Every developer has a side project they mention at parties that never quite ships. Mine is a gamified relationship app I’ve taken to calling, only half-jokingly, “Duolingo for couples.” Streaks, but for actually talking to your partner. A little green owl, but for “did you two have a real conversation today” instead of Spanish verb conjugation.
It started as a joke with my better half — the same person, honestly, who’s the reason I finally started this blog instead of hiding behind shipped code and nothing else. We’d finish a long week, realize we’d barely talked about anything beyond logistics, and I said something like “we need Duolingo, but for us actually connecting.” She said “build it, then.” So now it’s a real Figma file and an embarrassing number of 11pm voice memos to myself about gamification mechanics.
Why I think it’s actually a good idea, not just a cute one
Habit-formation products work because they make consistency feel like a game instead of a chore. Nobody’s built that well for relationship health — most “couples apps” are either therapy-adjacent and heavy, or gimmicky and forgettable. There’s real design space between “clinical” and “novelty” that a genuinely fun, low-stakes daily ritual could fill.
Where it actually stands
Prototype stage. Streak logic, a small library of daily prompts that don’t feel like a corporate wellness survey, and an onboarding flow I’ve rewritten four times because it kept feeling like homework instead of a game. No launch date. No pressure, deliberately — this is the one project I’m letting stay slow on purpose.
Why I’m writing about an unfinished project at all
Because Estelle exists to convince other shy builders that “it’s not done yet” isn’t a reason to stay silent, and I should probably take my own product’s advice. So: it’s not done yet. I’m building it anyway, and now you know.