The Hollow Page
A gothic AI journal: a private page that never judges, and three spirits who answer back.
Overview
The Hollow Page is a gothic journaling app: a private, unmoderated page to write, wrapped in a wax-seal-and-old-paper world instead of a bare text box. Every entry can be read back by one of three AI personas, each with a distinct voice, and a full stationery shop lets people make the ritual their own. I designed and built it end to end, including native billing.
Challenge
Journaling apps are usually a bare text box or a clinical mood tracker. Neither feels private, and neither gives anything back. The app needed real atmosphere and AI reflection that adds insight without breaking the mood.
What I built
A dark, tactile world: wax seals, worn paper, page-turn transitions, and a signature-style onboarding instead of a form. Every entry can be sent to one of three AI personas, calm and analytical, dark and poetic, or witty and dark-humored, proxied through a Cloud Function calling Gemini so no key ever touches the client. A full stationery economy (ink, quills, journal papers, canvas) sells as native in-app purchases, and the Archivist subscription unlocks unlimited entries, all three spirits, and encrypted backup, on the same native billing pipeline I built for WeDo.
Outcome
Live on the App Store and Google Play with real paying subscribers on native billing.
Ship log
Roadmap
- More spirits
- Encrypted cloud backup
Changelog
- v1.2.28 Jun 2026
Stability and reliability improvements.
Break the seal, enter the void
A private page that never judges. Wax seals, worn paper, and page-turn transitions replace the usual blank text box, so opening the app feels like a small ritual, not a chore.
Three spirits, three answers
Every entry can be read back by a chosen persona, calm and analytical, dark and poetic, or witty and dark-humored. Each call is proxied through a Cloud Function to Gemini, so no AI key ever ships in the client.
A ritual, not a form
Onboarding asks you to sign your name in ink instead of filling a field. The tone is set before the first real entry is even written.
A living stationery economy
Ink, quills, journal papers, and canvas sell as native in-app purchases, alongside the Archivist subscription for unlimited entries and all three spirits, on the same StoreKit 2 and Play Billing pipeline built for WeDo.
The product
Every screen, shipped.
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