Relax and Rest Meditations - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

I create most of the content of the apps, and my husband and the business partner does the coding. He did not have prior coding or development experience and was self-taught.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

For my husband/partner, learning to code. He almost gave up with our first app and then finally got it done!

_{Mary Maddux}

Mary Maddux is the co-creator and voice of the popular Meditation Oasis® podcast and smartphone apps. She draws on a long career as a meditation teacher, counselor and healing arts practitioner to craft her guided meditations. Mary works alongside her husband, Richard, who is a musician as well as the technical developer of the apps. They met while teaching meditation and together they have brought meditation to thousands of people worldwide through the use of technology and the internet.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I love Nextdoor. It’s a great way to connect with people in your neighborhood and town. Important information is shared, lost pets get returned home, things are given away and sold, and we got our wonderful rescue dog from a neighbor thanks to that app!

I love Bitmoji just for the sheer fun of it.

I love Zoom. It’s a great way to connect one to one or in groups. It works a lot better for me than other apps of its type.

How long have you been working on this app?

This was the second app we developed, back in the early days of the app store. It’s a simple app but took several months to create (and the first app we did took even longer).

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

The app aims to help users relax and relieve stress.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

Many of the meditation and relaxation apps now are overly complicated. On the one hand, they may have many meditations available, but meditation is all about simplicity and getting away from busyness and distractions. Too many choices can make our minds even busier. Our Relax & Rest app is simple, easy to use, and with just 3 meditations, it’s all someone really needs to relax. Not only that, there’s only one small fee to pay and no monthly charges.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

We now have a dozen apps. They were all developed in the early days of the app store, and the meditation/relaxation apps are considerably different than they were at first. We are considering combining our apps into one so that all of our content can be accessed in one app. There’s an advantage in having different apps for a different focus, however, so we may leave them just as they are!

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

We would love our users to visit our website where they can dive deeper into the understanding of meditation and relaxation. We also love hearing from our users and knowing how the app has benefitted them.