How a Mom of Three Built and Published Linen with AI

Tina had run a somatic bodywork practice for approximately ten years. She wanted an app that combined Christian reflection with the kind of personalized companion experience she was seeking, and she could not find the combination in the apps she used.

She first experimented with a web-based app. After discovering Newly, she describes becoming absorbed in building: on the first night, she started around nine in the evening and continued until four in the morning. The attraction was being able to make something shaped around a need she understood firsthand.

In the interview, Tina calls the app Linen. Its App Store listing is Linen—Daily Devotion & Prayer, and Newly's examples gallery has featured it as Linen Sanctuary. The story here concerns that first app.

Tina describes three main parts: a customizable AI companion, a daily gift combining a short somatic exercise with scripture and reflection, and a community where people can share reflections and receive supportive responses.

She wanted the companion's tone to be adjustable and the experience to feel personal. Working out how it responded to real people became an important part of testing, beyond getting screens to look finished.

Tina says she often built with a child on her lap and fitted the work around bedtime, naps and family activities. She describes the creative process as something she enjoyed, while still balancing it with being present for her children.

Her account is useful for understanding the effort behind a first app. AI made it possible for her to begin without writing code herself, but learning the tool, troubleshooting and improving the experience still took sustained attention.

Tina reports starting with Newly in mid-January and taking about four months to reach the App Store. A three-month pilot with women at her church helped her collect feedback about how the app responded to people and what needed changing.

The release was not the end of the work. She says Apple approved the first submission, but the team subsequently found that the paywall was not working. Later updates received rejections, which she worked through with AI assistance and support from Newly.

Those experiences distinguish a prototype from a product ready for others. In Tina's account, testing the interaction and resolving payment and publishing problems were part of the same building journey.

Her initial audience came through her church, followed by friends and social media. She described seeking people interested in the particular combination of spirituality and a mind-body connection, rather than promoting the app indiscriminately.

The episode's host reports early paid users and identifies himself as an early paying user. The interview does not establish a customer count, revenue total or profit. Tina's own financial goal was to make the app sustainable enough to cover its ongoing costs.

She also discusses starting two additional apps, but this case study focuses on the first app and the launch experience the interview documents.