Chatbot Review: Apophis - a narrative conversational self-reflection app
If the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do with your remaining time? Hypotheticals like this can be interesting to consider, but they often don’t bring out a complete, informed answer. Just a knee-jerk reaction. But a deeper reflection on this question could help one understand their priorities, what they value in life, and how they can make life more meaningful going forward. All topics that can be hard to discuss. Apophis is a story-driven mobile chat application that uses a similar hypothetical scenario to help people have such a self-reflective conversation on what matters most in life.
Apophis (아포피스) is available on iOS. While the intro conversation is free, you will need to pay 3,300 won to interact with the full conversational experience. The language is Korean and does not have translations. It does have discussion about death, which can be a triggering or difficult topic.
In the app, you talk with one main character. This character, an avid stargazer, has observed that the asteroid Apophis will collide with Earth in 7 days. They decide to reach out to others to reflect on the precious, meaningful aspects of life before the asteroid hits. Over the few days you chat, you learn more about this character’s life as they share their reflections, experiences, and motivations. The character asks you questions that prompt similar reflection on your life.
To facilitate the asteroid crash narrative, the app structures the chat experience to be completed over 7 days. New conversations and reflective activities become available daily. Each day seems to have a discussion theme, such as getting to know each other, discussing what’s most important in life, and considering how you would best use your remaining time. The main character prompts reflection and, in a sense, models it. A daily conversation takes about 15-30 minutes. Once a day’s activities are complete, the app shows the time remaining until new content is available. At the end of the 7 days, you can continue to view and reflect on the conversation you had.
This pacing can facilitate good reflection instead of just telling a point. Generative or not, many chatbots focus on getting you an immediate answer or getting to some key point quickly. That makes sense because shorter flows are more successful in terms of engagement. Apophis has a slower pace that does not lend itself to binging content. Its purpose is not to give you answers, but rather to help you find your own. The locking and unlocking of flows encourages you to move at a slower pace. For me, the time between chat sessions offered a chance to rethink my responses and anticipate what we might discuss next. I really enjoyed how this gave me a chance to clarify my thoughts.
Apophis also plays with time by limiting the availability of the bot. The main character (the chatbot) tells the user that they are only available to chat between 7 PM and 7 AM. The character says they sleep during the off hours. 😅 If you attempt to talk to the app during this time, the character will not respond. This constraint helps make the character seem more realistic. We all have schedules, and we try not to bother people when we know they are busy.
Chatbots don’t usually play with this constraint of time in favor of convenience. They are usually available 24/7, and people can use them when it’s most convenient for them. Limiting availability makes it harder for people to use because their schedules vary. While it does build characterization, this design decision can be a turn-off even with the wide 12-hour window. It’s a design decision that has both pros and cons.
Apophis uses a variety of strategies to facilitate reflection. Of course, there are questions that prompt the user to respond. Sometimes, these responses are free responses the user types. Other times, there are predetermined options. Text responses, especially long paragraphs of them, can get monotonous, though. Apophis used other media and interactions to break up the text-based chat.
Beyond a chat interface, Apophis uses other media to cultivate a reflective mood. It uses a dark interface theme, often with white writing on a black background. The app also injects images into the conversation and offers an image gallery of pictures you can view each day. Additionally, the app plays calm, gentle music as you move through the experience. These media work well to evoke certain feelings and develop the plot.
It also had a variety of UI interactions that allowed the user to proactively engage with the app. One interaction that I thoroughly enjoyed was “searching” for something by dragging around a light. This made it feel like I was exploring. And generally, these other UI types made the app feel more active and varied.
These UI elements tied together Apophis’s various activities and interactions into a cohesive system. There was a room with activities one could explore beyond just chatting. For example, they could look through a telescope. And often the components that made up this room supported, or allowed one to review, what was discussed during the chat.
When planning a conversational AI project, it’s important to consider the various systems in place that the chat experience itself can augment as well as what other systems can support it. These supporting system might be complementary programs your organization offers, such as in-person classes or webinars (or many other kinds of things), but there are many ways an organization could better integrate a chatbot into existing projects/programs/initiatives. Apophis drew these elements together well to create a system that supports the purpose of the app.
On the other hand, these interactions could complicate the experience for users. These interactions could break the “realism” of chatting with someone because they aren’t common “chat app functions.” These interactions can also distract from self-reflection because users need to learn how to use them. To me, Apophis handled the balance of using these well, and the interactions served to make the longer flows feel engaging.
Apophis helps one reflect on what they find most important and valuable in their life with the aim of living life to the fullest going forward. Habit-forming apps or productivity metrics do something similar, but Apophis facilitates self-reflection by playing with narrative, time, and UI within a conversational experience. The way these activities worked together and complemented each other brought about a rich experience. The many design decisions that went into Apophis bring about a quiet, thoughtful conversational experience that facilitates self-reflection on one’s life.