Desert Zen

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  Landing Page where you can download the apk or go view the repo!

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  Home Page-Light Theme-Guest Mode

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  Discover Page-Light Theme

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  Favorites Page-Light Theme-Guest Mode

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  Favorites Page-Dark Theme-User Mode

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  Profile Page-Light Theme-Guest Mode

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  Profile Page-Dark Theme-User Mode

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  Auth Page-Dark Theme

Inspiration

Living in the desert is a daily lesson in resilience. The landscape can feel stark and unforgiving when our minds are troubled, but with clarity, its subtle beauty and quiet strength emerge. We saw a parallel between the desert’s capacity for renewal and the human journey through trauma and healing. Many people struggle to find accessible, judgment-free tools for mental wellness that are actually productive especially when facing trauma. Inspired by the desert’s quiet perseverance, we created Desert Zen—a digital oasis designed to help anyone, from any background and dealing with any circumstances to find calm, healing, and wellness.

What it does

Desert Zen is a trauma-informed meditation and mindfulness app, co-created by a licensed trauma therapist and a community-focused developer. Our app offers:

• Guided meditations and breathing exercises tailored for diverse life stages and experiences (e.g., sleeplessness, postpartum recovery, parenting, men’s emotional health, retirement, and reconnecting with sensuality)
• Evidence-based, compassionate audio guidance rooted in clinical expertise
• Reflective prompts and mindfulness tools to help users ground themselves and process difficult emotions
• An intuitive, distraction-free interface so anyone can easily access support, regardless of tech experience or emotional state

Our mission: make healing accessible, inclusive, and stigma-free—so everyone can find their own oasis, no matter how rocky the path.

How we built it

We kickstarted development with Bolt.new, which provided a robust scaffolding for our project using React Native and Expo. This allowed us to rapidly prototype Desert Zen, ensuring a seamless mobile experience for users. For collaboration and organization, we relied on Google Workspace for communication and document sharing, and Coda for project management and task tracking. This streamlined workflow helped us stay aligned, iterate quickly, and focus on delivering a high-quality, trauma-informed mindfulness app.

What is Included

• Light/Dark Theme Switcher
• Filtering + Search Functions
• Auth / SignIn x SignUp via Supabase (test credentials included in apk file for user testing)
  • Once signed in, save favorites and see Progress/Usage Stats
  • Configured web page to confirm email and redirect back to app (with graceful error handling if confirmed on a different device than the app has)
• Landing page for judging that includes link/qr to download apk, and link to GH Repo.
• Cant forget the Special thanks and Built with Bolt badge!

Challenges we ran into

As first-time mobile app developers, we quickly discovered how different the mobile ecosystem is from web development! One major challenge arose when our phones automatically updated Expo Go, which then required us to update the Expo SDK in our project. We spent hours troubleshooting build errors, only to realize after taking the project local that the root issue was an outdated Node version on the platform we were developing one. Once we resolved that, updating the Expo SDK also meant we had to upgrade several other dependencies to maintain compatibility. These unexpected hurdles taught us a lot about the intricacies of mobile development, dependency management, and the importance of keeping our development environment in sync.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of how quickly we adapted to mobile development, overcoming technical hurdles and delivering a functional prototype as first-time app builders. Successfully troubleshooting complex issues with Expo and dependency upgrades gave us confidence in our problem-solving abilities. We also created a trauma-informed mindfulness app that reflects both clinical expertise and user-centered design, an app that early testers praised for its accessibility, warmth, and inclusivity. Built a foundation for a tool that can genuinely improve lives, supported by both clinical insight and thoughtful design and that can meet its users where they are at and support them through all chapters of life.

What we learned

We gained invaluable insights into the unique challenges of mobile app development. Also deepened our understanding of trauma-informed design and how to create digital experiences that are both compassionate and effective. We also learned how critical user-centered design is in wellness apps, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity across diverse life stages. More importantly, we deepened our understanding of trauma-informed design—how to build digital experiences that feel safe, welcoming, and effective for people in vulnerable moments. User-centered design isn’t just a buzzword; it’s essential for wellness tools that aim to serve everyone.

What's next for Desert Zen

We’re also building out a website so that users can access Desert Zen in whichever environment they prefer. Our guided meditation expert is working hard on creating even more meditation audios to increase the diversity and inclusivity of our offerings—ensuring there are resources for as many populations as possible, no matter what stage of life they’re in. Our goal is to make Desert Zen a truly universal tool for healing and mindfulness, supporting people from all walks of life on their journey toward well-being.

Why Desert Zen Stands Out

• Trauma-focused, clinically informed content
• Designed for real-world accessibility: simple, inclusive, and stigma-free
• Built by a unique team blending lived experience, clinical expertise, and technical innovation

Desert Zen isn’t just another meditation app. It’s a digital sanctuary for anyone in need of healing, hope, and a gentle reminder that even in the harshest environments, wellness and renewal are attainable.

Built With

• bolt
• eas
• expo.io
• react-native
• supabase