Keep the good habit, not the guilt.
The Buddy System is five quiet apps for the things you already do: your tea, your coffee, your training, your reading, your next ninety days. They notice the patterns so you don't have to.
$5 once on the App Store · or from $1/month on the web · no account needed on iPhone
They run on your phone, not my servers
No sign-up, no profile, no analytics SDK. The iPhone apps keep your journal on your device (and in your own iCloud, if you want it). I never see it.
They're built to be re-read
Every one of them is a journal first. The charts and streaks exist to make the journal worth flipping through a year from now.
No streak can shame you
Momentum gauges that drift instead of shatter. Weekly and monthly chains, not just daily. Miss a Tuesday and nothing dies.
The five
Each one is small on purpose. Pick the one that matches the thing you're already doing.
TeaBuddy
A session is a rinse and many short steeps. TeaBuddy journals all of them, with a timer that rings through a locked screen, a shelf, cost maths, and a calendar of brew-coloured dots.
🍵 Learn more
CoffeeBuddy
Eight brew methods with sensible starting recipes, pour-by-pour logging, and an Insights tab that mines your own journal for the ratio and temperature where your best cups cluster.
☕️ Learn more
TransformationBuddy
Three streak chains instead of one breakable one, a journal that asks better questions than a weight box, photos pinned against Day 1, and a 7-day trend that ignores the daily noise.
🌱 Learn more
T minus 90
A mission, not a streak. Commit to exactly two quests, watch the clock count down to Launch Day, and keep a momentum gauge that drifts on a miss instead of shattering.
🚀 Learn more
BookBuddy
Notes, quotes and reviews in a flip-through chronology, a shelf where every book gets a drawn spine, a TBR planner, and a Wrapped-style report of your reading year.
📚 Learn moreThe whole app, in your browser.
Not a demo and not a landing page with a waiting list. Every feature that matters runs as a real web app: the timers, the journals, the charts, the exports.
- Works on Android, Windows, Linux, a Chromebook, a work laptop
- Installs to your home screen and runs offline
- Your journal stays in your browser, and you can export it as JSON whenever you like
- Cancel in two clicks, no email required to do it
Simple pricing
Cancel any time. No card needed to look around.
Any single Buddy
or $10/yr
Everything, forever updated
or $30/yr
Already bought an app on iPhone? You don't need this.
How the web version works
Three steps, no password to invent.
Pick your plan
One app for $1 a month, or all five for $3. Payment is handled by Stripe, so I never see your card.
Get a sign-in link
Type your email, I send a link. Clicking it signs you in for 60 days. There is no password to forget.
Open the app
It loads in the browser and keeps your journal on your device. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like an app.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need a subscription if I buy the iPhone app?
No. The App Store apps are a one-time $5 purchase and they never ask for a subscription, an account, or an email address. The monthly plan exists only for people who want to use the apps on a device that isn't an iPhone.
Why is the web version a subscription when the app is a one-off?
Honest answer: the web version costs something every month to host and keep working across five browsers, and the App Store version doesn't. A $5 one-off wouldn't cover it. If you'd rather pay once, buy the iPhone app. It's the better deal and I'd rather you had it. Here's where the money actually goes.
Where does my data live?
In the web apps, entirely in your browser's local storage on the device you're using. I don't upload it, I can't read it, and it doesn't sync between devices. That's why every app has a JSON export and import. On iPhone, it's on your device and in your own iCloud if you enable it.
What happens to my journal if I cancel?
Nothing. It stays in your browser. You just can't open the app again until you resubscribe. Export it to JSON before you cancel and you'll have a permanent copy you can re-import any time, including into a future version.
Is there a free trial?
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial and you can cancel during it without being charged. Each app page also has a screenshot tour so you know what you're getting first.
Monthly or yearly?
Yearly is $10 for one app or $30 for all five, which works out to about two months free. It also helps more than the discount suggests, because card processing takes a fixed fee off every charge: twelve $1 payments lose roughly a third of the money to fees, while one $10 payment loses almost nothing.
Can I switch from one app to all five?
Yes, from your account page, and Stripe prorates it. Going from $1 to $3 mid-month costs you the difference, not a fresh $3.
Built by one person, in the evenings.
I'm Matt, an engineering PhD student at the University of Tennessee. These five apps started as tools I wanted and couldn't buy, and what you pay covers Apple's $99 developer fee, this domain and the hosting. The rest goes to tuition.
No investors, no ads, no analytics, no data sale. That's not a marketing position; it's just what a one-person project looks like.
Read the longer versionWhat being small buys you
- No account on iPhone, because nobody's asking me to build a funnel
- Bought once at $5, not rented forever
- Your journal stays on your device; I've built it so I can't read it
- A person reads the support email. It's me.
Start with whichever one you'd actually open tomorrow.
That's the whole trick. One small app, one thing you already do.