Im trying to make an app for mental health where people can get help by sharing anonymously in group chat with others dealing with similar things.
I just put it out in the app store to see if it works and poeple would be interested but im not great at using thunkable so the app looks kind of ugly because I think design should be after making sure it works. I would really appreciate feedback on the app and maybe suggestions to improve it. I included both play store links and the project link
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.jacobp203.try
https://x.thunkable.com/copy/ed9efcd42e679604a0dfb9c5134cc7cd
The concept of people struggling with mental health chatting anonymously with others going through something similar without facilitation by a professional therapist is worrisome to me. I know you asked for feedback about the design of the app but without having tried it yet, that’s what comes to mind. I also wonder if anyone will be moderating the content. I can imagine someone pouring their heart out only to have someone else – anonymously, which makes it psychologically easier to be cruel – respond in a destructive way.
At the very least, I would think you would need some ground rules for participants to follow such as those posted here:
I do plan to monitor the content as well as put rules up about it. I may also put that anyone posting rude or put down comments will be banned or kicked off in some way.
And are you a licensed therapist? I have a lot of experience with mental health providers so I’m especially concerned about how this app will be used. It’s just not clear from your app description so I hope you don’t mind me asking.
Also, this app is already published, right? So are you currently seeing people using it? And are you currently moderating content? And do you have those rules in place? Please consider removing it from the app stores until you do.
no im not a licensed therapist. im not trying to have this app replace those services ,just a way for those who can’t afford to get professional help to get some advice or help.
its currently in open testing, no one has downloaded it yet and I couldn’t find it with out the link. which is why i posted it here to get help with it. I just dont want to put so much time into it yet until it works because Im a college student.
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this app only works if i can get the group chat to work so once I know what i have works I will include the more important stuff.
Your intentions may be good but for the sake of people with mental health issues don’t make this app. All it needs, as already pointed out above, is for someone to tell another person all their problems, only for the listener to say cruel things that make the first person feel even worse, and perhaps even suicidal.
There are a lot of trolls and horrible people out there who would love to use your kind of app as a platform to spread further misery. Not to mention people out there looking for vulnerable victims…
You don’t know what you’re doing or what kind of problems you may cause so don’t do it. Leave mental health issues to professionals.
Alternatively, you could speak to multiple licensed mental health professionals and ask them what kind of app they need and make that.
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It’s great that you’re designing apps to help people who struggle with mental health. I would just recommend that you talk to someone in the counseling office at your college to see what feedback they have for your app before you publish it. A professional therapist may have a different take on what would/would not be helpful to people in that situation.
I also think you need to protect yourself. Imagine someone shares on your app that they are thinking of hurting someone else or themselves? What do you do in that situation? Do you ignore it? Do you call the police? Do you try to chat with the person yourself? Those are not easy questions to answer and unfortunately, the wrong answer/approach could do a lot of harm.
im well aware of the potential issues for the app.not only am I psychology major in college but i have dealt with mental health and seeing a therapist weekly who I have discussed the idea with. I do plan to make it a safe and secure place for people to chat but i cant make it a safe place to chat unless people can actually chat.
What were your therapist’s suggestions for modifying the app from its current format?
i have not shown him the app, just told him the idea, he said it could work .I actually made it after the last session. the only reason why it looks so plain and not much on there is because I don’t want to spend weeks trying to improve design on an app where the main function doesn’t work
I understand. And I don’t want to keep harping on this but I’ll say it one last time: I really hope you remove your app from the app stores now and consult with your therapist on the full design of the app. Not the look… just the content and features. I think any professional therapist will have major concerns about what you’re trying to do. It’s possible to provide resources (e.g. links, advice sourced with permission from other therapy sites) for people struggling with mental health but you need to tread carefully and work with a professional so that you don’t end up doing more harm than good.
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i just took it down. I honestly forget about asking feedback here first which is why i put in the app store. any feedback on the chat and if it works ?
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On my iPhone 11 in Thunkable Live, the keyboard covers the text input so it’s hard to see what I’m typing. Also, when I send a message, it doesn’t clear the existing text so I have to erase each message after I send it. Also, a long message I sent got cut short. My message had about twenty words but the app only displayed five words.
i think i fixed those problems ,can you try it again ?
one issue that Im not sure how to fix is with the data table i have to store the messages has blank rows. Im not sure how to make it where it uses every row and not display the rows that are blank
Which chat room is storing blank rows? All of them? Some of them? I noticed that your anxiety_chat screen is missing a block for the Name value field:
Can you post a new link to your project? Those links do not auto-update when you make changes to your code.
https://x.thunkable.com/copy/50c4075ee33a306668a3b64c26edfd41
i might not have described it correctly. im using airtable and when a message is sent it get stored in the table in a new row.when i would test the app it would display every row including the blank ones. are you not seeing that problem ?
When you share a project, it doesn’t include the link to cloud-based data sources. So the copy I open from your link just uses a local database/table to store the chat messages.
Can you share a screenshot of your Airtable data showing the blank rows? Again, is this happening on every single one of the chat screens?
Can you also share a screenshot of what you’re seeing when you Live Test the project?
Would it probably work better if I use a cloud variable instead?
I have no idea. You haven’t answered my questions or provided any additional info so I can’t tell what the problem is.
