Vethem – Veterinary Consultation & Appointment Booking App Development

According to Statista, 80 million European households have at least one pet. Without any doubt, having a pet is a great pleasure and a great responsibility, one should provide care and regular health check to the animal he or she has chosen.

Project Goals: Building a Scalable Veterinary Service Platform

Vethem – an application for appointment booking or online consultancy with the veterinarian in Sweden. Swedish insurer Agria Djurförsäkring acquired it in September 2020. The Android app now has over 100,000 installs. We developed Vethem as a vet appointment booking app to streamline the way Swedish users connect with veterinary services.

Unfortunately, sometimes pets require medical treatment as well. To simplify the life of pet-lovers in Sweden we have developed an online vet consultation app called Vethem. It helps the pet owners to get a vet consultancy online or schedule the appointment with a specialist in no time. More than that, the veterinary online booking app is able to store the pet’s health diary, keep notes with photos and to create reminders about the scheduled vaccination or next visit. With its features, Vethem functions as a pet healthcare mobile app, providing easy access to veterinary care and pet records.

Stfalcon.com task was to create an app for vet appointment booking or online consultancy with the veterinarian. Besides, we had to develop a web gallery with veterinary physicians’ profiles and provide the possibility of video calling between the clients and the specialist, with the possibility of online examination in case of necessity. This made it possible to build a highly functional veterinary telemedicine app tailored to Sweden’s pet care market.

Technical Solutions: Native Android & iOS Development

To ensure long-term maintainability and performance, we developed the Android version of Vethem using Kotlin. The app's architecture follows Clean Architecture and MVVM principles through Android Architecture Components, providing the flexibility to alter design or business logic without technical debt.

The iOS application leverages Swift to its full potential, utilizing Protocol-Oriented Programming and an MVVM pattern. This approach allows for rapid UI updates while keeping the core business logic intact. Ultimately, our choice of architecture combined with robust cloud integration ensured high performance and stability even as the user base scaled beyond 100,000 active users.

Secure User Authorization & Pet Profile Management

Every user wants site authorization to be quick and hassle-free. In Vethem, we did our best to make it as simple as possible. This scheduling app was developed for Sweden, which is why the BankID authorization option was chosen. This method of authorization through Swedish Banks is widely used in the country because it provides an easy way to identify any user. In the process of BankID Authorization, the BankID App is called out and the user has to confirm the authorization in it. It couldn’t be any easier!

Just like stfalcon.com used Bank ID Authorization for Sweden, we can customize the method of authorization in accordance with the preferences of our customer, regional peculiarities and convenience of the users.

Vet Search & Filtering for Veterinary Specialists

When it comes to veterinary practitioner search, Vethem suggests not only the specialists’ list but also the nearest free time for the potential visit. It’s extremely convenient because the pet owner does not need to go anywhere to book an appointment with the doctor. Once the user has selected a veterinarian, they proceed to the appointment booking process. If the client wishes to select an alternative time, the system provides this option during the booking process. This seamless experience makes Vethem a reliable veterinary appointment scheduling app for modern pet owners.

Automated Veterinary Appointment Request System

When a user starts booking, he has to create his pet profile or choose the one already existing. He must also specify the reason for the vet consultancy so that the specialist can get preliminary acquainted with the problem. Then the user can change the time of the appointment or proceed directly to the final step — the payment.

Veterinary Telemedicine: Integrating High-Quality Video Calls

For video calls, we chose Twilio. The same platform was also used for audio calls inside the system. Video calls are arranged in a simple way: 5-10 minutes before the call the vet receives a warning SMS and an e-mail about the scheduled call, the user, in his turn, gets a push notification. We used Twilio Programmable Video SDK in the clients’ apps. Several people can join the created video call room, the client, the vet, and the administrator, for instance. The latter can only supervise the call, but cannot see the video or listen to the audio. A video screen resembling Skype window is available to the user in the app.

At the end of each call, the vet makes notes to the pet chart, which is automatically sent to the pet owner when saved. The veterinary physician can also send the copy of the chart to the nurses or doctors from other clinics if it’s necessary.

Multi-System Payment Integration for Veterinary Services

As we have already mentioned above we created Vethem for Swedish users. That is why the priority was given to the 2 most popular payment systems in the country: Klarna and Swish.

When paying via Klarna a special widget is called out, and the user has to fill in his personal and card details or enter his personal BankID in it.In case of using Swish a special payment app aggregator is called out, which uses BankID for the money transfer. Swish is a more convenient method for Sweden market because minimum clicks are required to make the payment. However, the money transfer is longer than in the case with Klarna.

The most challenge we faced during these payment systems integration was debugging and operational testing. Both systems are local Scandinavian facilities, which are not used worldwide. However, we managed to adjust both systems’ flawless functioning. Though Vethem was developed as Swedish user-oriented service, Stfalcon.com can customize all the developed apps and products in accordance with the requirements and preferences of the customer and locale. So any system, payment method, form or option can be integrated into the product we work on by the customer request.

Ratings and User Feedback

At the end of every appointment with the veterinary physician, the user can optionally leave a review about the vet. He or she can rate a specialist on a five-star rating scale, and leave a text message providing his opinion and feedback. Later on, the review will be displayed in the admin panel of the veterinarian and administrator. We have already received a review on our work from the customer, who is happy to get a well-polished application, which is rated high on the Google Play and App Store. Vethem users appreciate its intuitive interface and convenient functionalities.

Result: 100,000+ Downloads & Agria Acquisition

We have developed a comprehensive veterinary consultation platform that enables seamless online booking and profile management for specialists. The project’s impact on the Swedish market is highlighted by its strategic acquisition by Agria Djurförsäkring, a leading insurance company, in September 2020. Since then, the platform has continued to scale, with the Android app reaching a significant milestone of over 100,000 downloads by 2021.