CoachStudio Designer

Last updated: October 2026

The CoachStudio Designer is where you set up and design your app. This chapter explains what you can do in the Designer, when you need it and how to use each menu item.

1. What Is the CoachStudio Designer?

You need these parts to create your own Coach:

Part	What it's for	Examples
CoachStudio Designer	Look, feel and configuration of your app	App name, logo, colors, coach profiles, onboarding, screens, questionnaires, media
CoachStudio Coaching Editor	Content and logic of your coaching	Micro Dialogs, rules, variables, events & actions
CoachStudio Cockpit	Access to your data and dashboards	Data export, live dashboards, Adherence Cockpit
MobileCoach App	What your users see and use	The app on the user's phone

In short: The Editor defines what the coach says and does. The Designer defines what the app looks like and what it contains.

2. When Do You Need the Designer?

I want to…	Go to
test my coaching on my phone	App → development QR code
go live and onboard real users	App → participant QR code
change the app name, logo or languages	Branding → Brand & Localisation
adapt the app to a brand's colors	Branding → Colors
connect my coaching to the app	Coaching → Coach interactions
create or change the digital coach (name, picture)	Coaching → Coach profiles
change the onboarding texts	App Screens → Onboarding
add my own screens (e.g., FAQ) or replace default screens (e.g., privacy policy)	App Screens → Screens
create a questionnaire	App Modules → Questionnaires
set up points, levels and achievements	App Modules → Gamification
export participant data for analysis	Pathmate Cockpit → Data export
monitor how well users follow my coaching	Pathmate Cockpit → Adherence Cockpit
upload images, audio or videos	Designer Tools → Media Resources
make a backup or move my configuration to another Designer	Designer Tools → Transfer

3. Getting Started

Open the CoachStudio Designer and log in.
Go to Coaching and select your coaching from the dropdown under Coach interactions.
Use the menu on the left to open the page you need (see section 4).
Make adjustments and click Save at the bottom of the page.
Check the result in the MobileCoach App. Read Testing to learn how to connect and restart the app.

Multilingual apps: Many pages have a language dropdown next to the Save button. Select the language first, then enter or edit the texts for this language.

Can't find your coaching? Your account doesn't have access to it yet. Read Access and Access Control.

Menu item	Submenu	What you do there
App	–	Get the QR codes to connect the app
Branding	Brand & Localisation, Colors	App name, logo, languages and colors
Coaching	–	Connect your coaching, create coach profiles
App Screens	Onboarding, Screens	Onboarding texts and app screens
App Modules	Questionnaires, Gamification	Questionnaires and achievements
Pathmate Cockpit	Data export, Adherence Cockpit	Export participant data, access live dashboards (if included in your package)
Account	–	Manage your access
Designer Tools	Media Resources, Transfer	Upload media, export and import your configuration
Logout	–	Log out of the Designer

5.1 App

What it's for: Connecting the MobileCoach App to your coaching. There are two QR codes:

QR code	Use it for
Development	Testing your coaching while you build it
Participant onboarding	Onboarding real users when your coaching goes live

Going live? Inform Pathmate before you onboard real users. We switch your coaching to the production server and start monitoring it.

Why a separate development QR code?
The development version of the app has a debug tool. With it, you can:

jump forward in time virtually, so you don't have to wait in real time while testing,
create a debug report,
reset the app.

How it works:

Tap the top bar of the app (the "header"). The debug tool opens.
Select the function to jump forward in time.
Each time you use it, the app jumps one hour ahead.

Example: You've just finished the onboarding. The first coaching content starts with a Micro Dialog tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Instead of waiting until tomorrow, you jump ahead hour by hour until 8:00 a.m., and the Micro Dialog starts right away. This way, you can test your complete coaching within one day.

How to connect the app: Open the MobileCoach App and scan the QR code you need. If you've already scanned a QR code, reset the app first (see Testing).

Use the development QR code only for testing. For real users, always use the participant onboarding QR code.

5.2 Branding

5.2.1 Brand & Localisation

What it's for: The basic settings of your app:

Name and logo: Enter the name of your app and upload its logo.
Languages: Select all languages your app (and your coaching) supports:
- English 🇬🇧
- German 🇩🇪 and German 🇨🇭
- French 🇫🇷 and French 🇨🇭
- Italian 🇨🇭
- Romanian 🇷🇴
Language order: Drag the selected languages into the order they should appear in the app's language dropdown.

Example: Your app will be used in Germany and in French-speaking Switzerland. Select German 🇩🇪 and French 🇨🇭. Read Translating the App to learn how to translate the content.

5.2.2 Colors

What it's for: Giving the app your brand identity. You can set:

Section	Colors
Primary and secondary colors	The main colors of your app (e.g., header, answer buttons)
Shades of grey	Grey 1 (default font color) to Grey 6, incl. Grey 5 (app background)
Status and function colors	Success, info, warning and error status
Chat bubble colors	Background and text color for coach messages and for user messages
Black and white	The black and white used in the app

The App preview on the right shows your changes right away. Use the reset button (↻) in each section to go back to the default colors.

Example: Your client's brand color is dark blue. Set it as the primary color and use the preview to check that the chat bubbles are still easy to read.

Tip: Check the contrast between text and background, so all users can read the text easily.

5.3 Coaching

What it's for: Connecting your coaching to the app and creating your digital coaches.

Coach interactions

The coach's dialogues are created in the CoachStudio Coaching Editor. Here, you select which coaching the app uses:

Select your coaching from the dropdown.
Click Jump to CoachStudio Coaching Editor to open the Editor. You are logged in automatically with your current account.

