InnerAI – meditation and mindfulness app
Sharing Onix’s experience in mobile meditation app development
InnerAI is more than a meditation and mindfulness guide.
Artificial intelligence (AI) in the mobile app enables every user to experience meditation as it should be – deeply personal and profoundly effective – anywhere and anytime, reducing stress and improving mental well-being and overall quality of life.
Health & fitness
Industry
3 specialists
Team size
USA
Location
5 months
Project duration
[ Project idea and goals ]
The app was envisioned by Jimmy Gambier, the founder and CEO of InnerVR, Inc.
When Onix’s developers were building the virtual reality-based relaxation application, Mr. Gambier decided to try a new commercial direction – mobile meditation platform development – and a more user-oriented approach.
He came up with an idea to leverage AI to tailor every meditation session to each user’s unique needs and preferences.
He envisioned a mobile application that would:
- ﹂
Generate unique meditations specifically for each user instead of generic stress-relief sessions with pre-recorded guidance
- ﹂
Craft each meditation session so that it dives into the user’s specific stressors and pulls from their life experiences
- ﹂
Learn from interactions with the user to tailor their meditation practice to their individual needs and teach effective coping mechanisms
- ﹂
Provide personalized daily insights to guide users toward balance and peace of mind
[ Product scope ]
Client's requirements
Initially, the client wanted both Android and iOS versions of the app. However, as they planned to target the US market, where the majority of users use Apple devices, and given time constraints, the client decided to focus on iOS app development first.
Onix’s experts were tasked with developing a minimum viable product (MVP) with the core feature set required to provide personalized meditation sessions and a basic intuitive user interface. The client gave them one month to deliver the MVP.
Do you need help with creating a mobile meditation app or AI-powered solution? Our experts are at your service!
Project phases:
01
Thanks to active communication during the InnerVR development, our team was able to elicit clear product requirements from the client and identify all limitations and ways to avoid them. This facilitated better-informed decision-making and effective planning. No UX/UI prototyping was required.
02
Within a month, Onix’s team created the application’s basic architecture with all the necessary components.
03
After the InnerAI launch, the team focused on improving and modifying the initial functionality for about 4 months.
04
In less than 6 months, we delivered a working application that allows users to take their smartphone, sign up, create meditations based on their personal information, and then save and listen to those meditations while tracking their mindfulness progress.
The app’s features
AI-generated personalized meditations
To create a custom meditation, users only need to enter several parameters:
1.Their problem (e.g., they are battling stress, trying to quell anxiety, or want to fall asleep after a turbulent day), which can be expressed as a metaphor (e.g., waves at the beach or waiting for a train)
2.Meditation type (e.g., breath, visualization, sleep stories, Zen, relaxation, energizing, etc.)
3.Meditation duration
4.Guide’s voice
As a result, each meditation is an intimate reflection of the user’s current thoughts and feelings and a fresh, engaging experience. The user can listen to the newly created meditation immediately. Moreover, it is automatically added to their meditations list so they can play it afterward.
Variety of meditation styles
Whether the user has Monday blues or is experiencing a dramatic life change, InnerAI can offer relief. Users can choose from many options, from breath-focused exercises to guided imagery.
Selection of meditation guides
Users can choose among a variety of soothing or empowering narrator voices and teaching styles to find a guide that truly resonates with them and enhances their meditation practice.
Adaptive content
InnerAI continuously tailors the meditation process to each user’s goals and needs.
Each time, it recommends a meditation style and offers specialized modules with advanced mindfulness techniques and philosophies perfectly suited to their current emotional and mental state.
Daily health insights
InnerAI also provides personalized health and mindfulness insights and advice to assist the users’ daily self-care routines.
The actionable recommendations and enriching content should help users seamlessly incorporate well-being into their lifestyles.
[ Client Testimonial ]
Here is our client's statement about their experience with the Onix services
“Being able to enter a prompt or reflection and have a personalized meditation pop out a few seconds later is unlike any other meditation experience I've ever had before. I have been shocked at how the meditations speak directly to my personal situation, how deeply they resonate and how they help set me up for success in my day because of how relevant they are to whatever I'm going through at that moment.”
JeffNFLfan
[ Challenges and solutions ]
The project is unique because it required AI to create meditations in real time.
The AI solution not only generates text for a guided meditation based on the parameters entered by the user but also instantly converts it into audio.
The user support feature, where AI provides advice and guidance, can enhance the user experience and make the app more effective in achieving relaxation and long-term mental health goals.
OpenAI GPT
We chose the GPT API as the core for generating the meditation text.
As an additional feature, we decided to replicate the Chat GPT functionality with an option to stream text without waiting for a complete response from the service.
Parsing the text coming from Open AI for meditations consisting of different parts was challenging. Since the AI understands queries quite literally, it’s tricky to make it return the text in the right format.
We solved this problem by using an additional fresh feature – Function Calling. It allows sending to the AI requests with embedded special data models that specify the data format it should return. This solution helped reduce the number of errors during the text generation and improved the developers’ interaction with the service.
Narrator’s voice generation
We used Azure and WellSaid for a more natural human voice generation.
Azure helped with the correct arrangement of pauses so that the narrator’s intonation matches the text. WellSaid facilitates the use of synthesized voices that are almost indistinguishable from real humans, including the right intonation.
Operation in the background
The client also requested that the custom meditation generation should not stop even when the user's phone is locked, as well as the ability to play a meditation in the background.
This turned out to be a significant challenge since we cannot directly interact with the Unity application when it is out of focus; in that case, it simply enters sleep mode. Therefore, Onix’s iOS developers had to create a native module capable of interacting with Unity that can make requests in the background and execute these requests on the native side.
Authentication system
Our developers also integrated the PlayFab API to store user data and identify users.
This enables users to store their personal meditations in the app’s storage and play them back on any supported device.
OpenAI GPT
Narrator’s voice generation
Operation in the background
Authentication system
We chose the GPT API as the core for generating the meditation text.
As an additional feature, we decided to replicate the Chat GPT functionality with an option to stream text without waiting for a complete response from the service.
Parsing the text coming from Open AI for meditations consisting of different parts was challenging. Since the AI understands queries quite literally, it’s tricky to make it return the text in the right format.
We solved this problem by using an additional fresh feature – Function Calling. It allows sending to the AI requests with embedded special data models that specify the data format it should return. This solution helped reduce the number of errors during the text generation and improved the developers’ interaction with the service.
Core technology stack we used
Unity engine,
C# programming language,
iOS SDK for a native module for Unity,
Swift programming language,
Open AI for text generation,
Azure for audio generation,
WellSaid for audio generation,
PlayFab for authentication and data storage
Results
InnerAI has been published on the App Store and enjoys great ratings and reviews. Onix’s experts are proud of their role in realizing
- ﹂
User-centric approach to meditation sessions that increases the chances of profitability in the mental health and wellness market
- ﹂
AI-driven solutions, especially using the OpenAI GPT API, giving the app a competitive edge in quality and innovation
- ﹂
Unique functionality that can attract broad audiences, ensuring a continuous influx of customers
The MVP has the potential to evolve into a comprehensive platform with rich services.
Currently, the client has put the project on pause due to involvement in other enterprises, but we keep in touch and hope to resume the app development at some point soon.
Throughout the app development process, the client was satisfied with our cooperation, communication, compliance with deadlines, and the results.
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