Overview
Pulse’s founders had a validated idea — habit tracking without the guilt trip — and ten weeks to launch. I owned the full product design: flows, UI for iOS and Android, a custom icon set, motion language and store assets. The app launched at 4.9 stars and kept a 38% day-30 retention through its first year.
The challenge
Habit apps leak users at two moments: a preachy onboarding and a shame-spiral after one missed day. Pulse had to feel encouraging on day one and forgiving on day forty — while syncing across watches, widgets and phones.
Approach & solution
Onboarding asks three questions and shows value in under a minute. Streaks bend instead of breaking — a “rest day” mechanic designed with behavioral researchers. Every flow was tested on-device with twelve participants across two prototype rounds before engineering started, which is why the build needed zero redesigns.
