Quit Gambling

Inspiration Over 400,000 people in Germany and millions globally suffer from gambling addiction. Strong social stigma and shame prevent most individuals from seeking help or installing recovery apps. Existing tools are mostly generic sobriety trackers that ignore gambling-specific psychological patterns like loss chasing and the gambler's fallacy. Direct feedback from people in recovery revealed that many refuse to have an app containing the word "gambling" on their home screen where others might see it. This led to our core concept: a dedicated gambling recovery companion that can hide in plain sight through complete camouflage. What it does Live Sobriety Counter: Displays recovery time down to the second and continuously computes money saved in real time. Acute SOS Toolkit: Provides Box Breathing (4-4-4-4), a 15-minute urge surfing timer, 5-4-3-2-1 grounding, and D.E.A.D.S. cognitive coping cards. Multi-Layered Gambling Shield: Employs a Safari Web Extension blocking 10,000+ gambling domains, DNS filtering, Screen Time app blocking, and GPS alerts near casinos. Fully Functional Camouflage: Disguises the app icon and interface as an operational calculator or notes app for absolute privacy. Compassionate Craving Tracker: Logs cravings by intensity, trigger, and mood, using encouraging CBT reflection prompts instead of punitive streak resets. Financial Tracking and Goals: Calculates total money saved, future projections, and custom savings goals tied to tangible milestone equivalents. Clinical Report Export: Generates structured PDF progress summaries for therapists detailing abstinence duration and craving triggers. Integrated Support Directory: Enables one-tap calling to established helplines like BZgA, Telefonseelsorge, NCPG, and GamCare. How we built it Built natively for iOS 18 using Swift 6 with strict concurrency checking. Designed 100% in SwiftUI following MVVM architecture and Observable view models. Used SwiftData for entirely local, on-device data storage with zero cloud transmission. Integrated the RevenueCat SDK for subscription tiers (monthly, annual, lifetime) and promo code handling. Developed a Safari Web Extension using hash-based domain matching to block over 10,000 gambling sites with high performance. Implemented Screen Time FamilyControls and CoreLocation geofencing for physical and app-level protection. Created a centralized Design Token system for consistent typography, colors, haptic feedback, and ambient audio landscapes. Configured project builds declaratively using XcodeGen. Challenges we ran into Safari Content Blocking Limits: Apple rule limits required building a custom domain hash-matching mechanism inside the extension to handle 10,000+ sites efficiently. Fully Interactive Camouflage UX: Seamlessly embedding an actual working calculator that unlocks the hidden recovery app via an unobtrusive secret interaction. Non-Punitive Copywriting: Refining language across all views to ensure tone is clinically supportive and free of shame-inducing phrasing that can trigger relapse. SwiftUI Modal Presentation: Resolving UIKit view hierarchy conflicts when presenting native bottom sheets inside full-screen paywall flows on iOS 18. Zero-Cloud Data Handling: Computing detailed analytics, trends, and clinical PDF reports strictly on-device using SwiftData without external backends. Accomplishments that we're proud of Delivering an operational calculator disguise that removes social stigma and allows users to keep their recovery tool private. Moving beyond passive counters by building an active, multi-layer shield combining Safari web filtering, DNS rules, and geofencing. Creating a clinically grounded, compassionate relapse flow that prioritizes reflection and progress over punishing streak resets. Developing a clean, native codebase with over 100 Swift files and no non-essential third-party dependencies. Enforcing complete user privacy by ensuring sensitive recovery and financial records never leave the user's iPhone. What we learned User interface copy and visual pacing in mental health apps function as therapeutic interventions, not just visual design. Practical implementation details of Apple's restricted APIs, including FamilyControls, Safari Web Extensions, and CoreLocation. Core clinical addiction recovery models, such as Urge Surfing and the Stages of Change, and how to translate them into software features. The speed and reliability of RevenueCat for abstracting complex StoreKit subscription logic and paywall management. What's next for Quit Gambling Global App Store release in the Health and Fitness category. Development of an Android version to bring the same protection mechanisms to more users. On-device CoreML integration to predict high-risk craving windows based on time, mood patterns, and location history. Direct therapist export integration via end-to-end encrypted sharing links. An Apple Watch companion app for discreet, wrist-based SOS breathing and one-tap craving logging. Multilingual expansion with localized helpline directories for additional international regions.

Built With

• swift