therappai

I wanted to share something candid from the trenches.

We’re building therappai — an interactive AI video experience where users talk to a “real” human-like avatar (not text, not voice… actual face-to-face conversation).

The vision is simple:
A user opens the app → taps a therapist → and has a natural, flowing, human conversation in real time.

The reality (right now) is very different.

The app is live: https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/therappai/id6753192961

I’m also vibe coding some variations here too: https://calm-ai-care.base44.app/

The core problem

We’re trying to combine 4 extremely heavy systems at once:

1. Speech recognition (listening in real time)

2. LLM reasoning (thinking + generating response)

3. Text-to-speech (natural voice output)

4. Real-time avatar rendering (lip sync + facial movement)

Each of these works individually.

Together? It breaks.

Where it falls apart

• Latency kills the experience
  Even a 1–2 second delay makes it feel unnatural. 3–5 seconds is unusable.

• Avatars aren’t truly “live”
  They feel reactive, not present. You can tell it’s stitched together.

• Compute requirements are insane
  To do this properly at scale, the cost per session is not viable yet.

• Conversation flow is fragile
  Interruptions, overlaps, and timing issues break immersion instantly.

• Long sessions degrade quality
  The longer the interaction, the more obvious the cracks become.

The uncomfortable truth

We’re asking for something that is just barely possible today.

Not impossible.
But not product-ready at a level users will pay for.

What we’re testing now

• Hybrid models (video + voice fallback)

• Shorter, structured sessions instead of open-ended conversations

• Pre-buffering / prediction tricks to reduce perceived latency

• Web-based versions to experiment faster outside app store constraints

The big question

Is this:

1. A “wait 12–24 months” problem as models + compute improve?
   or

2. A product design problem where we need to rethink the experience entirely?

Would love to hear from anyone working on:

• Real-time avatars

• Voice AI

• Low-latency AI systems

• Or anyone who has actually cracked this

Because right now, it feels like we’re building on the edge of what’s technically possible — and falling just short.

Shipped today.

therappai is now live on the Apple App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/therappai/id6753192961

This has been a long build.

The idea was simple:

What if therapy actually felt human… and was available 24/7?

So we built:

• AI video sessions (not just text)

• voice + chat support

• CBT / DBT / mindfulness tools

• memory across sessions

• crisis buddy (alerts someone you trust)

Big focus was making it feel real, not like you’re talking to a bot.

To get early feedback, I’m giving 3 months free:

Code: EARLY2026

Android is coming later this week.

Would love honest feedback — especially from builders.

What’s confusing, what’s missing, what you’d kill.

This is v1. Plenty to improve.

James

#buildinpublic #indiehackers #startup #saas #ai #productlaunch #mentalhealth #bootstrapped #founderlife

Big day for therappai — we’ve just hit a major technical and traction milestone at the same time.

✅ Full Production Deployment Live

Our dev team has successfully deployed the full platform to our server, and everything is running smoothly. This includes:

• 🔐 Super Admin access + permission framework

• 💬 AI chat, voice, and video therapy sessions

• 🚨 Crisis Buddy alerts with AI indicators that automatically reach out to a chosen buddy in high-risk moments

• 🧘‍♂️ CBT, DBT & mindfulness exercise library

• 📲 Google + Apple login and onboarding

• 🏅 Milestones & analytics now in the final completion stage

It’s one of those “behind the scenes” milestones that takes weeks of work but feels huge when it finally lands.

📈 Traction Update

We’ve now grown our early-access waitlist to 85 people, with just 15 spots left to hit our pre-launch target.

The momentum over the last week has been unreal — especially considering we’re still pre-product, pre-launch, and entirely organic.

🎯 What’s Next

• Finalising milestone badges & analytics

• Prepping the first full walkthrough for early access users

• Locking in content for a December public launch

Building an AI therapy platform that actually helps people is a massive challenge — but every milestone like this makes it feel more real.

Thanks to everyone following along. Onwards.

– James 🙌

Quick progress update on therappai, the AI video-therapy platform I’m building to give people instant, evidence-based mental-health support in between real therapy sessions.

We’re pushing hard for a pre-Christmas launch, and for the first time it feels like the whole system is clicking into place.

✅ What we’ve just completed

Over the past few weeks we’ve finished the core foundation of the platform:

• AI Chat Therapy — real-time text conversations powered by therapeutic NLP flows

• AI Voice Sessions — natural, guided voice therapy

• AI Video Therapist — our flagship feature, lifelike video-based sessions for presence and emotional connection

• Crisis Buddy — AI risk indicators that detect moments of distress and automatically text a chosen buddy to reach out

• CBT, DBT & Mindfulness Library — audio + text exercises for grounding, reframing, emotion regulation and daily practice

• Signup/Login (Google & Apple) — full authentication pipeline is now live

🔄 What we’re completing now

• Milestone badges that reward users for consistency and practice

• Analytics so users can see progress, patterns and emotional trends over time

🧩 How it all works together

A big part of this build is making sure therappai isn’t “just another AI chatbot.”

