Corona Freepass — Digitizing COVID Testing in Germany

During the COVID-19 crisis, Sparkpark helped digitize large parts of the COVID testing infrastructure in Germany. With more than 70 testing stations and over one million antigen and PCR tests conducted, Corona Freepass quickly became one of the country’s leading testing providers.

The Challenge

In the early days of the pandemic, the founding team behind Corona Freepass recognized an urgent need: fast, scalable, and easily accessible testing.

By partnering with a certified laboratory and optimizing operational workflows, they were able to offer some of the most cost-efficient tests available in Germany at the time.

Sparkpark was brought in to design and build a fully digital testing ecosystem — covering everything from test procurement and appointment scheduling to station operations and test result delivery.

By digitizing both the customer journey and the internal processes of physical testing stations, the system dramatically improved operational speed, reliability, and scalability.

System Design

At the start of the project, we mapped the entire ecosystem using process flowcharts and role-based system diagrams. This allowed us to define all user roles and interactions before building the product.

Based on this architecture, we developed native mobile applications for iOS and Android, each tailored to specific user roles. Access to the correct version of the app was granted via QR-code invitation, ensuring that each participant only interacted with the tools relevant to their responsibilities.

The Test Participant Experience

For test participants, we designed a seamless digital journey:

1. Registration and personal data verification

2. Selection of a nearby testing station

3. Appointment booking and payment

4. Identification at the station via QR code in the app

5. Test execution and digital confirmation

Once the laboratory processed the sample, the test result was delivered directly to the app, including the official lab certificate.

Participants could also verify the status of other individuals by scanning their digital “Freepass” within the application.

Station Operations

Testing stations required a structured workflow involving multiple roles. Each role received a dedicated app interface optimized for their tasks.

Roles included:

• Support staff verifying identities via ID checks and QR scans

• Test assistants conducting antigen or PCR sampling

• Laboratory personnel processing and evaluating samples

• Station managers overseeing station performance and workflows

For every role, processes and touchpoints were carefully designed to ensure clarity, speed, and minimal training requirements.

The Website

In addition to the mobile applications, we built a web-based registration system that allowed users to book tests without installing the app.

The platform included location-specific landing pages for different German regions, providing relevant information about:

• testing stations

• appointment availability

• regional testing regulations

• government subsidies

This was essential because COVID policies differed significantly between German states, including varying reimbursement models for tests.

Expansion: Corporate & Event Testing

As the platform matured, Corona Freepass expanded into enterprise and event testing solutions.

With the “Freepass Service”, companies could order test kits directly. Samples were taken on-site by employees themselves and guided through the process using the mobile app. The samples were then collected and processed by the partner laboratory.

This extension enabled large-scale testing for workplaces, conferences, and events.

Outcome

Working with a small, highly agile team, the product moved from concept to launch in just a few weeks.

To accelerate development:

• Traditional wireframes were skipped in favor of rapid prototyping

• Team communication happened primarily through direct chat instead of formal sprint boards

• Continuous feedback from station staff allowed fast iteration and optimization

The result was a system that:

• reduced waiting times at testing stations

• accelerated result delivery for patients

• simplified complex operational workflows

• maintained high standards of data protection

Corona Freepass became a critical digital infrastructure layer supporting large-scale COVID testing across Germany.