iCare Meditation App

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  Our Graduating Class of 2022 West Seneca NAF Academy of Information Technology Students

Inspiration

In our App Development class, we brainstormed ideas for simple apps that teenagers might actually use. We focused on a balance between things we thought teens need in their daily life, things that can be done quickly, and things that teens might not actually do day to day. The majority of the class focused on stress & strategies on how to reduce stress and stay positive. Through collaboration, we created the “iCare” app as a quick, realistic way for teens to “reset” their focus and reduce stress.

What it does

Our app features three sections. The “Intro” section simply provides information, explaining the practice of meditation & data supporting the positive effects of quick, 60-second meditation sessions. The “Meditation” section provides the user with the actual space for their 60-second meditation session. The “Learn More” section provides additional resources for users who are interested in exploring deeper meditation concepts.

How we built it

Our class followed a traditional process, beginning with brainstorming the core concept of the app. Once we agreed on the direction & scope of the app, we drew out the four screens to get a general idea for their feel & flow. An emphasis was placed on simplicity, so we did revisit the design during the coding phase to “do less with more” and remove any elements we felt weren’t necessary to the app’s functionality & user experience. The coding process focused mainly on finding the right balance between the timer and the user prompts to ensure that the user could actually receive a meditative experience.

Challenges We Ran Into

Accomplishments That We’re Proud Of

What We Learned

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge was creating a meditative experience that we felt was actually immersive enough for teens to use in real life. We struck a balance between pre-meditation prompts & the use of a timer with post-meditation prompts to ensure users would understand how to participate mindfully in the process.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We decided fairly early in the app development process that the purpose of the app should not be “mining data'' or turning users into commodities. We simply aimed to provide an easy-to-use platform for teens to quickly reduce their stress. Removing any data collection processes helped us focus more on the user experience & simplicity of the app.

What we learned

Through the coding process, we learned the importance of re-visiting core concepts within the app & being open & flexible with conceptual modifications mid-project. We felt that the ease of the MIT App Inventor made the actual creation of the app simple & easy to understand, but ultimately, our teamwork & flexibility were the X-factor to make sure our app ends up a success.

What's next for iCare Meditation App

In future courses, we would like to flesh out this core concept with increasingly immersive & engaging interfaces, while maintaining the bare-bones & easy-to-use core concept of this app.

Built With

• mit-app-inventor