haven't had it installed for a while. Perhaps someone who did can let us know - did you get a seamless "upgrade" to the version built around this new commercial nutrition venture?
I still have it installed though haven't looked at it for several months but just went to look at it now, since you asked so nicely. It is now called "ZOE Health Study" and the various sections when you open it up, in order, going down the page are:

"Report today" - COVID reporting
"NEW STUDY" - Blood Pressure Study
"COVID in the UK" - estimated case numbers
And then a few more bits about cases in London and then my local area.
A link to see the latest reports on COVID infections sent to the government.
I don't see anything at all about anything remotely nutrition related until way down below all of that, where there's a video entitled "Unexpected ways to improve your gut microbiome".
Then a link to a blog article about the top 5 symptoms of COVID

At the very bottom of the app, there are tabs for Home, Studies and Profile. If I select Studies, I see info about the Blood Pressure Study again, then one about the role of the gut microbiome in cancer development and another about identifying early signs of dementia.
And Profile just shows the tests, vaccines, etc that I've added.

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Fishnut
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Re: ZOE & Spector post-COVID

Post by Fishnut » Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:48 pm

I stopped using the app a while ago when it started asking questions beyond COVID. I remember they got you to do some additional surveys about various aspects of health, then gave you to option to keep doing additional daily surveys about different things for various studied which is when I noped out of there. It wasn't so much any privacy issues as data quality - the questions about how you're feeling felt very simplistic and I never found anything that seemed capable of describing my depression, which generally doesn't manifest as feeling awful but just kinda numb to everything. I couldn't give an accurate answer so I decided not to bother any more.
it's okay to say "I don't know"

bagpuss
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Re: ZOE & Spector post-COVID

Post by bagpuss » Mon Oct 10, 2022 3:35 pm

Fishnut wrote:
Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:48 pm
I stopped using the app a while ago when it started asking questions beyond COVID. I remember they got you to do some additional surveys about various aspects of health, then gave you to option to keep doing additional daily surveys about different things for various studied which is when I noped out of there. It wasn't so much any privacy issues as data quality - the questions about how you're feeling felt very simplistic and I never found anything that seemed capable of describing my depression, which generally doesn't manifest as feeling awful but just kinda numb to everything. I couldn't give an accurate answer so I decided not to bother any more.
I just kept forgetting to update things, and I seem to remember that when they added in the other surveys, it took extra taps to get to the report bit as other stuff kept getting in the way, although I may be misremembering that. Anyway, I just gave up even trying to remember.

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Fishnut
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Re: ZOE & Spector post-COVID

Post by Fishnut » Mon Oct 10, 2022 3:42 pm

It also used to ping me reminders when I'd already filled it in, then allow me to go several days without filling it in before sending me a reminder, which got quite annoying and definitely played a part in me giving up on it.
it's okay to say "I don't know"

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