Pension App Integrates with Online Portal for Easier Access to Savings

LifeSight is Willis Towers Watson’s master trust, providing a defined contribution multi-employer pension scheme. Characterised by the drive to always meet its members’ needs and passion for clear and engaging communications, LifeSight is dedicated to promoting best practices through its simple-to-use online platform and award-winning personalised communications.

Willis Towers Watson LifeSight iOS & Android app homescreen

Faster Access to Savings with New Pensions App

At Brightec we aim to make people’s lives better through the work that we do; whether making complex data simple to understand or finding a solution that removes frustration from the tasks you’d usually rather avoid. So, when LifeSight reached out to discuss building an intuitive app to enhance their members' experience and help them take control of their finances, we wanted to get onboard.

LifeSight was the UK’s first authorised master trust – meeting the Pension Regulator’s (tPR) stringent governance requirements. Working with them, we developed a pension application designed to give users high-quality access to their pension savings account faster and more easily than ever before.

Beginning the App Development Process

Brand and customer experience are paramount to LifeSight’s vision. We thought carefully about how to reflect this in the design and development. The app needed to be simple and intuitive; a tool that gave users the information they wanted, when they wanted it.

Willis Towers Watson LifeSight iOS & Android app My Account

As with all good things at Brightec, the development process began with a Discovery Workshop. We pride ourselves on taking time to get to know our clients and their vision inside out before getting underway.

We spent a full day in the Brightec office with a few members of the LifeSight team, discussing the vision of the project, sharing ideas, and talking through potential design concepts.

We love working in this way and find it a really helpful base for building relationships which enable us to develop apps that connect so well with our clients’ users. After all, our clients know their users best!

During the Discovery Workshop, we broke down each section of the app and looked at the key features from a UX perspective. The LifeSight team were brimming with thoughts on how it should look and work, as well as ideas on what would benefit their users the most. Their passion was contagious, and by the end of the day, we were all buzzing to get started.

The Challenges of Developing a Pension App

Creating an easy login process was the biggest challenge for our team during the development stage. As you’d expect, there is a lot of security around storing logins within the financial services industry, which made simplifying the login process tricky. Working with LifeSight, we implemented the highest system security so the app could store login details safely.

The LifeSight pension application is a companion to the company’s online portal which customers can use to support their savings journey. However, one of the technical challenges we faced was integrating seamlessly between both platforms.

We wanted to make logging into the app easy. Whilst ensuring it was suitably secure we also knew it needed a low barrier of entry for people to use it.

So we used biometric login technology to take advantage of new platform features which allow users to login through Face ID and fingerprint scanning. At the time, this was a very new feature, and as a result the app saw a steep increase in activity.

"For consumer-oriented technology to be effective, it must be simple to use, personalised, with functionality that meets the consumers’ true needs."

- LifeSight

Designing a Pension App with Simplicity at its Core

Willis Towers Watson LifeSight iOS & Android app transaction screen

The LifeSight pension app was developed from the existing Willis Towers Watson Track My Pension app, taking the best/most loved features, such as the smart but simple graph designs, and building on them to reflect LifeSight’s own brand. As LifeSight evolved, we separated the code bases to create two separate apps. This simplified the development process and allowed LifeSight to progress further without any limitations.

The LifeSight tool was developed for users to view their key account information, including pension investments and transactions, on the go. A bit like a banking app experience, it displays how much money is coming in, where it is being invested, and a total fund figure. It isn’t overcrowded with complicated information because let’s be honest, pensions have enough of that already. We kept the design as succinct as possible and developed the main features specifically to display only what the user needed to know.

Let’s take a look at the app’s main features:

Overview: this is the first page users land on. It comprises a simple design that summarises the user’s essential account information. LifeSight wanted the homepage to be a simplified pension savings summary, easy to view that helps users feel more in control of their finances. It also allows LifeSight to highlight its specific offerings and support users in finding key information, such as their LifeSight Age or yearly personalised Member Benefits video. LifeSight felt that having this at the touch of a button made everything simpler – and we couldn’t agree more!

‘Account’: the account page breaks down the user’s account information into more detail. The user can see how much their employer has added, how much they have added, and where their money is invested. A transactions section is also available, providing full transparency for those looking to understand all incoming and outgoing payments to their account – keeping them informed.

‘Investments’: the investments section breaks down investment performance into graph form. The user can view which funds they are invested in and how the funds have performed, putting them in control.

‘Transactions’: the transactions tab lets users keep track of all their regular pension contributions broken down into their own contributions, their employers contributions, and any one-off payments.


Multi-account Users: LifeSight provides a pension solution for a number of large employers, so it was crucial the experience worked for individuals that may have more than one account (across current and previous employers) with LifeSight. We’ve ensured that users can seamlessly view multiple accounts within the app. The user can see and manage all their LifeSight pension accounts in one place, removing the stress of swapping between multiple online services. With the LifeSight pension app, pensions are made simple.

App Development that Makes Managing Your Pension Easy

We delivered LifeSight, a pension app that made managing pensions easier than ever before. It works seamlessly with the online web portal and user engagement, and activity, has never been higher.

As with all projects at Brightec, our approach was very collaborative. We project managed the app development aspect and we worked closely with LifeSight’s developers to hone the design.

The company visited the Brightec office for Testing Days, enabling them access to the wide range of our devices. They were able to test the app in real-time, troubleshoot any errors, and point out any bugs so that we could make the appropriate adjustments. Working together in this way meant we were able to deliver a product that was developed and designed exactly how LifeSight wanted it to be.

User testing is important to our process and regular user testing ensures our apps continue to serve users well. We regularly user test the LifeSight app and make improvements to support its continued success.

“At LifeSight we understand that investing in and developing the right technology is vital to help us push boundaries and achieve our goal of ‘making pensions better’!”

- LifeSight

Willis Towers Watson LifeSight iOS & Android app graph

The Ongoing Development of the LifeSight App

It is LifeSight’s mission to create intuitive pension planning tools that make pensions easier to understand, so that members can make informed decisions to benefit their futures. Over the course of this collaborative journey, Brightec delivered an intuitive, beautiful, and simple application that helps people understand their pensions and take control of their finances.

A lot of the new work being carried out by our team is using the latest iOS and Android technologies, specifically SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose to keep LifeSight at the forefront of app development advancements. We are also adding new features, including more personalised notification messages, in-app summary videos, and an improved user experience for LifeSight’s increasing number of retired members. We are proud to have built a pension app that is on the cutting edge!

We are delighted to have built an ongoing relationship with the LifeSight team at Willis Towers Watson and we continue to work together to evolve the LifeSight product. In fact, we are currently working on some new and exciting updates. So, stay tuned!

App Development Made Simple

At Brightec, we make thoughtful technology that enhances the user experience. Just like pensions, we believe technology should be easy to understand and that’s why we are committed to developing apps for people just like you. We are proud to work with our clients developing apps for iPhone and Android that make navigating the online world simple; like it was always intended to be.

Call us on (+44) 1273 625959 or email us at hello@brightec.co.uk to find out how we can help you.

To discover more about the apps we have developed, check out our projects page.