Making pediatric physiotherapy engaging with .NET MAUI

The challenge: Daily physiotherapy without daily access

Around the world, millions of children rely on regular physiotherapy to reach key developmental milestones such as sitting, crawling, standing, and walking. But long waiting lists, limited access to specialists, and the realities of daily life make it impractical for many children to receive professional support every day.

For parents and caregivers, the challenge is twofold: keeping children engaged in repetitive exercises at home or school, and tracking progress in a meaningful, motivating way. Without the right tools, even the most well-intentioned routines can become frustrating—for both children and adults.

Katie Michaels, founder of Moti Me, understood this challenge firsthand. Inspired by her cousin's cerebral palsy diagnosis and her own experience working with children with special needs, Katie began exploring how physiotherapy could be made more engaging and accessible. What started as a university final-year project evolved into a medically regulated product with the potential to help thousands of children.

The solution: A playful device powered by a cross-platform app

Moti Me addresses this challenge with a combined hardware and software solution. The physical product consists of an electronic base with interchangeable character heads and sensor-enabled activity spots that children place around a room. Guided by the companion app, children follow playful, color-based activities that encourage specific movements designed by physiotherapists.

The Moti Me app, built with .NET MAUI, connects to the device over Bluetooth and provides 60+ physiotherapy-focused activities with clear setup instructions, customization options for speed and difficulty, and progress tracking that helps caregivers and professionals see improvement over time. By pairing tactile play with guided digital experiences, Moti Me transforms physiotherapy into something children actively want to do.

Why .NET MAUI: Reaching families across platforms

To reach families, schools, and clinicians, the Moti Me app needed to run on iOS, Android, and Windows—while still feeling natural on each platform. Clifford Agius and his development team chose .NET MAUI to make that possible.

With .NET MAUI, the team was able to share a single C# codebase across mobile and desktop platforms, preserve native platform behaviors and accessibility expectations, and rapidly prototype and iterate based on real-world testing feedback. The app integrates community and partner libraries such as Plugin.BLE.MAUI for Bluetooth communication and Syncfusion charts for visualizing progress data, significantly reducing development time.

.NET MAUI allowed us to build a single app that feels natural on iOS, Android, and Windows. That was essential for parents and clinicians who aren't tech-savvy and just want things to work."

Built with quality, security, and compliance in mind

As a medical class I device designed for children, data privacy and reliability were critical from day one. The first version of the Moti Me app stores all activity data locally on the device, ensuring there is no cloud dependency or risk of unintended data exposure. When the app is deleted, the data is removed as well—supporting GDPR and medical compliance requirements.

From a development perspective, the team uses Visual Studio for cross-platform development, GitHub and GitHub Actions to automate builds for iOS and Android, and GitHub Copilot to assist with code reviews, testing, and security checks. This setup allows the team to build iOS apps from Windows machines and deliver updates quickly to testers without complex local infrastructure.

Real-world impact and measurable outcomes

Moti Me has been tested with more than 100 children across the UK, including hospitals, special needs schools, physiotherapy centers, and family homes. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

• 96% positive feedback from families and care professionals
• Children who previously tolerated five minutes of physiotherapy now engage for 15–20 minutes
• A nine-week clinical case study at Alder Hey Children's Hospital showed measurable improvements in flexibility for a child with cerebral palsy

Parents and teachers reported that children were disappointed when the device was removed—an unexpected but welcome sign of engagement. One parent noted that they had never seen their child smile while doing physiotherapy before using Moti Me.

Seeing children smile while doing physiotherapy made all the effort worthwhile. That's when we knew we were building something that truly mattered."

Looking ahead: From medical device to global solution

With regulatory approval underway, Moti Me is preparing for its first commercial launch in the UK, with plans to expand internationally. Future versions will explore secure cloud connectivity to support clinicians, while maintaining strict privacy and compliance standards.

For Katie, the journey from student project to medical product has been challenging—but deeply rewarding. The success of Moti Me demonstrates how the right technology—in this case, .NET MAUI—can enable a small team to solve complex problems and create meaningful impact in healthcare.

By using .NET MAUI, Moti Me's developers were able to focus on what truly mattered: understanding users and building features to help them, rather than getting bogged down in duplicative cross-platform development efforts. Hundreds of children have already experienced the benefits during testing, and with a robust, scalable foundation in place, Moti Me is well-positioned to help thousands more as it launches commercially.

Using .NET MAUI helped us turn that vision into something real."