Vibecoding
2026
Soft Stop
A gentler approach to digital wellbeing.
Overview
Soft Stop is a mobile app that reimagines digital wellbeing through emotional design. Rather than blocking access or enforcing limits, Soft Stop introduces gentle friction during moments of mindless scrolling, creating a moment of awareness without taking control away from the user.
Context
When was the last time you put your phone down on purpose?
Most people don’t feel in control of their phone use. Industry data shows that the average person checks their phone nearly 200 times a day, and over half of users want to cut back. Yet screen time continues to rise.
The issue isn’t a lack of tools. It’s that they don’t align with how human behavior actually works when it comes to scrolling. People don’t keep scrolling because they want to. They scroll because habits often operate below conscious awareness.
Where current solutions fall short
To define a more effective and differentiated direction, I looked at existing digital wellbeing tools to understand why, despite their widespread availability, screen time continues to rise.
Tools like Apple’s Screen Time and Focus Mode are widely adopted, yet users often override or ignore them. This suggested that the issue wasn’t a lack of features, but a deeper misalignment between how these tools are designed and how habitual phone checking actually works.
Our Design Direction
Rather than relying on restriction or hard limits, we explored how design could create moments of awareness during phone use.
People don’t need to be stopped. They need to be brought back into awareness at the right moment.
Solution
Soft Stop: Designing a pause, not a block
Soft Stop replaces rigid screen-time limits with subtle, felt friction that makes overuse more noticeable, giving users a moment to pause and reflect while staying in control.
Start with what you want to change
Help Soft Stop learn what you need and what you’d like to do instead of endlessly scrolling. Your answers shape an experience around the habits you want to build, not just the ones you want to break.
Pause on your terms
Choose where and when Soft Stop appears, and how long it lasts. A gentle visual cue brings you back to awareness without taking you out of the experience.
See how your habits are changing
Behavior change happens gradually. Soft Stop helps you reflect on your digital habits by visualizing usage patterns, moments of awareness, and changes over time. By encouraging ongoing reflection, Soft Stop helps you build a more intentional relationship with your attention and technology.
Reflections
Designing with AI
Using AI to prototype this app made it possible to test ideas much earlier than I could through traditional prototyping alone. But throughout the process, I still needed to make intentional decisions about what to change, what to keep, and how to integrate user feedback.
The constant cycle of sketching, prompting, testing, and refining made me more aware of the human judgment required when designing with AI. AI can accelerate the design process, but creating something that truly resonates with people still comes from the designer.
