In previous versions of myMentalPal, users could only invite their friends to join a challenge or view each other’s daily streaks. Something was missing — a genuine space for encouragement, inspiration, and everyday connection. A new way for users to connect and stay motivated
In this entry you will learn . .
The new My Circle (Feed) feature is our answer to that need. Now, users can see their friends’ progress and achievements (like earning a medal or completing a challenge) while motivating them by celebrating or nudging them to keep going. Alongside these interactions, the feed also includes inspirational messages and guided tips to help users stay centered as they continue their personal growth journey.
In this article, we’ll share why we built this feature, the insights that inspired it, how we approached the design process, and what’s next on the roadmap.
Insights and Data
We analyzed user behavior and conducted research on benchmark apps and uncovered several key insights:
- Social interaction plays a powerful role in sustaining personal motivation.
- Features that encourage mutual celebration lead to higher challenge-completion and streak-retention rates.
- Users want to stay updated on their friends’ activities and celebrate their progress — but they previously had no space to do so.
From a long-term product perspective, building lasting connections between users has always been one of our core goals. Designing a space like My Circle felt like a natural next step toward creating a supportive network where small wins are seen and celebrated.
Design Goals
We designed My Circle with four main goals in mind:
- Strengthen users’ sense of connection and belonging
- Increase daily return rates to the app
- Boost challenge-completion and streak-retention
- Grow monthly active users (MAU)
One of our primary success metrics is the daily return rate.
Our hypothesis:
When users are celebrated for their achievements, they’re more motivated to continue and to start new challenges.
Design Process and Key Decisions
We began by analyzing social and motivational patterns in learning, meditation, and wellness apps to understand what types of feeds and interactions feel natural to users. Through desk research and early user feedback, we identified two main needs:
- Beyond encouragement, users also need helpful and guiding messages to stay consistent and mindful.
- The feed should also make it easy to invite new friends, fostering a stronger sense of collective progress.
We faced several design challenges along the way — such as aligning the new feed experience with the app’s existing information architecture and integrating it with the user data we already had.
The current version of My Circle is our first iteration. Future releases will focus on expanding interaction types, enhancing social experience quality, and personalizing motivational content.
What We Launched and What We Expect
Users can now access My Circle directly from the home page and:
- Invite their friends to join new challenges
- Celebrate each other’s milestones
- Nudge friends to stay on track
- Read inspirational and educational messages
- Discover new challenges and product blogs to stay connected with our growth journey
This blend of social interaction and motivational content helps transform the experience from an individual journey into a shared one.
We’re currently collecting early engagement and retention data to measure the impact of My Circle on key metrics and to inform our next design iterations.
Conclusion & Call for Feedback
My Circle is more than just another feed. It’s a space for users to build an inspiring community – one that notices and celebrates positive daily action.
We’d love to hear your feedback.
If you’ve explored My Circle or interacted with your friends there, share your thoughts and experiences with us — we’re continuously experimenting, learning, and improving this feature.
