QuitQly

Turn quitting into a journey with heroes, challenges, and support.

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Inspiration

Quitting smoking is hard. Many apps focus on control or statistics, but often feel strict, clinical, and lack a sense of support. We wanted to build a tool that combines usefulness with lightness — making quitting a bit easier through play, friendly heroes, and a supportive atmosphere.

What it does

QuitQly makes the journey to quit smoking lighter and more engaging. Instead of relying only on statistics, it combines playful elements, supportive design, and clear tracking tools to help users stay motivated every day. Core Features:

  • Daily challenges for gradual progress
  • Cute animal heroes and engaging backgrounds that create a playful, supportive atmosphere
  • Detailed stats: money saved, tobacco avoided, and time regained
  • Slip tracking to better understand progress and setbacks
  • In-app currency earned through achievements, spent on new characters, backgrounds, and extra challenges
  • Craving support through interactive exercises that gently replace smoking with healthier actions Accessibility:
  • QuitQly is committed to global support, offering the entire experience in four languages: English, Ukrainian, Spanish, and French.

How we built it

We focused on speed, consistency, and user experience. Our approach combined a lightweight tech stack with strong design tools to create both a working prototype and a clear brand identity during the hackathon.

Tech Stack

  • Frontend - React Native. A single codebase allowed us to launch quickly on both iOS and Android with consistent design and performance.
  • Backend - Google Firebase. Used Firestore for lightweight, scalable data storage (user progress, currency, achievements), Firebase Authentication for secure logins, and Cloud Functions for app logic.
  • Monetization - RevenueCat. Integrated to handle subscriptions, trial periods, and in-app purchases seamlessly across platforms.
  • Notifications - OneSignal. Implemented for reliable push notifications, supporting daily challenge reminders and motivational nudges during cravings.

Design

  • Figma - wireframes, flows, UI mockups, and clickable prototype
  • Framer - landing page design and hosting with custom domain integration
  • Design System - consistent color palette, typography, and reusable components for faster iteration

Assets & Illustrations

  • AI-assisted generation - characters, backgrounds, and badge drafts for rapid prototyping
  • Recraft - vectorized assets for scalability and clean UI integration
  • Lottie animations - lightweight micro-interactions and dynamic effects

Challenges we ran into

Turning QuitQly from a hackathon concept into a live product came with a range of challenges. We had to balance speed, design consistency, and technical delivery while staying true to the vision of a supportive, playful app.

  • UX Balance: Creating a flow that motivates without feeling judgmental or clinical. We struggled to find the right tone for "slip tracking" so it felt like data, not punishment.
  • Gamification Design: Ensuring the challenges and in-app currency felt fun but still meaningful for the serious goal of quitting smoking.
  • Asset Consistency: Combining AI-generated illustrations, Recraft vectorization, Freepik resources, and Lottie animations into a coherent, cohesive style under tight deadlines.
  • Cross-Platform Delivery: Launching simultaneously on App Store and Google Play with a limited time required immense coordination and rapid resolution of platform-specific build issues.
  • Team Coordination Across Time Zones: Our team was spread across different time zones. We managed this by strictly documenting all API endpoints and using GitHub Projects for clear task delegation, committing to a daily 30-minute sync-up call at an early-morning/late-night compromise time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that QuitQly grew beyond a hackathon project and is already available to users worldwide. Key accomplishments include:

  • Recognition and Technical Validation: The high quality of our engineering work was formally recognized by a leading Ukrainian IT industry publication, which invited our team to author an article detailing the app's cross-platform architecture and innovative technical approach. This stands as a major validation of QuitQly's technical depth.
  • Live App Launch: Fully launched on App Store and Google Play (currently submitted for US and Canada).
  • Polished Brand Identity: Successfully integrating AI and vector tools to create a cohesive, playful brand with unique heroes and badges.
  • Complete Feature Set: Successfully shipped the core features: daily challenges, slip tracking, in-app currency, progress stats, and motivational coping exercises.
  • Early Marketing Infrastructure: Hosted landing page on Framer, and established community presence on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
  • High-Performing Team Assembly: Forming a team of seven senior developers and designers with full-time jobs who successfully launched a complex, cross-platform product as a passion project (pet-project).
  • Maintaining 100% Data Privacy: We successfully architected the solution so that all sensitive user usage data stays entirely on the user's device, upholding a core ethical principle of our project.

