I Built This For You — Meet Anchored

After seven years, and something like over two and a half thousand episodes, there's finally an app. It's called Anchored, and it's now live on the app store today, and I want to be honest with you about what it is, because it isn't what most wellness apps are. I built this so you wouldn't need it forever. Here's the thing, I nearly didn't get it made.

Some of you know, my eyesight went, cataracts. For months, I was mostly housebound, and the edges of the world went soft and grey. So I did the only thing I could still do. I sat down, and I coded.

Maximum contrast, text so big it filled the screen, lined by line, squinting away. And what came out the other end is an app I could use when I could barely see, which it turns out is exactly the app you want when your mid panic attack and your hands are shaking. So what is it? It's the podcast, and then some more.

Over the two thousand shows, ready, all searchable, so you can find the right one, instead of scrolling past seven years of me. There's a panic attack section that opens straight into help. No menus, no choosing, you're already in distress. I'm not going to be there making those decisions.

There's guided breathing that moves with my voice. So you're not watching a circle and listening to me separately. It's the same thing. And there's a night light for the small hours.

All of this is free, no account, no signup, not even an email address. I don't want your data, I never did. Now, the money bit, and I'll be straight with you. The free version carries the ads, same as the podcast does.

That's not my favourite thing either, but they pay for the hosting, and the hosting is what keeps it free for a person who genuinely can't pay. If you'd rather not hear them, that's $5.99 a month, makes it all ad free, the price of a large coffee. That's the whole pitch, no countdown timer, no half price if you decide in the next ten minutes. Premium does two more things, but I think are probably worth having.

The first is downloads, you can pull the whole library onto your phone and it works with no signal at all. What matters more than it sounds? The commute is where a lot of you tell me the anxiety actually shows up, and the commute is exactly where the signal drops. Underground on a train, on a plane, it just plays.

The second is books at bedtime. Full length books, read slowly, a chapter at a time, made for falling asleep to rather than following. That library grows every single week, and honestly it's become my favourite corner of the whole thing. If you're on Android, I haven't forgotten you, it's been tested right now, and it's coming next month, genuinely next month, not an app developer next month.

And here's what I actually want to say, because it's the whole point of this thing. Find it, use it, then move on. There's no streak in this app, nothing turns red if you skip a day, nothing guilts you back in. I've been really deliberate about that, because I've seen what those mechanics do to people who are already struggling.

If you use it for the hard times, for three weeks in a bad patch, and then never open again, that isn't fair. That's the app doing its job. The link is in the show notes. If it helps you, then please share it with someone who's having a hard time, and then leave it behind.

And one little favour. If you download it this week, and you enjoy it, please do take time to leave a review on Apple. It will really help push it to more people who need that little bit of calm in their lives. Thank you my friend.

I'm Martin. This is Anchored. Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow.