The self-care bird app I can't stop talking about
Nope! I’m not talking about Duolingo
Last month I opened the Play Store to download an app for a company I was planning to apply to. That’s when I saw the ‘You might also like’ section and this app with a bird illustration somehow seemed familiar. It resembled the Duolingo logo.
I opened the app description, read some reviews, and got excited to try it out.
The Product Manager in me planned at this moment to explore the app onboarding and write a “perfect” piece about it on my Substack :P
The app is called Finch: Self Care Pet. As per the description, it lets you choose a virtual pet and you are supposed to “take care of the pet by taking care of yourself”. You can choose from a wide variety of daily self-care exercises like drinking more water, exercising for 30 minutes, going for a walk, and more.
But before I take you through the app, I had a few questions on my mind and I had so much fun looking for the answers starting with -
Why the name Finch?
A finch is a small songbird with a short pointed beak. Finches have a variety of colors, songs, and behaviors, and some consider them a symbol of happiness and celebration. Isn’t it astounding how we as humans do symbolization for even birds? I think it’s our way of looking for hope and goodness wherever possible.
As I was searching more, I got to know that Nino, who is one of the co-founders of the app, in an interview, told this story - He was reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and Atticus Finch was one of the characters in the book. Finches, as birds, work better with others; they can’t live on their own. This resonated with what mental health is like. And that’s how the app got its name.
And yes while reading more about it, I got to know that Finches usually remain in pairs as they are “social birds” (like what?!). They don’t like to be on their own.
Associating self-care with a bird? Why?
I remember when I was a kid, one of my uncles used to live nearby. He was going through a rough patch in his life and hence didn’t talk to anyone around him except this wiener dog. On the worst days when anyone could identify from his appearance that the man was going through some terrible times, he used to get up from his bed just to get some dog food and play with him.
I’m not sure if this is the reason behind associating a pet (bird in this case) with self-care but I surely know that the playful hungry wiener helped him get from one place to a better one.
“Users take care of their pets by taking care of themselves.” - That’s the whole idea. On days, when you don’t feel like getting out of your bed, you open the app and see the cutest Finch chirping, you decide to take one small step to make the bird happy and see what happens next.
Steph who is the co-founder also mentioned in the interview that she is a big fan of the game designer, Jane McGonigal, who’s a big proponent of gamifying life to make it more motivating. “In Finch, you go very heavy into one pet you really care about.” mentioned Steph.
I couldn’t stop myself from going into the rabbit hole of discovering some of the works of Jane McGonigal. Well, I’m going to write about her in my future posts 😉
You gotta take care of yourself (and the bird)
The self-care journey on the app starts with you choosing the color for your bird, your bird’s pronouns, a name, and a trait. I wasn’t expecting to choose a trait for the bird but you’ll see this beautifully presented as a personality map within the app.
From now on, it feels like a game. You have to add your goals. You have to do daily check-ins on the baby bird. You have to take care of her and she will take care of you. It’s like having a solid companion.
How you’ll take care of the bird?
Add your goals, tick them off one by one, and the baby bird will earn energy points.
Every day you have to gain a minimum number of energy points so that the bird can go on an exciting adventure, gain more experiences, and eventually grow. So, for example, once you have collected 25 energy points, the bird will go on an adventure and grow day by day from a toddler to a teen and eventually into an adult.
Then there are rainbow stones. The more goals you achieve, the more rainbow stones your bird will find. With these stones, you can buy clothes, furniture, and other accessories for the bird. It's like the virtual currency that you can earn through various events like achieving your goals, inviting friends, claiming gift boxes from Mr. Pickles (he manages the Finch store), and more.
How the bird will take care of you?
You can set reminders for each goal on the app. For eg, I prefer doing meditation in the morning and have a set reminder for the same at 8 am.
You need to turn on your notifications for the app. The bird will do check-ins during the day through these notifications.
Bird’s Product Manager’s Eye-view
I immediately decided to look into the onboarding journey when I downloaded the app. So, I, very patiently completed every step. But I still feel that the journey can be simplified. A simple progress bar to make the user understand the steps would be helpful.
As I completed the onboarding journey, I was clueless about what needed to be done now. Should I add my goals? Ohh wait, let's check out the events tab. Or what's this shop all about? I was curious to explore every tab and hence I discovered the whole journey on my own. While writing this post, I read the FAQ section and got to know that I can earn rainbow stones from Mr. Pickles. There is no way I could have figured it out and I have been using the app for about a month now. An app tour by the bird would have made the journey easy like imagine the bird giving you a tour of her home/nest - this is my room, this is where I buy clothes from, and more. An onboarding video on the app home screen would be a great addition.
Apart from the basics that we have talked about till now, there is so much that one can do on the app that at one time you’ll feel overwhelmed. You can -
Add your friends, send them good vibes, write a few reflections, and create goals to increase your companionship.
You can explore activities like goal ideas, breathing exercises, movement exercises, participate in quizzes and so much more.
One of my favorite and yet not-so-easy-to-discover features is My Journeys. Here you have to choose a journey and the app provides thoughtful suggestions like improving my focus or showing care for others, or cultivating work-life harmony. Once you decide on the journey, it will help you choose the steps you have to take accordingly. The only issue - users have to be curious enough to discover this feature on the app.
There is a paid version too called Finch Plus. But I wonder if it is a necessity, given the extensive features of the free version. In my previous stint at SaaSBoomi, I heard numerous SaaS founders talking about the problems they face when it comes to pricing a software product. One prevalent advice is that before locking down the price, focus on the value you are delivering to the users. Decide what will go free and what will go behind the paywall and ensure that users comprehend the added value of the premium version. I would suggest the same for Finch.
But what’s my final take on the app? I downloaded it and figured it out and I’ve been an avid user for the last 25 days. In my previous post - Endings and New Beginnings, I wrote about optimism being the only strategy that works when nothing does and it’s also my word of the year for 2024. Finch with its daily nudges adds an element of optimism plus reminds me of my priorities in life. More than that, I can’t wait to see Sunshine (the name I chose for my Finch) evolve.
Remember at the beginning of this post I mentioned writing a perfect piece. Well, this one is far from perfect! Coincidentally, I’m reading this book called Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Anne talked about how perfection will drive you mad.
Your day’s work might turn out to have been a mess. So what? Vonnegut said, “When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth.” So go ahead and make big scrawls and mistakes. Use up lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here—and, by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.
So, through this newsletter, I too am trying to find out who I am and what I’m supposed to write :)