Ursa Major

What it does

Our app provides an outlet for users to share their thoughts and feelings and express their struggles with mental health during the current pandemic and beyond. There is currently a large audience for this kind of app, so it has potential to greatly impact many lives. Our app, Ursa Major, is a space where users can create a profile and post in chat rooms or on forum pages to discuss their mental health and overall thoughts and feelings. It serves as a safe place to share this information and as a stepping stone for other users to reach out and talk about things they otherwise wouldn't.

How I built it

We used Android Studio and Google Firebase, both of which were new to most members of our team. We utilized the authentication and real-time database aspects of Firebase to create the user login and signup features, as well as live messaging and forum features.

Challenges I ran into

Being new to both Android Studio and Google Firebase, our team had issues with displaying individual posts on a feed page and implementing a direct messaging feature.

What's next for Ursa Major

We hope to continue working on the app to create a functioning feed page and direct messaging feature. We want our feed page to display the status, either "seeking validation, seeking advice, or seeking someone to vent to" and allow the community to decide on whether they want to read more and comment on the status update. These features will help achieve our goal of raising tough discussions with our community, but also in accordance to the comfort of the users. A direct messaging feature will provide ease of use for the more intimate conversations.