Building Viola: A Wellbeing App for Gratitude, Motivation, and Mindful Tracking
Viola is a wellbeing app I own and actively build. The idea is simple: transform your mindset in 10 minutes a day through a lightweight daily practice.
At its core, Viola combines a few small behaviors that compound over time:
- gratitude journaling (including optional photo attachments)
- motivational quotes you can save/share
- mood and wellbeing tracking (sleep, habits, and wellness metrics)
- goals, milestones, and simple daily tasks
You can explore it here: https://www.viola.land/
The vision behind Viola
Most wellbeing tools fail for one of two reasons:
- They’re too heavy (too many steps, too much setup)
- They’re too vague (they don’t help you build a repeatable habit)
Viola is built around the smallest viable daily loop:
- reflect
- capture a moment of gratitude
- get a small dose of motivation
- track your wellbeing so you can spot patterns
And with AI coming soon, you will get a weeky overview of your past weeks tracking and how you can improve.
If you can do it consistently, it works.
What Viola does today
Viola’s current feature set includes:
Daily gratitude journaling
Write gratitude entries and optionally attach photos. The goal isn’t perfect writing—it’s consistent reflection.
Motivational quotes
A quotes library and a swipeable quote feed, designed for quick “reset” moments during the day.
Wellbeing tracking and insights
Track mood and sleep, plus wellness metrics like water intake, exercise, meditation, nutrition, energy levels, and more. Over time, the value is in noticing correlations and trends.
A customizable experience
Viola supports themes (light/dark/custom) and a personalized dashboard so the app feels like yours.
Product principles (how I make decisions)
Because I own the project, I get to be opinionated. Here are the principles that keep me from over-building:
1. Ten minutes is the constraint
If a workflow can’t be completed in around ten minutes, it’s too long. Constraints create clarity.
2. The user’s data stays theirs
Viola’s Terms emphasize that users retain ownership of their content (entries, photos, and health logs), and the Privacy Policy is explicit about what’s collected and why.
3. Trust is the feature
A wellbeing app is intimate. That means being serious about:
- security basics (encryption, access controls)
- predictable behavior (no surprise sharing)
- clear health disclaimers (supporting wellbeing, not replacing professional care)
Building the product without making it “about me”
Even though I own Viola, the product has to stand on its own.
So when I talk about Viola, I try to keep the spotlight on:
- the daily habit (gratitude + reflection + tracking)
- the outcome (calmer, clearer, more consistent self-awareness)
- the user experience (simple, fast, motivating)
The best marketing is: someone feels better after a week and tells a friend.
What’s next
My focus going forward is to keep improving the core loop (journal → motivation → tracking → insight) while adding premium features that don’t compromise simplicity.
Try Viola Today
- Website: https://www.viola.land/
- Create account: https://www.viola.land/auth/register
- Blog: https://www.viola.land/blog
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