We are excited to share the latest updates on the Phito mobile app development, led by SmartFarming and developed in collaboration with our various Phito project partners. The Phito app aims to empower farmers across diverse food systems with geodata-driven advice, stronger links with the local marketplace and community, as well as access to practical knowledge. Here we will share how development has progressed, what is currently happening, and what is coming next.
Development Journey So Far
The first prototype of the Phito mobile app was developed between October and December 2024, in collaboration with all Phito project partners. The prototype was guided by the insights from our project user needs assessment — an intense process made possible by all food system partners that gathered feedback from potential farmer users through in-depth questionnaires and focus group discussions within each food system. The prototype was also designed and built on countless in-depth brainstorms and design sessions with all project partners that kicked off at the Phito plenary in Padova, Italy.
In early 2025, the prototype was finalized, localized, and translated into all supported languages, and prepared for real-world testing. This milestone kicked off a carefully structured user testing phase, which took place between January and March 2025.
Thanks to our country partners, the app prototype is available fully in the following languages:
- Albanian
- English
- Hungarian
- Italian
- Papiamentu
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Spanish
Farmer-Centric Testing Across Food Systems
The Phito prototype was used in January-March 2025 to test the app’s concepts and features directly with farmers in each of the project’s participating food systems.
Led by UNIPD (University of Padova) and carried out by local partners in each country, the user testing process was deeply participatory. Farmers were not only interviewed but also guided through structured exercises designed to explore and evaluate each feature of the app. At the same time, the Phito app development team worked hard to tweak the app’s features where needed to support user testing, as well as addressing any potential bugs or general questions about the app.
This hands-on approach enabled the Phito team to gather direct feedback from real users — helping us assess the practicality and value of existing features. More importantly, it will help the Phito project team to set a solid foundation for shaping the future direction of development of the app as we look ahead to the alpha release later this year and beyond!
What are the Core Features of the Phito App?
The Phito app is currently available only for user testing on Android devices. It is designed to be cross-platform, and the upcoming alpha release will be available both on Android and iOS devices. Below is a snapshot of the current features available on the Phito prototype app.
My Farm
A place in the app where farmers can manage their fields and keep a record of their activities using a digital logbook. They can log crop and input data, visualize crop health, and develop stages through NDVI satellite imagery, and in future releases will receive accompanying data-driven advice.
Town Square
A digital marketplace and community where farmers and service providers connect. Users create “stalls” to display their offerings and browse others’ content, forming networks within the local agricultural system.
Phito Library
This feature will be available to test in future releases of the app. For now, we can tease a little bit of what the Phito Library will be – a growing resource of curated and user-generated content, from tutorials and best practices to business tools for Phito app users!
Looking Ahead
The insights gathered during the user testing phase are already shaping our roadmap for the Phito app’s alpha release later in 2025. A new development phase is scheduled to begin in early summer, where we will build on the prototype with new features inspired directly by farmers’ feedback and real-world use cases.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue co-creating Phito — a platform built with and for farmers.
Phito mobile app – Farming innovation for all.
We would love to hear from you! Contact us with your questions, comments, or ideas for collaboration.
