Daily Haloha Review - Check Out This New App!

Charles Schnell, member of the LOG OFF Writers Group, talks of his experience with a new app that seeks to provide a new and positive way to promote online connection.

Daily Haloha is a new app that was released for people to download in 2019. It is a simple app, and perhaps that is why it is an enjoyable one. Here is how it works: every morning when you wake up, the app sends you a simple prompt. For example, I’ll use the one I received this morning: “A story I love to tell is about _________.” It is your job to fill in the blank. Once you fill in the blank, your response is anonymously sent to another Haloha user, and you receive the anonymous response of another Haloha user. (You have the option to share your location, which seems to be a popular choice.) You each then have the ability to react to each other’s responses with supportive, pre-written short messages, such as “Congratulations!”, “You made me smile,” or “I can relate.” Once you react to your paired Haloha user’s response, you get to see “the Wall”—a collection of many people’s responses to the prompt of the day—and the choice to read them throughout the day. Then, you go to bed, wake up the next day, and the process repeats itself.

This app has been made with great intentions. It provides people with a nice, simple way to connect with others across the globe. Thanks to the required anonymity, there is no pressure to share superficial answers written with personal optics in mind; you have breathing room to answer honestly. This gift of honesty has allowed me to have a favorable experience with the app: When answering prompts it has caused me to reflect on my answers as I’ve tried to challenge myself to answer with complete honesty. I think the current climate of social media and the internet has trained us to instinctively choose answers that, while not entirely true, are favorable. This app lets you escape that pressure and retrain yourself to answer with honesty instinctively.

Unlike the popular social media titans, this app has been made, I believe, with humble, humanitarian goals. The primary goal is to provide people with a daily moment to reflect on their lives and inspect the current state of their souls. Given the atmosphere and the interaction I’ve had when I reached out to the app for assistance in confirming my email address—a problem I trust they will fix if they have not already—the developers of this app have no intention of allowing Daily Haloha to become a medium for comparison, rivalry, or “speaking out.” I hope and believe it will remain that way.

Regarding this “interaction”—I had trouble confirming my account, so I reached out to the support email listed at the bottom of the confirmation link email. I had the hitherto unfamiliar experience of receiving a helpful reply from one of the founders herself. It was a good sign that the founders are still involved in the daily operations of the app and want the best for every user, with all of whom they are willing to communicate.

Communication is the value I find most desirable in this app. It allows you to anonymously learn about other people whom you will not meet otherwise on this Earth and to deepen your understanding of the human condition. It also is an effective way to remember that no one’s life is perfect. The app allows you to do all of this without succumbing to the various malevolent aspects of the internet—the decay of order, traditions, and human values; the cacophony of jealousy, rage, pride, lust, and greed that often echoes through the digital realm into our minds and souls.

Daily Haloha has become an enjoyable part of my morning routine, and I recommend giving it a try if any of my words have sparked your interest.