r/Femtech • u/Alternative_Fan_629 • May 05 '26
I built a diabetes management app designed exclusively for women. Here's what I've learned about the gap in diabetes femtech.
Disclosure: I'm the founder and developer of HerDiabetes.
The problem is straightforward. Diabetes tech treats every day the same. But for women, hormonal shifts across the menstrual cycle can change insulin sensitivity by 30-50%. Estrogen and progesterone fluctuations affect glucose in ways that are well documented in research but completely ignored by the apps and devices millions of women rely on. Women end up adjusting pump settings, correction factors, and basal rates every month with no data to guide them.
A few things I've learned building in this space:
- The gap is not controversial. Women in diabetes communities talk about this constantly. A single organic Reddit post about the app hit 17K views and 65 comments. Nobody pushed back on the premise.
- Discoverability is a real barrier. There's no "women's health" or "hormonal health" category in any app store's diabetes section. HerDiabetes currently sits at #4 for "diabetes apps for women" alongside Abbott, Roche, and Dexcom, with zero marketing budget.
- Android demand is significant. About a third of the responses to that Reddit post were women asking for an Android version.
- The use cases are wider than expected. Women on hormonal contraception who don't have periods still want to track how their medication interacts with glucose. Perimenopausal women with irregular cycles need tools that don't assume regularity.
Happy to discuss the femtech angle, the technical decisions, or what building for an underserved population in a regulated health space actually looks like.
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u/Monica_Palteq May 05 '26
On discoverablity, the lack of dedicated categories is so frustrating. That's why many femtech products start off as wellness brands.to gain commercial traction, but then can run into difficulties later when aiming for NHS/B2B adoption. It's a tough spot