Brown Note

The Problem

I have Crohn’s Disease and have spent a large part of my life in the bathroom. Whether it’s prepping for a colonoscopy, my body reacting poorly to Sunday dinner, or my immune system deciding I should slow down and not leave the house—it can be incredibly frustrating and lonely spending so much time by yourself on the toilet.

Brown Note is a note-passing app designed to connect people with IBS in their moments of need. Send a note from the throne, and it gets randomly delivered to another member who can reply with words of encouragement. Simple as that.

Learning Goals

This project was a departure from my usual B2B work. I wanted to explore:

• B2C with gamification: Sticker collections, nugget economy, trust scores, and reward loops that drive engagement without exploiting users
• Mobile development: My first React Native app, built with Expo alongside a Django web version
• AI-assisted engineering: ~90% of the code was written by Claude, with me acting as PM/tech lead. I wrote about the full process in Building an App in 2018 vs 2026.

Design Philosophy

The experience feels like passing a handwritten note—something tactile and delightful. Warm cream backgrounds, rich brown tones, classic serif typography, and a writing UX that makes you want to craft a message.

Stickers are central to the gamification. Users earn Nuggets through engagement (writing notes, responding, daily check-ins, receiving hearts) and spend them in a sticker shop. There are also achievement stickers for milestones. When you unlock something or receive a message, the app spikes your dopamine with burst animations and haptic feedback.

The vibe is intentionally silly. IBS is a serious disease, and sometimes the best way to cope is through poop jokes and a supportive community that gets it.

Key Challenges

Building this responsibly meant tackling some tricky problems:

1. The cold start problem: Early on, you need replies to feel fast. Smart routing to active users and push notifications help close the loop.

2. Moderation: Anonymous note-passing can go sideways fast. Content moderation checks every message and reply, paired with a trust score system and 3-strike bans.

3. Ethical gamification: Rewarding kindness, not suffering. Private milestones over global leaderboards. Free core experience, always.

4. Two-repo architecture: The Django web app and the React Native mobile app share zero code—connected only through a REST API. The API was built as an additive layer, so the web app never broke during mobile development.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Django, PostgreSQL, Django REST Framework, SimpleJWT, django-allauth
• Mobile: React Native (Expo), TypeScript, Zustand, Expo Router
• Infrastructure: Railway (auto-deploy), Expo EAS Build, Expo Push Notifications
• Auth: Email/password, Google OAuth, Apple Sign-In
• Payments: Stripe Checkout for optional supporter donations

Core Features

• Anonymous message posting and random delivery to community members
• Reply system with hearts from message authors
• Nugget economy (earn by posting, replying, check-ins, receiving hearts)
• Sticker shop and achievement collection
• Push notifications for replies, hearts, and achievement unlocks
• Tabbed inbox with sent messages and sent replies
• Trust score system with automated moderation
• Social sign-in (Google + Apple)

Status

Live at brownnote.app with the mobile app available on iOS and Android. The build, the costs and what happened after launch are in the Field Journal entries below.