Bas Oppenheim

Bas Oppenheim

I started building software while studying psychology and philosophy. Since then, most of my work has involved some combination of the three, usually in mental health.

I now run Apps for the Living, where I do most of the research, design, programming and support myself. I often work with therapists, researchers and master’s students.

Bas Oppenheim
Utrecht, the Netherlands

Work

The EMDR app

Most of my current work goes into the EMDR app, which provides configurable visual, audio and haptic stimulation. It contains no self-guided trauma protocol or treatment advice. The clinician decides how, when and whether to use the instruments it provides.

I began the app in 2021 and now maintain separate native interfaces across Apple devices and Android, alongside browser-based EMDR Connect. Nearby devices can control one another locally, and the interface is available in 18 languages with VoiceOver support.

On iPhone and iPad, I built a dedicated Assistive Access interface around four essential actions. A public compatibility register documents the wider review that informed this work.

The app can also use Nintendo Joy-Con controllers for tactile stimulation. I reverse-engineered the Bluetooth protocol used by the second generation so ordinary consumer hardware could provide alternating left-right vibration.

The EMDR app's simplified Assistive Access interface on iPad and iPhone
The EMDR app’s dedicated Assistive Access interface on iPhone and iPad.
The EMDR app connected to Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers
Joy-Con controllers connected to the app for alternating vibration.
Assistive Access notes Joy-Con engineering notes

Background

At the University of Amsterdam, I started programming while studying psychology and philosophy. One result was Qumi, a tool for running collaborative research online that was later used in doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh.

From 2019 to 2021, I worked at SD-Insights as a human-factors engineer and R&D Scrum Master in a multidisciplinary team of about six. I worked on UX, front-end delivery and planning for two products, and coordinated and edited the successful CARA II proposal involving nine European partners.

I completed an MSc in Health Psychology & Digital Interventions in 2022. At Apps for the Living, I have since supervised two completed master’s placements with Erasmus University Rotterdam and am supervising a third in 2026. Their work has informed EMDR Connect, the Devices screen, accessibility support and the app’s expansion to other platforms.

Elsewhere

Other software

Smaller projects include Thought Records, a CBT thought-record app whose entries I cannot read, and Our Focus, a shared focus timer for Apple Vision Pro without chat or a social feed.

Notes

Outside software, I make music and films.

Contact

You can email me about the apps, research, a possible collaboration, or something else. If you think my combination of psychology, research and software could be useful to your team or project, tell me a little about what you have in mind.

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