How it works
Everything the coach does
Hearthen is quick to start and deep when you want it. Here’s the whole picture — your circle, your words, the coach behind it, and the thing you build together.
Getting started
Up and running in about five minutes
Add a few people
Family, friends, a mentor worth staying close to. Your first time through, a step-by-step walkthrough shows you exactly how to set someone up — and you can replay it anytime from Settings.
Tell it who they are
What kind of relationship it is — friend, family, work, dating, faith — then the details: how close you are and where you’d like it to go, what they celebrate, what they love, who’s in their life. It takes a minute, and everything the coach offers is based on these.
Send your first message
Tap a person, get three ideas, tweak one so it sounds like you, and send it from your own texting app. They just get a warm, normal message — no app needed on their end.
Then let it grow
From here the coach keeps the rhythm — gentle reminders, at your pace. And when a bond is ready for more, it names the next step: the call, the coffee, real time together.
Your circle
Every relationship that matters — life and work
Hearthen isn’t only for family and old friends. It’s built for the whole circle: the mentor who helped you shape your career, the former colleague, the people you work with. One coach for all of it.
Bring them in your way
Pick several straight from your contacts, paste a quick list of names, or add one person at a time with full detail. Hearthen is for the relationships you most want to tend, not every acquaintance.
A profile deep enough to make it personal and meaningful
The relationship type is the big one — friend, family, work, dating, faith all draw on different words. Past that, every detail earns its place. Their language, so the message arrives in the one they’d rather read. Their holidays — all of them, whatever they celebrate. The little things they love — peonies, their team, the coffee order — are what turn a nice message into one only you could have sent. And the people in their life mean the coach can ask about them by name.
Where it is — and where you want it
Each person gets a closeness level, from needs reconnection up through trusted — never a judgment, just how the coach sets the rhythm. Then mark where you’d like the relationship to be, so it knows what you’re aiming for.
Your words
Always something to say — in your voice
The blank text box is where good intentions go to die. Hearthen makes sure you never face one.
Three ideas, every time
Tap a person and get three fitting messages — shaped by who they are to you, how close you are, and everything you’ve shared about them. Not quite right? Try three more, and more, until you find your voice for the moment.
In your language
Hearthen speaks English y también Español — the messages, the coach, the whole app. Set someone’s language and what you send arrives in the one they’d rather read.
Messages for Life Moments
Some messages carry more weight: a new job, a new baby, an engagement, a loss, a thank-you. Hearthen has words for each — and for thank-yous, it asks what they actually did (helped you move, watched the kids, gave the advice that landed) so the message names it. A congratulations to a former colleague on the new role, or a proper thank-you to the friend who showed up — specific beats generic, every time.
It learns how you write
Keep your favorites in saved messages, ready to reuse. And quietly, on your device only, Hearthen notices your habits — if you always trim messages shorter, skip the emojis, or open with a different greeting — and starts suggesting messages that already sound like you. It also remembers what it’s already sent, so you’re not handed the same line twice.
You always hold the pen
Every message is yours to edit, and you send it yourself, from your own texting app — Hearthen never sends anything for you. Group hello to the family thread? Hearthen preps the message and opens the right conversation.
Playful by design
Have some fun with it
Reaching out should feel good, not like a chore. Hearthen helps you say it in the voice the moment calls for — heartfelt some days, playful others, always yours.
Voices with personality
Send it with Southern charm, a mellow Surfer drawl, an Old-fashioned turn of phrase, or an Urbano flavor. Pick a voice, and the same message takes on a whole new character. There are voices for dating and for faith connections too.
Playful when you want it
Dial the tone from a light touch to warm to downright cheeky — or more formal when it’s a professional note. Same friend, different mood; same colleague, different week. Hearthen rolls with it.
A quote to brighten their day
Sometimes the perfect thing is a heartfelt, funny, or inspiring quote. Hearthen keeps a rotating collection by mood, so you always have something good to share.
The coach
Watching the things that are easy to miss
Reminders tell you when. A coach helps you see how it’s going — and what might help next. Grounded in relationship research; explained plainly on our Science page.
A rhythm that’s yours
The coach suggests how often to reach out to each person, drawn from relationship research and how close you want to be — roughly weekly for your closest, a few times a year for the outer circle. Always a suggestion. Adjust any rhythm, for any person, anytime. Your home screen keeps it effortless day to day: everyone sorted by who’s coming due, so a glance tells you who could use a hello.
It reads the balance
Tell the coach how each relationship flows — they reach out more, it’s balanced, or you’re carrying this one — and it coaches accordingly: encouragement first, then “maybe try a lighter approach,” and after repeated one-sidedness, gentle permission to ease off. Never guilt. Always your call.
