A mindful self-care app combining behavioral activation, reflection, and mindfulness in a warm interface without pressure or judgment. 100+ micro-actions matched to your energy level, morning and evening rituals, breathing exercises with ambient sounds, expressive writing, and a mood journal with pattern insights. Designed and shipped from zero to App Store in 7 days — product vision, UX, visual identity, and a fully functional iOS app built with AI.
Most mental health apps are built around productivity: streaks, goals, daily check-ins that feel like homework. They work well when you're already motivated — but on the days you need support most, they add pressure instead of relief.
Still Space takes a different approach: evidence-based psychological techniques — behavioral activation, mindfulness, expressive writing — wrapped in a warm, pressure-free interface. Morning and evening rituals, 100+ micro-actions matched to your current energy level, breathing exercises with ambient sounds, and a mood journal that helps you notice patterns over time. Inspired by research, designed with care.
Before designing Still Space, I mapped the mental health app landscape to understand where existing products fall short — especially in making evidence-based techniques accessible without friction.
| Still Space | Headspace | Calm | Daylio | Bearable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core approach | Evidence-based self-care: behavioral activation, mindfulness & reflection | Guided meditation & mindfulness | Sleep stories, meditation & soundscapes | Micro-journaling & mood tracking | Symptom & mood tracking for chronic illness |
| Adapts to emotional state | ✓ Core focus | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Partial |
| Adaptive to energy level | ✓ 4 levels | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streak-free / no guilt mechanics | ✓ | ✗ Streaks & badges | Minimal | ✗ Streaks & badges | ✓ |
| Crisis resources built-in | ✓ Hotlines in 6 countries | ✗ Redirects to 911 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Actionable micro-tasks | ✓ ~150 tasks by energy level | Meditation only | Meditation only | ✗ Logging only | ✗ Tracking only |
| Privacy-first (no data sharing) | ✓ | ✗ Shares with ad networks | ✗ Shares with marketers | ✓ Local storage | ✓ |
| Ukrainian & Russian | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pricing | Free + optional premium | $69.99/yr | $79.99/yr | $35.99/yr | $34.99/yr |
Key insight: Most mental health apps focus on a single technique — meditation or journaling or tracking. None of them combine behavioral activation, mindfulness, and reflective practices in one adaptive interface. Still Space fills this gap: 100+ energy-matched micro-actions, daily rituals grounded in research, breathing exercises with ambient sounds, expressive writing (Pennebaker method), and a mood journal with pattern insights — all in a warm, pressure-free experience.
Every word in Still Space is a design decision. The voice is warm, unhurried, and accepting — as if a caring friend is sitting next to you.
Role: not a therapist, not a coach — a gentle companion who stays with you.
Every design decision starts from one question: "Does this feel like care — not like another task on the to-do list?"
The home screen opens with a companion character and a simple mood check-in — four energy levels (Heavy, Hard, Okay, Good) let you check in without overthinking. Below, three daily cards rotate fresh content: Morning ritual with evidence-based practices to start the day, Thought of the day for perspective, and A question for you to spark self-reflection. Quick-access features stay anchored at the bottom: "Just be here with me" for breathing and mindfulness, "Note what you got through" for logging self-care wins, and "Let it out and let it go" for expressive writing using the Pennebaker method.
100+ micro-actions grounded in behavioral activation — the evidence-based approach of using small, manageable activities to improve mood (effect size: Hedges' g = 0.85). Actions are matched to your current energy level and context, filterable by location: At Home, Outside, or At Work. Each card shows a category (For the soul, Breathing & Body, Basic Care...), a warm description, and a low-pressure "I'll try this" button. Completing an action logs it to your diary as a self-care win.
A breathing circle with heartbeat haptics and ambient soundscapes: Rain, Ocean, Fireplace, Wind, Night. "I'm staying with you. You don't need to do anything right now." No timers, no instructions — just a quiet space to pause, breathe, and reset. A link to crisis support is always accessible at the bottom, never intrusive.
The journal tracks mood patterns across day, week, month, and 6-month views, surfacing gentle insights — "Usually you feel better mid-month," "Your mood is stable," "You often feel calm." Below the chart, a timeline of completed self-care actions shows "What you got through" — making progress visible without turning it into a performance metric.
Still Space was designed and developed with Claude (Anthropic) as a creative and engineering partner. Not replacing design thinking — amplifying it to ship a complete product in 7 days.