OFFLINE
An offline-first AI walking companion whose success is measured by how little you need it.
Role
Designer & builder
Stack
React Native · Expo · SQLite · GPS · On-device TTS · TinyLlama (optional)
Source
GitHubProblem
Most "wellness" apps are engagement machines: notifications, streaks, scores — attention-economy products wearing a health mask. A walk is the one activity they refuse to leave alone.
Motivation
The design thesis, stated in the repository: an AI whose success is measured by how little you need it. OFFLINE prepares a short route locally, gives occasional spoken cues, and then gets out of the way.
Architecture
Technical decisions
- Everything on-device. SQLite for history, GPS for the loop, device text-to-speech for cues. No account, no cloud, no signal required to start a prepared experience — hence the name.
- Deterministic by default. The Mock planner is a fully offline, deterministic planner built on real inputs (duration, seed, mode, start location). The on-device TinyLlama path exists but stays optional behind the LocalModel boundary.
- Three modes, not settings pages. Quiet, Curious, or Explore new area — the interface is a decision, not a configuration panel.
- Restraint as a feature. Cues and haptics fire only at meaningful moments; planned landmarks replace ambient cues at most once each.
- Story reports, not scores. The report measures things like uninterrupted time and digital intrusion — explicitly OFFLINE-defined experimental metrics, not clinical claims.
Engineering challenges
Designing for absence is harder than designing for presence: throttling cues so they help rather than nag, and route planning that produces a good loop from a single time budget.
Personal contribution
Designed and built by me, with AI-assisted tooling.
Outcome
In development — the full pre-walk → walk → report loop runs on a device; the iOS simulator build is verified; physical-device GPS/TTS/haptics checks are still human-in-the-loop. A behavioral research prototype, not a medical product.
Lessons learned
Constraints are the design: "offline" and "minimal" weren't limitations imposed on this project — they were the project.
Outcome
In development — the full pre-walk → walk → report loop runs on a device; the iOS simulator build is verified; physical-device GPS/TTS checks are human-in-the-loop.