I built an anti-productivity app for ADHD brains — and it is free
Hi IndieHackers! I'm Alex.
Every wellness app I tried made my ADHD worse. Streaks gave me anxiety. "You missed 3 days" messages made me feel guilty. Push notifications felt demanding. The apps were built for neurotypical brains — and for ADHD, that approach backfires.
Streaks trigger cortisol (fear of loss), not dopamine (motivation). For ADHD brains, that's the difference between a tool that helps and a tool that hurts.
The Solution: GentleQuest
I built GentleQuest — a mood-first wellness app that does the opposite:
- No streaks — we track "total active days" instead. You can never lose progress.
- No guilt — missing a day doesn't reset anything. You're never starting over.
- Mood first — check in with how you feel before anything else.
- Quiet by design — no push notifications begging for attention.
- Built for overwhelm — one-tap check-in, no 10-question forms.
The Build (Solo Founder Stack)
- Engine: Flutter (iOS, Android, web)
- Intelligence: Google Gemini 2.0 for the AI wellness chat
- Privacy: Your data stays on your device. No analytics SDKs tracking your taps. No ad networks. No selling data.
- Distribution: Blog (66 posts), Medium, Buffer
The Ask
My goal is to reach every ADHD brain that's been failed by streak-based productivity apps.
I'm looking for:
- Feedback: Does the "no streaks" approach resonate? What would make you actually use a mood tracker?
- Distribution: Where do ADHD folks hang out online?
I'm building this in public and open to any questions on the stack or the mission.
Try GentleQuest free: https://gentlequest.app
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/gentlequest/id6756537464
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.gentlequest.www
Blog: https://gentlequest.app/blog
#buildinpublic #mentalhealth #adhd #founder #flutter #indiehackers
Love this angle, honestly. What made you look into it in the first place?
The “no streaks” thesis is clear, but the real signal seems to be repeat use. Have early users actually returned more consistently with the guilt-free model?
Best to reach me at admin@gentlequest.app — happy to share the D7/D14 numbers directly once the cohorts mature (still instrumenting, so give it a couple of weeks). I monitor that inbox daily.
Thanks! I’ve just sent it over.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts whenever you have a chance.
Honest answer: too early for statistically meaningful retention — I'm at ~75 users over 90 days (GA4), so cohorts are tiny. What I can share:
The real test is D7/D14 return rate, which I'm instrumenting now (GA4 cohort exploration — will publish the numbers in the thread once the cohorts mature). My thesis isn't that streaks don't motivate — it's that streak-retention is borrowed motivation that collapses on the first miss. "You've shown up 23 times" vs "streak: 0" is the same compounding story without the shame reset. If you're building something habit-adjacent, happy to compare notes — the metric I'd watch is "did the user open the app on day 2 of a broken streak," because that's where streak products bleed.
The D7/D14 return signal is the one I’d be interested in following. If you’re open to it, what’s the best email to reach you on?