wabi — Self-regulation for neurodivergent minds

I wanted to solve a productivity problem. What I found was an emotional problem.

wabi is an iOS task app for neurodivergent people. Born from the realization that existing productivity apps don't fail due to missing features – but due to emotional reactions. Every one of my interview partners (N=4) had abandoned to-do apps after 2-3 days.

The Problem

The real problem isn’t that people with ADHD “forget” to use their apps — they leave them on purpose because those apps ignore emotional reality. Rigid structures, option overload, and shame‑inducing UI patterns turn well‑meant productivity tools into emotional burdens. The solution can’t be “more features” — it has to rethink the foundation.

The market is growing, real solutions are missing, and I’m part of the target group — that’s the foundation for wabi. My approach follows three principles directly derived from the interviews: emotional self‑awareness beats task optimization. Suggestions beat commands. And participation without pressure beats streak mechanics.

The Solution: Three Core Features

What sets these three features apart from conventional productivity apps: they don’t demand, they offer. The check‑in asks instead of assuming. The focus slots adapt instead of overwhelm. Time boxing protects instead of limits. This stance — autonomy over instruction — is the core of wabi and comes directly from user interviews.

The Prototype

Built a real iOS prototype with ClaudeCode.

When new technologies become available, I want to try them in practice immediately. With Claude Code, I took wabi from the first line of code to a testable iOS prototype - the 0-to-1 phase where fast iteration is critical. This makes it possible to validate and further develop the emotion-centered concept directly.

Roadmap & Next Steps

The roadmap follows lean principles and is intentionally designed for the reality of a solo product manager without an in-house dev team. Instead of jumping straight to launch, Build-Measure-Learn is central in every phase: first achieve small, measurable wins like working features, real user feedback, and first paying users before making larger investments. Each phase has clear exit criteria so assumptions are validated systematically and wasted work is minimized.

Every product has risks. For wabi, they are mainly time and resources: organic growth is slow, community building requires endurance, and willingness to pay must be validated. The realistic assessment also shows that this is exactly what the MVP phase is for: proving product-market fit before larger commitments are made.

Learnings

wabi was an intense lesson in product discovery. I learned that the process is rarely linear, and user research does not only belong at the beginning, it has to accompany the entire process. The hardest part was letting go of my own feature ideas when they did not match real user needs. That distance between personal vision and validated demand was the most valuable insight.