HabitPal

Turn long-term dreams into daily habits.

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Inspiration

I’m a young female student, and like many women my age, I have ambitions, goals, and dreams I genuinely want to achieve, both personally and professionally. But despite the motivation, I often found myself stuck on the same question: where do I actually start?

I want to improve my habits, work toward long-term goals, and build a better version of myself. Yet big objectives can quickly feel overwhelming. Through reading books on personal development and habit-building, I learned a key idea that deeply resonated with me. Big goals only become achievable when they are broken down into smaller goals, and then into simple daily actions.

That insight became the foundation of HabitPal.

I wanted to create a mobile app designed specifically for women like me, ambitious, thoughtful, but sometimes overwhelmed, that does not rely on pressure or guilt. Instead, the focus is on clarity, consistency, and self-trust.

While researching successful habit and learning apps, I also noticed how strongly users emotionally connect with products that have a clear personality and a mascot. Apps like Duolingo, Finch or BitePal build attachment, not just utility. This inspired me to design a friendly, original mascot for HabitPal, motivating and supportive without feeling childish. I chose a soft, modern visual identity with a purple color palette to avoid anything overly playful and instead create a calm, reassuring environment.

HabitPal was born from my own experience. It is an app I personally wanted to use, and one I believe truly fits Gabby’s audience of ambitious women turning dreams into action.

What it does

HabitPal helps users transform long-term dreams into achievable daily habits.

The app allows users to:

Features

Rather than focusing on rigid productivity, HabitPal emphasizes progress that feels human, encouraging, and sustainable.

How I solo-built it

I started the project with a research and ideation phase focused on one core question: how to create a habit app users genuinely want to return to. Before writing code, I analyzed why many habit trackers fail to emotionally engage users and how HabitPal could stand out through experience and identity.

A large part of the work went into UX and UI design. While building an app is technically accessible today, creating something intuitive, calming, and memorable is much harder. I designed the mascot, visual universe, color palette, typography, onboarding flows, and navigation with great care to shape a strong and recognizable visual identity.

I accomplished this iteratively, without being a professional UX or UI designer, by experimenting, learning, and collaborating with artificial intelligence to create an original character and experience tailored to young women.

Architecture

On the technical side, I built HabitPal as a mobile MVP using React, TypeScript, Expo Go, Rork, and Cursor IDE. I integrated RevenueCat to power subscriptions and deployed the app via TestFlight public beta, ensuring it is a real, usable product.

My priority throughout the build was simple: a polished user experience first, then key features.

Challenges I ran into

Challenge I ran into

  • Understanding the audience firsthand: Being a woman myself made it easier to design an experience that feels relatable without becoming childish. I focused on creating a visually soft, feminine identity with a friendly mascot that users can emotionally connect with. Many women tend to attach to products they can identify with, which is why the mascot plays an important role in HabitPal. I also considered emotional sensitivity and motivation patterns, which influenced features like the Cookie Jar. This feature randomly surfaces past wins and proud moments when motivation drops, helping users reconnect with progress they may have forgotten. Attention to detail was equally important. Micro-interactions and subtle animations were designed to make the experience feel warm and encouraging. To validate these choices, I shared early versions of the app with my mother in her fifties and close friends, using their feedback to refine both the design and feature set.

  • Designing for emotional balance: Many habit apps rely on pressure, streaks, or guilt to drive consistency. One of the biggest challenges was designing an experience that motivates users without overwhelming them. I iterated several times on onboarding, habit flows, and feedback loops to keep the app supportive, especially for a female audience.

  • Building a strong visual identity solo: Creating a mascot and a cohesive visual universe that feels friendly but not childish required multiple design iterations. Without being a professional designer, I had to experiment extensively to achieve a balance between warmth, clarity, and a premium feel.

  • Feature prioritization under time constraints: With limited time to ship a working MVP, I had to cut or postpone several planned features and focus only on what delivered real value. This reinforced the importance of shipping a focused MVP and iterating based on user feedback.

  • Integrating monetization early: Implementing RevenueCat while preserving a positive first-time user experience required careful decisions around paywalls and feature gating to avoid disrupting trust or motivation.

  • Shipping a real public beta: Deploying HabitPal through TestFlight public beta introduced additional constraints around stability and polish, but ensured the app is a real, installable product rather than a demo.

Accomplishments that I am proud of

  • Shipping a real, usable MVP: I successfully designed, built, and deployed a fully functional mobile app available through TestFlight public beta, going beyond a prototype or concept.

  • Creating a strong product identity: I designed HabitPal’s mascot, visual universe, and onboarding experience to create an emotional connection with users, not just a functional tool.

  • Building the entire product solo: From ideation and UX design to development, monetization, and deployment, I handled every aspect of the project independently.

  • Integrating monetization from day one: I implemented RevenueCat early in the process, laying the foundation for a sustainable subscription-based product rather than a hobby app.

  • Aligning the app with a real audience: HabitPal was built specifically for Gabby’s community, with a clear focus on turning long-term dreams into daily actions.

What I learned

Building HabitPal taught me that user experience and emotional engagement are just as important as technical execution. Shipping a focused MVP helped me understand the value of prioritization, iteration, and real user feedback over feature quantity. I also learned that monetization should be designed as part of the product from the start, not added as an afterthought, and that taking an idea from concept to a live public beta is one of the most valuable learning experiences as a solo builder.

What's next for HabitPal

The next strategic phase for HabitPal focuses on user acquisition, structured growth, and data-driven refinement.

I am prioritizing organic distribution channels where ambitious young women already spend time and actively engage. This includes TikTok, Instagram, relevant Reddit communities, and targeted Facebook groups centered around personal growth, productivity, and women-led ambition. These platforms allow authentic storytelling around daily progress and micro-transformations, which naturally aligns with HabitPal’s core value proposition.

Dedicated channels have already been launched:

In parallel, I plan to prepare a strong Product Hunt launch, with a carefully crafted product page that highlights HabitPal’s differentiation: dream-to-daily transformation, emotional reinforcement through the Cookie Jar, and mascot-driven engagement. Clear messaging and polished visuals will be key to generating early traction and credibility.

From a product perspective, the focus will be on deep personalization and refinement. This includes expanding mascot customization, improving onboarding clarity, refining habit journeys, and enhancing micro-interactions and subtle animations to elevate daily engagement.

The onboarding experience is intentionally structured to collect meaningful user context. Over time, this data will allow more precise personalization, smarter habit suggestions, and improved motivational reinforcement. Rather than creating friction, onboarding builds the foundation for intelligent product iteration.

Introducing native Apple widgets is another priority. Making habits visible directly from the home and lock screens will strengthen daily consistency without requiring constant app interaction.

All growth initiatives will be guided by clearly defined KPI metrics, including activation rate, onboarding completion rate, retention, subscription conversion rate, churn, and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). These metrics will drive iteration cycles and feature prioritization.

The long-term objective is to scale the user base, optimize retention, and build a sustainable subscription model, steadily increasing MRR while delivering meaningful value to users.

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