How I Designed a Sobriety App That Grew 90% Week-Over-Week
Sunflower is a sobriety recovery app. I designed it from nothing: the brand identity, the design system, and the core experience.
In the first 60 days it reached 90% week over week growth, 68% onboarding completion, and a 4.8 rating on the App Store.
Why this one was different to design
Recovery is personal and the stakes are real. Somebody opens this app at the worst moment of their week.
A cold or clumsy experience in most products is an annoyance. Here it can do actual harm. That reframes every decision, including the ones that normally get made on instinct in five seconds.
Emotional safety first
Tone, colour, language, pacing. All of it aimed at feeling supportive rather than clinical, and never judgmental.
In a recovery context the interface is part of the care. It is not a wrapper around the care.
Onboarding had to feel like an encouraging first step rather than a form. That is the reason 68% of people finished it, which is roughly double what I would expect from a standard signup flow.
Then momentum
Staying sober runs on streaks, small wins, and a reason to come back tomorrow.
So the core experience was built around visible progress and gentle reinforcement. Not notifications demanding attention. Something closer to a companion that is there when you open it.
That is what produced the 90% week over week growth in the first two months. People were returning because returning felt like part of the thing they were doing, not a separate task.
The results
- 90% week over week growth
- 68% onboarding completion
- 4.8 App Store rating
- Built from zero: brand, design system and core experience
Questions I get asked
Why did onboarding convert so well? Because it was written as an encouraging first step and not as a data collection form. People finish something that feels like it is for them.
What drives retention in a recovery app? Visible progress and quiet daily reinforcement. A reason to open it tomorrow that does not feel like an obligation.