Blooms, a companion, a collection cabinet, and progress surfaces replace the usual step-count chrome.
// featured case study · original product · 2026
Walking without becoming the product.
A private, colorful world.
A privacy-first Android companion that turns real wandering into blooms, collectibles, photo memories, and a shared map. Location stays on the device. Playfulness is the point, not a streak.
- Product problem
- Walking apps trade curiosity for surveillance and streak anxiety.
- Privacy posture
- Mapbox telemetry off. Location stays on-device.
- Play layer
- Blooms, color collection, memories, and a companion.
- Platform
- Jetpack Compose, Mapbox, DataStore.
// the product problem
Most walking apps turn a personal habit into a dashboard.
Streaks, leaderboards, and precise movement histories make a walk feel supervised. The map becomes a fitness report. We wanted exploration that feels rewarding without asking people to trade away where they went, when, and with whom.
// product decision
Paint the world locally. Share only what is coarse and chosen.
Each walk blooms blocks of color. Collectibles and photo memories live on the device. Paint Together is opt-in and shares an anonymous, coarse projection of a painted cell, a color, and a tier. Never a precise point. Never a timestamp.
Telemetry disabled. Local-first memory. Sharing is a deliberate, degraded projection.
Jetpack Compose owns the interface. Mapbox owns the map layer. DataStore keeps preferences and progress close.
// the system
A living map with a closed perimeter.
The Android build already includes the map, blooms, color collection, memories, companion, profile, stats, and settings. Store-ready visual assets are in. Release preparation is the remaining work.
- 01 Walk
Activity-aware movement paints cells as the person actually moves, not as a forced check-in.
- 02 Keep
Memories, collectibles, and companion state stay on-device via DataStore.
- 03 Share
Paint Together, if enabled, emits coarse anonymous cells. Precise location never leaves the phone.
- 04 Ship
Compose screens and Mapbox styling are being hardened for store release.
// the product, in frames
Screens from the shipped surface.
// what it holds
Proof, not adjectives.
The useful bits: what changed for the people using it, and what the stack actually is.
Mapbox telemetry is off. Usage and location do not become a second product.
Blooms, colors, memories, and a companion make a walk feel authored.
The portfolio shows a complete interaction model, not a pretend launch.
- Android
- Jetpack Compose
- Mapbox
- DataStore