Case Study 001 April 2026 Nervous-system tracking · Wellness tech

Stillware — on removing the streak

The first public EII case study. Stillware self-assessed against EII v0.9, scored low on engagement ethics, and removed a feature that was working — because "working" was the problem.

Full disclosure up front. Stillware is a product of The Blue Algorithm LLC, the same studio that operates EII. Melissa Geurts is co-founder of both. Stillware's participation as a Charter Cohort applicant is disclosed on every relevant page. Stillware will undergo the same independent review as every other applicant; Melissa is recused from its review. This case study is authored by Stillware's team and edited, but not reviewed, by EII.

The product

Stillware is a nervous-system tracking app — a tool for noticing when your body is in activation, rest, or recovery, and logging what helped. It's used by people managing anxiety, trauma responses, chronic stress, or just trying to understand their own state better than a fitness tracker can.

The assessment

Stillware ran the EII v0.9 self-assessment in January 2026. Results:

  • Dimension 02 — Consent & Autonomy: 83/100
  • Dimension 04 — Data Ethics: 92/100
  • Dimension 05 — Neurodivergent Safety: 88/100
  • Dimension 06 — Vulnerable Users: 71/100
  • Dimension 03 — Attention & Engagement Ethics: 33/100

One dimension under 50 blocks certification regardless of the rest. So the work was clear.

What scored 33

Stillware had a daily streak tracker. Log your nervous-system state once a day, keep the streak alive. Miss a day, it resets to zero.

On paper, it looked healthy. In the data, it looked healthy too. Daily active users up. Seven-day retention up. App Store reviews mentioned the streak fondly. Some users wrote about multi-month streaks like they were a meditation practice.

The reason the streak scored 33 on EII Dimension 03 is that streaks are a loss-aversion mechanic. The user doesn't continue because using the app helps them. They continue because breaking the streak feels like a loss. That's a compulsion architecture, not a practice architecture. On a product about nervous-system awareness, that's a structural contradiction.

What changed

In March 2026, Stillware shipped v2.4 with the following changes:

  • Streak counter removed. Not reduced — removed.
  • Replaced with a "check-in log" that shows your pattern over the last 30 days: high-activation days, recovery days, gaps. The gaps are not framed as failures.
  • Daily reminder made optional and defaults to off. Users who want it enable it; it's no longer a retention mechanic.
  • Onboarding copy updated: "Stillware is a tool for noticing. Some weeks you'll log every day. Some weeks you won't. That's also information."
  • Written rationale for the change published in-app and on the Stillware blog, with a link to the EII Pattern Library entry on Variable-Reward Feed Compulsion and Notification Escalation.

What happened

Daily active users dropped 18% in the first two weeks after launch. Seven-day retention dropped 11%. These are the numbers the streak was producing.

Month-over-month retention (30, 60, 90-day cohorts) — which Stillware now tracks instead — stayed flat or improved slightly. Support messages shifted: fewer "I broke my streak, am I starting over" messages; more "I hadn't opened this in two weeks and coming back felt fine." App Store reviews mentioning the streak positively dropped to near-zero; reviews mentioning Stillware as a "calm place to log" increased.

Internal re-assessment on Dimension 03 after remediation: 74/100. Remediation Delta: +41 points on a blocking dimension.

What we got wrong

We defended the streak internally for longer than we should have. The engagement numbers were good, the reviews were affectionate, and it was hard to argue with that. What EII asked us to consider was not whether the feature worked — it was whether the feature was coherent with what we claimed the product was for. That is a harder, slower question, and we were using metrics as a way to avoid asking it.

Why we're publishing this

EII case studies are meant to show the work — including the parts that are uncomfortable. This case study was written by the Stillware team (including Melissa, who also co-founded EII) and edited, but not reviewed, by EII.

Stillware has applied to be the first member of the EII Charter Cohort. Its independent review is scheduled for Q3 2026, conducted by reviewers with no financial interest in Stillware or The Blue Algorithm LLC. Melissa Geurts is recused from the review and will not see the reviewer findings until they are published.

Citation: EII-CS-2026-001 · Stillware — on removing the streak · Emotional Integrity Index, April 2026 · emotionalintegrityindex.netlify.app/case-study-001.html