A digital companion for your mood and your weight.
IGNITE brings together a friendly virtual coach and a guided healthy-lifestyle program in one app — supporting your emotional wellbeing and weight goals from the comfort of home. It connects to your Fitbit Inspire 3 activity tracker so your progress is recognized and your coaching stays personal.
One simple app, three ways to support you
IGNITE is designed to be approachable and easy to use, especially for adults who want a private, at-home way to feel better and build healthier habits.
Lumen, your virtual coach
A voice-guided coach that uses a proven problem-solving approach to help you work through low mood, set goals, and feel more in control — at your own pace.
Healthy-lifestyle videos
A friendly, video-based program that guides you through small, sustainable changes to your eating and activity to support gradual, lasting weight loss.
Progress that’s recognized
By securely connecting your Fitbit Inspire 3 tracker, IGNITE reflects your daily activity and sleep back to you and your coach. Your Withings wireless scale keeps weight tracking seamless too.
How IGNITE uses your Fitbit data
IGNITE connects to your Fitbit device through the Google Health API. You decide whether to connect, and you can disconnect at any time. We only ask for the data needed to support your program, and we use it only for the purposes you see below.
- ✓Reading your physical activity (steps, distance, and active minutes) to track movement toward your goals.
- ✓Reading your sleep summaries to help your coach understand patterns that affect mood and energy.
- ✓Reading heart rate and basic activity sessions to give you and your study coach an accurate picture of progress.
- ✓Never selling your data, never using it for advertising, and never sharing it for purposes outside this research study.
The use of information received from Google Health API and/or Developer Tools will adhere to the Google Health API Developer and User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
For full details on what we collect, how we store it, who can see it, and how to delete it, please read our Privacy Policy.
Built and studied at a public medical school
IGNITE is used within the IGNITE study, a research study examining whether a fully digital program can help racial and ethnic minority adults manage both low mood and weight. The app is operated by the academic research team — not a commercial company.
Who IGNITE is for
IGNITE is offered to adults enrolled in the IGNITE research study — racial and ethnic minority adults ages 50–74 who have joined the study and provided informed consent. It is not a general-purpose consumer app and is not available outside the study.
Oversight & funding
The study is led by the Vitoux Program in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago, conducted with Washington University in St. Louis, reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), and funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Questions about IGNITE or your data?
Our research team is here to help. Reach out anytime about the program, your information, or how to connect or disconnect your device.
Email vcare-support@uic.edu · Phone (312) 413-9830
Read the Privacy Policy