Emochi

What makes it different

Emochi is an iOS voice journal for people who want to journal but do not want to type. Open the app, tap the mic, and speak naturally: your recordings become editable transcripts, and Mochi — a small generative companion — gathers the emotional texture of the day and renders it as a soft visual shape of the emotions you have experienced. No complicated templates, no pressure to write perfectly, and no guilt if you miss a day; Emochi observes, never grades, and all recordings stay private to you by design.

The app is built around five habits: record voice entries (pause, continue, and stack multiple recordings per day), edit your transcripts before saving them, see the shape of your day via visual emotion shapes with simple intensity markers, find weekly patterns in what kept coming back across entries, and track emotion trends over 28 days, week over week. A gentle day streak shows when you have shown up without punishment, and after 25 reflection days you can unlock a personal portrait of your emotional life. The approach is grounded in affective science research — naming emotions is linked to calmer brain and body responses (Lieberman et al., 2007), distinguishing emotions precisely helps people cope better (Barrett, 2001), and regular mood check-ins boost self-awareness (Kauer et al., 2012) — packaged as non-clinical, judgment-free self-reflection.

Emochi was built by four co-founders — Cynthia Lam, a doctor and psychiatry researcher; and co-founders Mawuli Adjei, James Hale, and Vanessa Tam, one of whom is the designer and two the AI engineers — and is published on the App Store by Kente Labs Limited. It launched on Product Hunt as “Voice journal to understand yourself through art and science,” with the pitch “Start with a voice note. Meet your Mochi.” It is free on the App Store (iOS 16.4+, 4+ age rating) and also available on Google Play.