What we learned

The hackathon was an intense learning experience that moved us from concept to product launch in record time. We learned:

  • Prioritization is Everything. At first, we wanted to build an elaborate gamification system. We quickly realized this was scope creep. By ruthlessly cutting non-essential features, we focused on the core intervention logic—delivering a minimum viable product that actually helps users quit.
  • Discipline in Delivery. With a team of senior professionals balancing full-time jobs, success came from short, focused syncs and disciplined evening/weekend sprints. We learned to make rapid progress through ruthless prioritization and time-boxing.

  • The Power of Low-Code Tools. Firebase (for auth, database, and cloud functions), React Native (for cross-platform UI), RevenueCat (for payments), and Framer (for landing page) gave us weeks of development time back. These tools let us focus on the unique value proposition—gamification and psychology—rather than boilerplate infrastructure.

  • UX is the Intervention. For habit-breaking apps, design isn’t just about aesthetics—it is the therapy. A confusing or judgmental interface would have caused instant churn. We learned that every interaction must feel gentle, supportive, and shame-free to truly help users.

  • Designing for Emotion. Addiction recovery is as much emotional as it is behavioral. We discovered that emotional UX—using playful characters, soft tone, and non-judgmental feedback—is more impactful than raw performance metrics.

  • Efficient Asset Workflow. Our AI → Recraft → Lottie pipeline let us generate, refine, and animate assets quickly. This workflow proved that scalable, high-quality visuals can be created under hackathon time pressure without sacrificing brand consistency.

What's next for QuitQly

QuitQly has already been launched, but we see this as just the starting line. Our immediate future is focused on three major areas: enhancing personalization, securing growth, and scaling our global impact.

  1. Enhancing Personalization and Engagement (Product Focus) We are committed to making the quitting journey feel less generic and more like a custom-built support system:
  2. AI-Personalized Notifications: We will integrate AI to give each of our heroes a distinct temperament and communication style. This will offer users a truly tailored motivational experience based on their unique preferences and behavior patterns.
  3. Expanded Interactive Exercises: We plan to build out an even deeper library of new interactive exercises and game mechanics for more personalized user support, providing engaging alternatives to smoking during cravings.
  4. Stronger Community Features: We will introduce peer support, group challenges, and leaderboards to foster a strong community, making the quitting journey less lonely and more motivating.

  5. Original Visual Identity: We will gradually transition from AI-generated assets to unique, artist-created illustrations to build a stronger and more distinctive brand identity.

  6. Securing Resources and Recognition (Growth Focus) To sustain development and increase our social impact, we will actively pursue funding and recognition:

  7. Grants and Funding: We will actively seek grants in the public health sector to secure new resources, allowing us to expand features and amplify the app's social impact.

  8. Awards and Contests: We plan to participate in prestigious contests and seek awards for innovation in mobile applications and socially beneficial products, highlighting QuitQly's importance and potential.

  9. Monetization Refinement: We will continue to refine our subscription model (managed via RevenueCat) with a focus on both financial stability and providing social good.

  10. Formalizing the Company: We are planning to formally unite as a company of talented developers to continue creating innovative products beyond QuitQly.

  11. Scaling and Market Expansion (Global Impact) Our goal is to bring QuitQly's supportive approach to users worldwide:

  12. New Markets Launch: We will accelerate our launch into new target markets like Ukraine, Mexico, Spain, and France to significantly increase our global reach.

  13. Continuous Iteration: We will focus on continuous scaling and expansion into other countries, ensuring the app remains stable, high-performing, and culturally relevant everywhere it is launched.

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