A Digital Companion on your Self-Care Journey: Finch App Review
A 2019 study conducted by Everyday Health found that most of us tend to take care of others before we take care of ourselves, and we internalize stress rather than find healthy ways to cope with it. Without the right coping mechanisms in place, it’s easy for stress and other negative emotions to sneak up on you and cause unwanted side effects such as burnout, depression, and anxiety.
If one decent thing came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was that more people are becoming aware of their mental health struggles and are searching for ways to combat stress and live a more fulfilling lifestyle. One of the ways people are doing this is through acts of self-care, which is where Finch comes in.
Complete Tasks to Help Your Baby Finch Grow
Finch is a mobile application that promotes self-care and mindfulness through an adorable digital bird that users raise and nurture by completing a wide variety of daily activities.
The app, which can be downloaded for free in the App Store and Google Play Store, first has users hatch a baby finch and give it a name. From there, the home screen will appear and users will get a list of activities they can complete depending on the time of day:
Just waking up? Finch may recommend that you answer a short writing prompt about how you felt upon waking and then complete some gentle morning stretches. In the evening as you get ready for bed, Finch may recommend you set goals for the following day.
Besides the recommendations that exist on the homepage of the app, users can also input their own personal tasks into the app by tapping the blue + button on the bottom of the screen. With this feature, your experience with the Finch app can truly be tailored to fit your lifestyle and long-term goals.
You may be asking yourself “Isn’t that what a to-do list is for? What’s the big deal?” The true beauty of the Finch app comes into play with its adorable reward system.
Gamification Made Simple and Charming
With each completed task, users earn energy for their finch. When your finch’s energy bar is full, he or she will go exploring. After six hours (the time can be shortened by doing more tasks), your finch will return and talk to you about their adventure and the different things they discovered along the way. The conversations are gentle, uplifting, and charming — one of the many ways the Finch app has users coming back for more.
Finch also has a feature where you can earn “rainbow stones” by going on adventures and completing activities. These stones can be traded in for clothes and accessories so you can dress up your digital companion any way you’d like (my finch, Allen, is currently donning a dapper vest and bowtie). This is just another way Finch is fully customizable to truly fit the individual needs and desires of its users.
My Personal Experience with the Finch App
Before I discovered the app, which I actually found through an ad on Tik Tok, I was in the middle of some major life changes including starting a new career, plunging feet first into freelancing, and dealing with some personal health matters. Because of the stress and my lack of coping mechanisms at the time, I was either eating too much or too little, sleeping too much, and overall felt anxious and depressed.
Through one of my endless binges on the Tik Tok app, I stumbled across a video of a guy chugging water paired with audio from The Half-Blood Prince when Harry urges Dumbledore to keep drinking the Emerald Potion (Shout out to Finch’s marketing team for that one, I usually fall for ads that reference pop culture). After I laughed and let the video loop a few times, I noticed the short clip was promoting a self-care app called Finch and decided to download it for myself (especially since one of my daily goals is staying hydrated!)
After spending a few days experimenting with the app and learning all of its features, I fell in love. I began with tiny, manageable steps by setting up a few daily goals which included drinking more water during the day, doing 5 push-ups, and reflecting on one thing I am grateful for each morning. By creating these atomic habits, a term coined by author and entrepreneur James Clear, I was setting myself up for success while also taking care of my mind and body.
As of today, I am also taking more time to self-reflect on my day by completing the short writing prompts Finch recommends.
A Life-Changing Tool
There is something so satisfying and rewarding watching my pet finch grow whenever I complete tasks and “check-in” with him daily. Not only am I finding joy in watching my finch grow up, but I am also taking care of myself and implementing more self-care into my life. As my finch grows, I grow.
If you’re looking for a simple and gentle way to implement more self-care and mindfulness into your life, then do me a favor and download this app right now. You and your future baby finch will not regret it!