It’s a holistic mental-wellbeing system designed to support users across multiple layers:

• Instant therapy sessions anytime (chat, voice, or video)

• Structured therapeutic exercises for daily mental fitness

• Crisis-aware safety net via the Crisis Buddy

• Reflection + insight through analytics

• Motivation + habit-building through milestone badges

Together, these create continuous, accessible support between traditional therapy sessions—not replacing therapists, but extending and enhancing the care people already get.

🚀 What’s next

• Finish polishing milestone badges + analytics

• Onboard our first wave of early testers

• Prep the pre-Christmas release

Excited to see this finally come alive.

If you’re building something in mental health or AI, happy to share notes and connect with other founders.

Quick update on therappai (AI video-therapy platform I’m building for 24/7 mental health support).

Last week I experimented with a new channel for early access signups: BetaBound.

Result:

• 19 new signups in a single day

• 66 people now on the waitlist 🎉

For context, therappai is building hyper-realistic AI video therapists with chat/voice support, CBT-style exercises, and crisis-friendly features for people who can’t always access a human therapist in time. Still early days, but seeing people resonate with the concept is a huge boost.

What worked:

• Clear positioning: “AI video therapist you can talk to anytime” performed better than generic “mental health app” copy.

• Being specific about who it’s for (anxious, burnt out, overwhelmed) instead of trying to be for “everyone.”

• Letting people know it’s still early and I genuinely want feedback, not vanity signups.

What’s next:

• Onboarding the first batch of testers from the waitlist

• Refining onboarding flows and in-app guidance based on their feedback

• Lining up a second wave of targeted testers in a few high-stress professions

If you’re looking for structured early users for your own product, I highly recommend chatting with Hailey Karter at BetaBound – she’s been great to work with: hailey@betabound.com.

If you’re curious about therappai or want early access yourself, happy to share more and swap notes with other builders in the mental health / AI space 👇

IH — We’ve just finished our backend and our AI video therapists are live in testing. therappai helps founders and their teams get real-time, evidence-based therapy-style conversations via short, interactive video sessions.

To celebrate, the first 100 people on our waitlist get 3 months free. No credit card. No spam. Just real access to our AI video sessions, mood tracking, and Crisis Buddy features.

👉 Join here and click "Get Early Access": therappai.com

If you’re a founder, builder, or small-team leader trying to stay sane while scaling, this is for you.
If you’re a People Ops or HR lead at a startup, DM me — we’re running early pilots to measure team wellbeing ROI.

Building something big shouldn’t mean burning yourself out. Let’s fix that.

Hey Indie Hackers 👋

Quick update from Bali 🌴 — the backend for therappai is now complete, and we’re in the final stretch connecting it to our front end.

We’ve quietly built up 30 people on our waitlist, and are working toward our first goal of 100 early testers before launch.

On the fundraising front, we’re currently raising US $1.5 M seed, and have already had multiple approaches from family offices. If anyone in the IH community can help connect us with aligned VCs, angels, or wellness-focused investors, I’d love to chat.

We’ve just hired our first B2B Enterprise Account Executive, Darren, who’s leading our expansion into the Australian mining and first responder sectors. In the U.S., we have seven enterprise AE interviews lined up, and plan to bring on two to three hires to accelerate B2B growth there.

therappai is the world’s first AI video-therapy platform — it delivers life-like video therapy sessions, voice/chat therapy, crisis buddy alerts, CBT/DBT tools, journaling, and mood tracking — all designed to make mental health support accessible anytime, anywhere.

💚 How you can help:

• Introduce us to investors (VC/angel/family office) interested in AI or mental health

• Register for early access and help us reach 100 testers: therappai.com

• Share feedback or partnerships that could strengthen our impact

🎥 Here’s the first video ad we’ve created — would love your feedback: https://youtu.be/hKtEeRWsTiA?si=8569c7wLeyMtJor-

Thanks for supporting a mission to make therapy more human, scalable, and available 24/7.

— James, Founder of therappai

Hey IH,

I’ve been working on therappai — an AI video therapy app that combines video-based AI therapists, mood tracking, and crisis buddy alerts. We’re aiming to make mental health support faster, more affordable, and stigma-free.

We just finished designing the App Store preview screenshots (attached below 👇).

The goal with these is to:

• Communicate what makes us different (AI video therapy, not just chat).

• Show key features like mood check-ins, crisis buddy, and workplace wellbeing.

• Build trust with reviews and highlight ease of use.

Here are the preview slides:

I’d love feedback from this community:

• Do the screenshots clearly explain what the app does?

• Is the copy compelling enough to make you want to try it?

• Anything missing that you’d expect to see before hitting “Download”?

We’re still a few weeks away from launch, so there’s time to refine before we go live. Brutally honest feedback is welcome. 🙏

Cheers,

James

We’ve just taken a big step forward: introducing Annie, one of our life-like AI video therapists.

Our mission has always been to make therapy feel human, affordable, and always available. Annie is designed to talk with you face-to-face, listen empathetically, and provide structured support grounded in CBT/DBT techniques.

What makes therappai different?

• Video AI therapy → feels closer to real sessions than text/chat alone.

• Crisis buddy system → if the AI detects distress, your chosen contacts are notified for safety.

• Toolkit library → evidence-based exercises for daily use.

Here’s a sneak peek of Annie in action 👇

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO2eX5UAbZC/?igsh=ZDE4dnBvaDNsaWwx