VibeCheck AI

VibeCheck AI turns one-tap emoji mood check-ins into live global mood maps and AI insights on why each city feels upbeat, tense, or calm, giving fast emotional intel for travelers, brands and locals

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Inspiration

Global news and social feeds show us what is happening but rarely how people feel about it. We wanted a simple way to crowd-source mood, display it on a live map, and spark empathy across borders.

What it does

  1. Share Your Vibe: users tap an emoji that matches their mood and confirm their city or country.
  2. Explore Vibes: a heat map shows dominant emotions for any location or the world overall.
  3. AI Insights: a quick blurb explains likely reasons behind each region’s vibe (events, weather, holidays).

How we built it

  • Frontend: React Native + Expo for cross-platform mobile speed.
  • Backend: Node.js/Express API with PostgreSQL to store anonymized mood logs.
  • Real-time data: Socket.io streams live updates to all clients.
  • AI layer: OpenAI function calls summarize mood distributions and fetch context from trusted news APIs.
  • Deployment: Render for the backend, Cloudflare R2 for assets, and Expo EAS for over-the-air updates.

Challenges we ran into

  • Balancing privacy with location accuracy.
  • Designing a color scale that is both intuitive and color-blind friendly.
  • Avoiding bias in the AI explanations when news coverage is uneven across regions.
  • Keeping socket traffic lightweight so older phones stay snappy.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A ten-second onboarding: download, tap an emoji, see the map.
  • Sub-200 ms average latency for vibe updates worldwide.
  • Early testers reported using the map to tailor marketing messages and even plan travel.

What we learned

  • Simplicity wins; users prefer one emoji over sliding scales or text boxes.
  • Real-time visual feedback boosts engagement far more than daily digests.
  • Contextual AI blurbs need tight length limits to stay readable on small screens.

What's next for VibeCheck

  • Custom Communities: private mood boards for schools, events, and brands.
  • Streaks & Badges: gentle gamification to keep daily check-ins fun.
  • Event Alerts: push notifications when a city’s vibe shifts dramatically.
  • Open API: let researchers and developers harness anonymized mood data for social good.

Hackathon challenges we're tackling

Challenge Prizes

  • Deploy Challenge (Netlify) – host the public dashboard with automated CI/CD and global edge delivery.
  • Make More Money Challenge – create an insights marketplace where brands can license anonymized mood trends.
  • Startup Challenge (Supabase) – leverage Supabase for instant scalability and showcase a clear path to revenue.

Bonus Awards

  • Most Beautiful UI – crisp gradients, accessible contrasts, and playful micro-animations.
  • Most Viral Project – live global mood map designed for instant sharing across socials.
  • Creative Use of AI – combines user sentiment, large-scale aggregation, and location-aware context generation.

Built With

  • bolt.new
  • chatgpt
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