Better Self - AI Coach

Better Self is an AI coaching app on iOS (android soon!) allowing users to achieve growth in many areas of their life.

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Better Self - AI Coach

Inspiration

I wanted to build something that feels like having a real coach in your pocket. Not a chatbot that answers questions, but distinct coaching personalities you can build a relationship with over time. Something clean, modern, and simple enough for a basic user with more features for advanced users to dive into.

What it does

Better Self gives you instant access to AI coaches with distinct personalities and approaches, like:

  • Marcus (The Stoic) — Emotional resilience and perspective
  • Jordan (The Accountability Partner) — Direct check-ins and follow-through
  • Sofia (The Socratic Guide) — Questions that unlock self-discovery

Each coach remembers your conversation history and provides session summaries with action items.

Session-Based Coaching

Unlike open-ended chat, Better Self uses a structured session model that mirrors real coaching:

Natural session flow — Coaches guide conversations toward actionable outcomes rather than endless back-and-forth. When a session reaches a natural conclusion, the coach suggests wrapping up. Session summaries — At the end of each session, the app generates a summary including:

  • Key insights from the conversation
  • Action items to track
  • Open questions to explore next time
  • Optional "breakthrough moment" the user can save

Contextual continuity — Session summaries are fed into future sessions, allowing coaches to reference past conversations. A coach might say "Last time you mentioned struggling with delegation — how's that going?" This creates relationship continuity without requiring the AI to have persistent memory. Follow-up reminders — Users can set reminders (24 hours, 3 days, 1 week) to check back in, encouraging accountability and consistent engagement.

This session structure makes each conversation feel purposeful and creates a sense of progress over time.

How I built it

  • Frontend: Expo / React Native
  • Backend: Cloudflare Workers for API endpoints
  • Database: Supabase (Postgres)
  • AI: Openrouter API
  • Payments: RevenueCat

The coach personalities are driven by detailed system prompts that define their philosophy, communication style, coaching frameworks, and guardrails.

Challenges I ran into

  • Making coaches feel different: Early versions had coaches that all sounded the same. It took significant iteration on the system prompts — adding specific coaching moves, example prompts, and personality guardrails — to make each coach feel genuinely different.

  • Balancing simplicity with depth: The target audience loves building systems, but the app needed to be instantly usable. Finding the right balance between powerful features and a clean, minimal interface was an ongoing challenge.

  • Session state management: Handling optimistic updates, message streaming, and session completion states required careful architecture to keep the UI responsive while staying in sync with the backend.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • Coaches that actually feel different: Each coach has a unique voice and approach that users notice immediately.

  • Clean, calm UI: The design feels premium and focused.

  • End-to-end in 4 weeks: From idea to working app and api with subscriptions, multiple coaches all within the hackathon timeline.

What I learned

  • System prompt design is an art. Small changes in wording dramatically affect how the AI behaves. Detailed frameworks and examples work better than abstract instructions.

  • One month goes fast. I had to cut some planned features and UI/UX improvements near the end to make sure I had time to properly test and bug fix.

What's next for Better Self - AI Coach

  • Custom coaches: Users can create their own custom coaches in their own style.
  • Session types: Structured formats like Morning Intentions, Weekly Review, and Decision Helper
  • Voice: Talk to your coach instead of typing
  • Widgets: iOS home screen widget for quick session starts

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