I built my first serious mobile (OS - Android) application, Lune. Before I tell you about it, I wanna tell you the backstory in short:
One day I woke up from a bad dream and had an instant anxiety attack (I don't get those easily). I needed to call someone I love in that moment, but it wasn't practical given the time of the day. I just needed a way to feel that person's presence. In that moment, the idea behind Lune was born (currently I've pivoted from the original idea a bit though :).
The thing is, as we get busier with our lives, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay meaningfully connected with our partner, texts can sit unread for hours, calls can become impractical for all kinds of reasons.
If we feel something, how do we express it without starting a call or a chat conversation? How do we express a feeling in a way that stays with our partner, without demanding a reply? So I thought what if I could whisper my subtle feelings, so that my partner doesn't have to a reply and feel that whisper whenever they got the time.
Before I list the features and explain why I picked them, I want to explain the name, Lune:
Lune means Moon in French. No matter where you're from in this world, you've certainly felt the calm, ambient presence of a glowing moon on a dark night. It gives us a sense of belonging and closeness.
In Lune, your partner is your moon. I've tried to recreate that same ambient feeling inside the app (I am constantly working on making it more and more beautiful, calm and ambient), so you can feel your partner's presence in the most beautiful way.
Features:
1. Widget: A simple widget that shows your partner's presence, always.
2. Whisper: a very short text. Send one and it appears directly on the widget, staying there until the next one is sent.
3. Status: what your partner is up to (e.g. commuting, studying). Seven defaults, but you can create your own.
4. Mood: what your partner is feeling. Same as status: seven defaults, but you can create as many as you want.
5. Battery level: tells a lot about a person's well-being when combined with other context, like time of day or last active.
6. Landscapes Scenes: Well technically it's not a 'feature', but more of a characteristic of the app. Lune has a set of beautiful, ambient landscapes/scenes where you and your partner can spend some time together, exchanging whispers. This serves more to the feel of the app than to the utility. (Note: Currently there are 3 scenes, I'm adding more one by one)
7. And, of course, a beautiful moon.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on the approach I'm taking to connect two people in love. And also the app's design is the second most important aspect for Lune after the concept itself, so share your thoughts on that too, I'm a novice in design, but taking help from Claude Design and trying to make Lune's home-screen as beautiful as possible :)
Play Store Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fusionfroz...
One thing: HN guide said "Please make it easy for users to try your thing out", but I've only published on Play Store and due to its architecture it requires to sign up and connect with your partner in order to experience the core features and the design. So, if that seem too much work or you are on iOS, can you just share your thoughts on the concept itself, from the landing page (https://luneapp.in).
Thank you so much!