Loop

Science Backed. Habit Builder.

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Inspiration

It's the start of the new year, and with that, countless newly started new year's resolutions. Often, people want to improve their lives by building healthy and productive habits, but fail because of various reasons. We built Loop to utilize scientifically backed methods to maximize the chance users have to successfully build their desired habits.

What it does

Loop is a habit builder with scientifically backed features that makes it stand out amongst the crowd of Habit builders. Most existing apps only help TRACK habits and lack any substantial help to the user. In addition to the normal habit builder functions like setting habit goals and viewing progress, we have three scientific features to differentiate us:

  1. Each habit can be linked to an 'accountability person'. If the user is doing well or poorly with their habit building, there will be an automatic SMS message sent to the 'accountability person'. This feature is based on the Social Contract Theory, which indicates that people are 95% more likely to complete a task if they have an accountability system with people they don't want to disappoint.

  2. Depending on the user's mood on any given day, the app will have Gemini-powered dynamic goals for each habit. This is based on Activation Energy Theory, which states that people are more likely to do an action if it takes them minimal effort to get started. Having dynamic goals allows us to tailor the activation energy to the user's status of the day, ensuring they are able to reach their target.

  3. Users can only build 3 habits at a time. This design decision is based on the Cognitive Load Theory, as willpower is a limited resource, failure would be much more likely if too many habits are being built.

In addition to solo habit building, we introduced a concept of group habit building. For a group habit to be maintained, everyone must complete their task for that day. This will help users hold each other accountable for slacking and provide a more meaningful punishment/reward system that extends beyond software.

How we built it

Built with React Native, and tested with Expo Go. The front end was prototyped with Figma.

Challenges we ran into

As we are all unfamiliar with app development (React Native), it took a while for us to get used to the quirks of the environment.

In addition, we also faced numerous challenging design decisions, such as colour scheme and layout, all of which impacts the perception of our app, and we were torn between what style to finalize with.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Completing our first hackathon

  • Completed MVP Product

  • Established AI Automated Workflow

  • Machine Learning fine-tuning

What we learned

  • How to work collaboratively in a technical environment
  • Set up MVP Feature list to balance ambitious ideas with realistic implementation timeline
  • Using Gemini API
  • Building an app using React-Native

What's next for Loop

  • Add a gemini + eleven labs powered AI-supporter. Main feature would be to comment on the user's progress towards the goal, and say words of affirmation to motivate them to continue in a supportive and encouraging tone.
  • Create user accounts where completed habits can be displayed to others.
  • Allow for user-customization of the app including what widgets are displayed, colour themes, and custom icons.
  • Connect to users' contacts to make adding friends easier.

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