Coach profiles

Users choose one of these avatars as their digital coach in the app.

Click Add Coach to create a new coach.
Enter the coach's name and choose a picture.

Example: You create two coaches, "Anna" and "Max", each with their own picture. Users pick the one they like best and then see their coach's name and picture in the chat.

App session

Send app state intentions: Turn this on if your coaching should react when users open the app. The app then sends the intention app visit to your coaching.

Only turn this on if your coaching needs it. Otherwise, it creates unnecessary load on the system.

What are app intentions?
App intentions let your coaching react to user actions in the app. The app sends an intention, your coaching catches it and reacts, e.g., by starting a Micro Dialog.

Example: A user is on a screen other than the chat, e.g., a "Habit Tips" screen. There, they tap a button you configured in App Screens → Screens. The button sends an app intention to your coaching. The coaching catches it and starts a matching Micro Dialog in the chat.

Read App Screens to learn how to set up buttons that send intentions.

5.4 App Screens

5.4.1 Onboarding

What it's for: Setting the texts that new users see when they open the app for the first time:

Field	Where it appears
App info	On the first screen, below the logo and app name. It welcomes the user.
Notification text	On the notification screen, just before the phone asks for permission to send push notifications
Welcome text	On the last onboarding screen, before the user reaches the chat

Example: Explain why reminders are useful before the phone asks for permission, e.g., "Users who get reminders are more likely to stick with the coaching."

Read User Onboarding for best practices.

5.4.2 Screens

What it's for: Creating your own screens in the app or replacing existing ones. Screens can contain markdown text, buttons and links.

There are two types of screens:

Type	What it is	How to add it
Menu screens	Visible in the app menu (dock bar). Use Reorder to change their order.	Add menu screen
Sub-screens	Hidden from the menu, but accessible via buttons and links on other screens	Add other screen

On each screen card, you can edit the screen (✏️), move it between menu screens and sub-screens (📁 Move to) or delete it (🗑️).

All your screens are also listed in the Designer's menu under Screens, so you can open them directly.

Your own screens: Give each screen a unique identifier (e.g., my-faq-screen), an icon and a title.
Default screens: You can add or replace default screens by using their reserved identifiers, e.g., chat, privacy-policy, account, more, legal, security, daily-plan or media-library.

Default screens only appear in the app if you add them as screens. Exceptions: chat and more are always shown.

Examples:

You create an FAQ screen with collapsible sections for each question and add it as a menu screen.
You replace the default privacy policy with your client's privacy policy by using the identifier privacy-policy.
You activate the daily plan by adding the default screen daily-plan.

Read App Screens for all details, e.g., content elements, conditions and button actions.

5.5 App Modules

5.5.1 Questionnaires

What it's for: Creating and managing questionnaires that you can use in your coaching.

Add questionnaire: Create a new questionnaire.
Upload questionnaire: Upload an existing questionnaire file.
On each questionnaire card, you can edit, duplicate, download or delete the questionnaire.

All your questionnaires are also listed in the Designer's menu under Questionnaires.

Example: You create a short weekly well-being questionnaire and send it to users from a Micro Dialog.

Read Questionnaires for step-by-step instructions.

5.5.2 Gamification

What it's for: Setting up points and achievements and defining how users make progress. You can set:

the main achievement (progress) with its point icon, color and the reserved achievement ID main,
the levels of the main achievement and their incrementers, each with a badge image, a threshold and level texts,
secondary achievements.

The App preview shows how it looks in the app.

Read Gamification for all details.

5.6 Pathmate Cockpit

5.6.1 Data export

What it's for: Downloading the collected data of your participants for analysis in your own tools.

Export all data: Downloads the data of all participants.
Only some participants: To export the data of one or a few participants, click Jump to CoachStudio Coaching Editor and export it there.

Read Data Export to learn what the export contains and how to use it.

5.6.2 Adherence Cockpit

What it's for: Monitoring in live dashboards how well users follow your coaching, and spotting users at risk of dropping off.

The Adherence Cockpit is available only if it is included in your package. Contact Pathmate to have it activated.

Read Adherence Cockpit for all details.

5.7 Account

What it's for: Managing your access.

Your account is managed in the CoachStudio Coaching Editor and is automatically shared with the Designer. To change your account settings, click Jump to CoachStudio Coaching Editor.

Tip: Set up two-factor authentication to protect your account.

Read Account for details. To learn which roles exist and what each role can do, read Access Control.

5.8 Designer Tools

5.8.1 Media Resources

What it's for: Organizing the images, audio and videos you use in your app and coaching.

Type	Max. size	Formats
Images	5 MB	JPG, PNG
Audio	50 MB	AAC, M4A
Video	100 MB	MP4, M4V (H.264 codec)

Click Upload to add a new file.
Use the filter and sorting options (e.g., Most recent) and switch between grid and list view to find files quickly.
Each uploaded file gets a unique ID. You use this ID in your coaching commands to show the file.

Example: You upload a short relaxation exercise as an audio file and add it to the user's media library via a coaching command.

Check the formats and sizes. Files that don't meet these requirements may not play correctly on all devices.

Read Media Library and Media Objects to learn how to use media in your coaching.

5.8.2 Transfer

What it's for: Transferring your complete configuration from one CoachStudio Designer to another, using a downloadable file.

Export complete configuration: Downloads your configuration as a file.
Import complete configuration: Uploads a configuration file.

Caution: An import overwrites your complete existing configuration!

Your coaching is not included. Transfer your coaching separately in the CoachStudio Coaching Editor.