Your 24x7 Coach - BetterOne

BetterOne is a Simon-style, AI-powered personal coaching app that helps you build better systems for productivity,goal-setting and growth. Chat, Widget, History - features for clarity and sensibility.

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Inspiration

I've always been fascinated by productivity systems like that of Simon's. While Notion templates for these systems are powerful, with the app there are more closer to the real user.

This hackathon provided me an opportunity to design and build a system that can leverage Simon's expertise and bring it closer to his followers.

What it does

BetterOne is an AI-powered life operating system and coaching companion designed to help you execute Simon's methodologies. It combines structured frameworks—like Life OS, Second Brain, and Content OS—with a personalized AI Coach.

It doesn't just wait for you to open the app; it pushes daily wisdom to your home screen via widgets, keeping your goals top of mind. Through interactive chat sessions, it helps you plan your day, make decisions, and reflect on progress using the specific mental models taught by Simon.

How we built it

BetterOne is a native iOS application built with a focus on modern Apple technologies:

  • SwiftUI: Used for the entire user interface to create a fluid, responsive design.
  • SwiftData: The backbone of the app. It stores the complex web of interconnected data—Personas, Rules, Topics, and Chat Sessions.
  • WidgetKit: To bring the "active" component to the home screen, I built widgets that surface a daily "Coaching Tip" derived from the user's current context or recent sessions.
  • Custom LLM Service: I implemented a service layer that connects to an LLM (Gemini/OpenAI/Anthropic), injecting the user's specific rigid data (Rules/Personas) into the prompt context to ensure the AI behaves according to Simon's style.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was bridging the gap between the App and the Widget. Since Widgets run in a separate process, they can't simply reach into the running app's memory. I had to implement a shared data container using App Groups and carefully manage file coordination to ensure that when the AI generated a new tip in the main app, it instantly appeared on the home screen widget without conflicts.

Another significant hurdle was model grounding. Early versions of the AI would drift off-topic. I had to implement a strict schema for "Knowledge Objects" and "Rules" to constrain the AI, ensuring it only gave advice based on the specific productivity philosophies loaded into the app rather than generic internet advice.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully built a complex, data-driven iOS app in a short hackathon timeframe that feels polished and premium. We're proud of:

  • Creating a true 'Agent': The AI isn't just a chatbot; it proactively pushes content to the user through widgets. There is a pipeline that has built to breakdown Simon's Notion templates into knowledge bases.

  • Seamless Data Sync: Mastering App Groups to sync complex SwiftData models between the main app and widgets instantly.

  • Contextual Intelligence: Building a system where the AI remembers previous sessions and users' "Life Rules" to give highly personalized, consistent coaching based on Simon's teachings.

What we learned

Building BetterOne taught us that context is king. A generic AI is helpful, but a grounded AI is transformative. By structuring the app around defined "Knowledge Objects", we learned how to make an LLM feel like a consistent, knowledgeable mentor (like Simon).

Technically, we gained deep experience with the nuances of SwiftData and WidgetKit lifecycle management.

What's next for Your 24x7 Coach - BetterOne

We see BetterOne becoming the ultimate digital companion for productivity enthusiasts. Our roadmap includes:

  • Voice Mode: Adding hands-free voice interaction for coaching on the go (like while driving or walking).
  • Apple Watch App: Quick logging and wrist-based nudges for staying on track.
  • Community Features: Allowing users to share their specific "Life OS" configurations or "Rules" with other followers.
  • Direct Notion Integration: Connecting directly to the Notion API to sync tasks and projects, making the coaching even more actionable.

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