Cuckoo Mobile App: Empowering Customers to Manage Their Broadband

Context & Challenge

Cuckoo’s mission is to change broadband for good: faster, fairer. To support rapid growth and improve customer experience, we identified the need for a flagship mobile app that would allow users to manage their broadband connection, plans, and devices directly from their phones.

The challenge:

Deliver a mobile app that matches the functionality of our mature Web My Account platform.
Enable customers to self-serve effectively, reducing demand on an already stretched customer service team.
Integrate multiple data sources via APIs to provide seamless account control.
Ship quickly with a new development team while maintaining high UX and design standards.

See app

My Role

As Lead Product Designer on the App Squad, I:

Collaborated with the Product Owner and engineers to define the scope and MVP feature set.

Led design workshops to translate business goals and user needs into app flows and wireframes.

Designed UI components aligned with our design system (“Yolk”) for a consistent, scalable experience.

Worked in agile two-week sprints to deliver rapid iterations.

Coordinated user testing with early adopters to validate features and usability.

Approach & Process

Discovery & Definition

Analysed user needs from web platform usage and customer service insights.
Prioritised core features required for feature parity and self-service capabilities.

Design & Prototyping

Developed wireframes and UI designs reflecting Cuckoo’s brand identity and tone.
Ensured design consistency using the Yolk design system components.
Created prototypes for Android and iOS platforms.

Collaboration & Development

Worked closely with the Principal App Engineer and mobile developers to ensure feasibility.
Integrated data from Kraken (customer accounts) and eero (broadband connection) APIs to enable real-time user control.

Testing & Iteration

Launched an MVP to a friendly test group in early spring.
Gathered qualitative feedback and usage data to inform rapid improvements.
Continued bi-weekly app updates aligned with evolving business priorities.

Outcome

Successfully launched a mobile app on Android and iOS with full feature parity to the web experience.

Enabled users to independently manage accounts, plans, and devices, significantly reducing inbound support requests.

Established a strong foundation for rapid future feature development and iteration.

Strengthened Cuckoo’s customer-centric positioning as it scales nationally.

Reflection & Next Steps

This project underscored the importance of balancing speed with quality, especially when launching a product with a new team.

Key learnings include:

The value of iterative design validated through real-user testing to guide prioritization.

How a well-maintained design system accelerates cross-platform consistency.

The critical role of close collaboration with product and engineering in a fast-paced environment.

The App Squad continues to deliver value with frequent releases, and I remain deeply involved in evolving the user experience in alignment with customer needs and business goals.