The new iOS social wellness app that exists wants to help middle-aged consumers connect and build meaningful communities to each other as they navigate their lives and the stress that comes with them.
The app describes itself as being more gentle or edge-like in headspace, and its main feature is social journaling. The idea behind social and community-driven journaling in the app is to help people heal together rather than alone. The presence also includes daily mood trackers, audio exercises, guided meditations and more.
The app was founded by iOS developer Jason Jardim, who founded a startup previously known as Lounge, and Alicia Waldner, founder of a marketing agency called Adventure Marketing.
The co-founders did not meet at networking events, jobs or Almamatels. They met on a date. The two remained friendly and began to talk about ideas for mental health apps. They were both passionate topics, Waldner said in an interview with TechCrunch.
Waldner participated in a series of group mental wellness experiences and heard from people who wanted to see such a community-based experience from home. Jardim and Waldner tried to create an app that covers this community building idea.
The existence was originally intended to target Gen Z users, but the average age of users who signed up for the app was 40, so the premise resonated with middle-aged users. The duo then decided to focus on the app and focus around this old group.
Image credit: exists
The existence features a tictoc-like feed that allows users to swipe through a mix of videos and text posts featuring people's public journals and answers to daily prompts. Users can share comments on these posts to share similar experiences and provide support and advice.
“The biggest feature that makes us different is the community side,” Waldner says. “Headspace and Calm has proven that there is this audio-based market, but people still feel very lonely in those experiences and in real life, but people meditate, then journal, but it's a solo experience.
The existence also features AI-driven questioning capabilities that encourage users to extend the journal and explore their own thoughts and feelings more. Waldner says this feature is meant to help people get to the bottom of the problem and think deeply about something.
The community and social journaling aspects that exist are free. If users want to access guided audio and meditation, they will need to sign up for a monthly subscription to the app.
From a future perspective, startups want to lean on the human connection aspect of being and continue to look for ways to improve it. It is hoped to add additional features on sleep habits and emotional recording, and more personalized prompts for the journal.