App Review: #Selfcare
This is one of those fun apps that looks like a bedroom and you play the “game” by interacting with objects around the room.
#Selfcare is billed as a way to practice self care by playing a game. It’s marketing towards people who like to relax and have anxiety and depression.
I personally really enjoy this app and think it’s a great idea.
The app uses several different methodologies that I know are recommended by therapists such as meditation, breathwork, journaling, and other ideas.
“In #SelfCare, we’ve proven our completely new interaction model of deepening care and compassion as a beautiful alternative to the gamification model of rising challenge, fear, shock or FOMO.”
The App is built by a company called TruLuv, and like their app, their website is calming and has a decent amount of information on it.
I like that the website goes into their values and mission and includes pictures and profiles of the people behind the app. They’re a small gaming studio based in Canada and the founder, Brie Code has experience working in systems design, AI, and gaming. I think it’s an interesting bent and one I really think hits right in our Covid world.
Especially with the Pandemic, I do think relaxing games are really making a space for themselves. I know a LOT of people who love Animal Crossing and several apps where you just take care of plants and cats.
While there are a lot of apps out there dedicated to mental health, I think #Selfcare is unique in it’s gaming approach.
I think it’s interesting that the app is supposed to use AI in order to improve each person’s experience the more they use the app. I can’t say if I’ve noticed it myself as I have about five mini games I play consistently and the rest I basically ignore.
Every time you log into the app, it greats you with a message. The messages change fairly frequently as the app is being updated quite constantly. I think it’s a cute way to be like, “here you are”.
The app requires no account to use and no profile to create.
I think this allows the app to be easily used by people who want to use it anytime. The app keeps track of things you’ve already done like your settings and the items you’ve collected.
However this also means that if a friend wants to use the app on your device, there is no way to log out and use a different profile.
You can also buy upgrades through the app which allow you more customization. I think it’s a smart way to create money through the app but it also doesn’t show you ads either. This makes the app really relaxing to use.
Once you’re in the bedroom, you have a variety of items to pick up.
As they add new features to the bedroom, they will populate it with new items or create an aura around an item that’s been updated recently. I think this is a smart way to keep things fresh and keep people checking back in.
Some of the items I wish they would make it a bit more obvious that you can select and do something with it. When you click on an item that doesn’t have any activity attached to it, it will tell you some inspirational about it or to check back in.
I took a screenshot of “my room” after I “cleaned it up”.
When you first log in, sometimes there is dirty clothes on the floor that you can clean up by tapping them. I think this is a good way to simulation taking care of your space.
What I would change:
Here, I would allow a chest or an area where you could put away items you don’t really use as much. As it is, I think the bedroom is beginning to look cluttered.
I don’t use all of the items every time I log in, so I think having a storage area would be a smart idea.
I’ve included screenshots of a couple of the activities you can do.
Every feature includes a button to go back to the room and the menu will usually bring you to customizations, settings, and a walkthrough.
Most of their screens are pretty simple and when you first click into a new item, it gives you a little walkthrough on how to use the item.
What I would change:
While I think the text and the walkthrough is great, I would also include a tutorial on it. Sometimes I have to go back and read the walkthrough several times because the directions aren’t always the most clear.
However they are consistent in the tone of voice and the style they’ve written the mini game in.
Like the breathing mini game example above, this mini game is a journal in which you can type out your feelings related to a prompt you pick. This one took me several times to figure out how to get it to work.
What I like about this is that most of the mini games you can “play” are real therapy techniques I’ve about like meditation, breathing, and journal prompts. I think this is a great way to introduce people to calming ideas they might not have explored otherwise.
What I would change:
More directions in some of the mini games would be nice or a different tutorial. Sometimes if I haven’t used a game in a while, I’ll forget what I’m supposed to do or why this particular mini game is useful.
In this screenshot, the app features a triangle shelf which is pretty common these days especially among essential oil people.
While you use the mini games, they give you these small tokens that are displayed on your shelf. You can customize how they are displayed on your shelf and there is a variety of items to display.
The tokens appear randomly so you never know what you’re going to get or when.
What I would change:
The tokens also don’t really do anything, and I kinda wish they would do something.
I also wish you could select a different shaped shelf and what items appear on it and not. I would mostly display the crystals on mine.
Overall thoughts:
I think the app is a really great idea and the intentions behind it are great. While most of the things I would change are minor, overall the app is pretty usable and enjoyable to use. I think a lot of different people can get something out of it and they’re always updating it.
I also think expanding an app like this to other situations would be really useful. For example, a #Selfcare app for work or for parents or children would be interesting.
I also should mention that there isn’t any way to interact with other users on the app. I think its a smart decision actually so people don’t feel pressured to use the app in a certain way.
