UX as a fire safety factor

The Home Safety App is built entirely for private users. Professionals – fire safety managers responsible for entire building portfolios – already have their own B2B platform in MeinH+. This clear split in Hekatron's portfolio allowed us to tailor the app without compromise to what private users actually need: simple, free of charge, and built for managing up to eight properties. Complex professional features that would only add friction in a private context were deliberately left out – keeping the test as straightforward as possible. Anyone who takes home safety seriously now has an app built exactly for that context.

We began with a structured expert evaluation – a dense mapping of all pain points, prioritised in direct dialogue with Hekatron. The annotated status-quo documentation became the foundation for the redesign. The original brief covered only the UX concept. During the project, we proposed a focused UI refresh and brought Hekatron on board with the idea – a decision that has substantially shaped the quality of the Home Safety App.

Three use cases carry Hekatron's Home Safety App: setting up a location, adding an alarm, and running a test. The third one makes clear why good UX in a safety product is more than a convenience. SmartSonic – Hekatron's acoustic data transfer between alarm and smartphone – handles the communication without Wi-Fi and without Bluetooth pairing. Press the test button, the app receives the status, the test report is generated. The simpler and quicker the test, the more likely it is to be carried out reliably. The app shows the actual test status: when the last check was made and when the next one is due. In a safety product, that kind of directness earns trust.

The foundation came from the design system fundamentals we had developed for Hekatron's MeinH+ web portal – colours and typography, in particular. For the mobile context, we extended this base with app-specific components and handed everything over to the technical team in a compact design guideline. Micro-animations lift the perceived quality where it matters. This makes the brand consistently tangible on the smartphone – a branded experience that stays present in everyday use.

Users now have a tool that reliably documents the annual test – with clear location management and active reminders when tests are due. An app that makes this test easier is more than a comfort upgrade: it makes the product's safety promise more concrete. Hekatron's own goal – to set the UX standard in the industry – becomes visible at another touchpoint. The new mandatory login also gives Hekatron a structured data foundation on the app's end users. The Home Safety App makes the case: in safety-critical products, good UX isn't about style – it's about function.