From messages to real time
A message meant for one person is a real signal of closeness — that’s not a slogan, it’s what the research shows. And when a relationship is ready to grow, the coach knows what comes next: it’ll suggest the call, the coffee, the plan — or the small gesture, like their favorite flowers, that says more than words.
Your progress, kept gently
Every so often, the coach asks — never assumes — has this relationship grown? Only you can say. With Premium, a dashboard reflects the practice back: your week at a glance, who’s on rhythm, which relationships are growing, and twice a year a quiet question — how do your relationships feel compared to when you started? No streaks, no scores, no badges. Reflection, not a scoreboard. And if you’d rather not see any of it, switch the dashboard off.
The calendar PREMIUM
See what’s coming. Be ready before it arrives.
Closeness runs on rhythm — and rhythm is easier when you can see it. Hearthen turns your relationships into a calendar you can actually plan around.
Your month, at a glance
Birthdays, anniversaries, the holidays each person celebrates, and check-ins coming due — all as gentle dots on a month view. Tap any day to see who it is and why it matters. And the coach thinks ahead with you — a birthday still twelve days off gets “12 days is runway — time to plan something, not just say something. Or get the message ready now and have it waiting.”
Prepare ahead — have it waiting
Write a birthday message today and save it for the day. When the morning comes, it’s marked Message ready — on the calendar, on their profile, and right on your home screen — one tap to pick it up and send. And when several people share a day, like Mother’s Day, Prepare all walks you through everyone in one sitting.
Turn “soon” into a date
Make the plan — dinner Thursday at 7, coffee next week — and Hearthen builds it as a calendar event you can send them, so it lands on their calendar too. No app needed on their end. This is the part that turns we should catch up into an evening that actually happens.
The canvas PREMIUM
Watch it become something
Every relationship in Hearthen can become a piece of art that grows from the real things you do together. A text lays a tile. A call lays another. The coffee, the walk, the trip, the flowers you sent — each one has its own shape and color, and each one goes in.
Choose what it becomes
A Mosaic — a medallion, a heart, a monogram — laid piece by piece. A Garden that fills with flowers, each kind of moment its own bloom: a peony for coffee, a magnolia for dinner, a dahlia for the milestones. Or a Scene with something at its center: a Night Sky gathering stars, a Rocket rising on its pad, a Sailboat at the dock, a Balloon, a Bike, a Skateboard, a Guitar strung one string at a time.
And then it happens
The scenes don’t just fill — they finish. Lay enough pieces and the sailboat leaves the dock. The guitar plays. The rocket launches. You’ll see it coming — the thing assembles before your eyes — and it will still get you.
Every kind of moment
Fifteen of them, each with its own piece: text, call, email, coffee, meal, drinks, movie, activity, walk, trip, flowers, pet, photo, journal, milestone. Choosing the icon is the logging — no form, no fuss.
More than the surface
Tap any piece and there’s the story: your note from that day, a journal entry, the photo from that afternoon. Pin the ones that matter. Hide anything you’d rather not see — nothing is ever deleted. And press play to watch the whole thing build from the very first piece.
Frame mode
Set a canvas full-screen and let it sit there — on the kitchen counter, on a shelf, on a tablet by the window. Your relationship, on display, quietly growing.
Share it
Invite someone into a canvas you’re building with them. They see it as it grows, whether or not they subscribe.
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing
Try everything free for a month. After that, keep the free tier as long as you like — or go Premium for a fraction of what similar apps cost.
Free, forever
Five people, the coach’s per-person guidance, three message ideas every time, Life Moments, saved messages and quotes, and messages in your everyday voice. You can also view any canvas you’ve been invited into. If you ever step down from Premium, everyone beyond five is kept safe — and comes right back if you return.
Premium — $19.99/year or $2.49/month
Unlimited people, the canvas in every design — Mosaic, Garden and all seven scenes — frame mode and canvas sharing, the full planning calendar, every voice, and your progress dashboard. No ads, ever — and never a charge unless you choose it.
Family — $49.99/year
One subscription for the whole family — five people, all Premium. You buy it and add your people, each on their own phone.
Your data stays yours
Everything you enter lives on your device — and, if you choose, in your own private iCloud, so a lost phone or reinstall can bring your people right back. No account to create, no ads, and your relationship data is never sold, shared, or sent to us. The backup belongs to your Apple ID; we can never see it, and you can switch it off anytime in Settings. The full picture is on our Privacy page.
Start with one person.
One month free — every feature, nothing to cancel, nothing to remember. Never charged unless you choose Premium. Private by design.