Inspiration
We were inspired to help people who are challenged by depression and other mental illnesses. People who have suffer from these often feel alone, and in a self perpetuating cycle, will isolate themselves. Isolation can lead to impulsive behavior, so we wanted to develop an app to show people they have resources, and that ultimately they are not alone.
What it does
In settings, you can load pictures of family and friends as well as other reminders of happy things. In the main menu, these pictures will be shown in a slideshow-like manner. There is also a button to text people you have selected a message to reach out, saying that you're not feeling great and could use someone to talk to. You can give family and friends your username and, using the app, they can, at any time, log messages into a database to leave messages reminding you that you are appreciated. Requiring a username avoids the risk of trolling which is a common problem for these sorts of applications. Finally, for people who are at risk and feeling highly impulsive, there is a button to immediately call the national suicide hotline.
How we built it
We used Android Studio to build the app. Photos are loaded from internal media and stored locally using shared preferences, messages are logged in Google's Firebase, and phone calls and messages are implemented by connecting to the android services.
Challenges we ran into
Technical difficulties: a laptop that could not install android studio and was, for all intents and purposes, useless; a laptop which crashed every 5 minutes or so; a dip in motivation (but we found inspiration again and powered through). Some team members were unfamiliar with android studio and android development, so it was a major challenge for them to familiarize themselves with the platform. Figuring out the best way to store data locally was a challenge, as was storing data in an online database. Also, in general, null pointer exceptions suck.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Learning how to do Android Development! Also, building an app that has real world applications and that can help people.
What we learned
How to develop Android apps. Also, pretty much every feature we implemented was totally new to us. So, a lot.
What's next for Not Alone
Adding the Spotify API in order to create feel-good playlists. Also, improving the texting system.
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