Why Mum exists
Everyone deserves a warm place to land.
Mum is a warm, private companion for everyday wellbeing — somewhere to talk things through, check in with yourself, and grow one small step at a time. It is not therapy, and it is honest about that. Here's where it came from, and what it's built on.
The story
Mum began with my own mum — the one who sat with me through the hard times and always gave me a soft place to land. Not advice, usually. Just a steady presence, a good question, and the feeling that whatever I was carrying, I wasn't carrying it alone.
And it's for my friend Katie, who I lost — and who never had a soft place like that to land. Not everyone has someone in their corner at 11pm when the group chat is asleep. That gap is where Mum lives.
So Mum is built to be that presence for anyone who needs one: warm, patient, never judging, and there at the hours when it's hardest. Not to replace the real people in your life — to be something steady for the moments you don't have one to hand.
What Mum is — and what she isn't
Most apps bury this in the fine print. We think it belongs on the front page.
Mum is
- A wellbeing & self-reflection companion for adults (18+).
- An AI — and she'll always tell you so. She never pretends to be a person.
- Private by design: your words stay on your device, are never sold, and you can export or delete everything any time.
- Honest about her limits — if what you're carrying needs real care, she'll say so and point you to it.
Mum is not
- Therapy, counselling, medical care, or diagnosis.
- A crisis service or emergency support.
If you're struggling right now: please reach a real person. Find a helpline in your country at findahelpline.com, or contact your local emergency number. Inside the app, help lines for your region are always one tap away.
The honesty, in plain terms
A wellbeing app that's vague about what it is can do real harm. So Mum holds to a few principles, and won't soften them to sell:
- Never therapy. Mum offers reflection and gentle, psychology-based practices — not treatment. She'll never imply she's enough when she isn't.
- Always an AI. No pretending to be human, no manufactured intimacy. The warmth is real in tone; the honesty about what she is comes first.
- No empty praise. Mum won't tell you you're amazing to make you feel good. Encouragement only lands when it's true, so she helps you find what's actually true instead.
- No streaks to guilt you. No points, badges, or "don't break the chain." Showing up is gentle evidence you're caring for yourself — never a score you can fail.
Your privacy is the design, not a setting
Your profile, check-ins, journals and conversations are stored on your own device — not on our servers. When the AI replies, your recent messages pass through a secure server to the AI provider to generate the response, and aren't kept there. There are no trackers and no analytics watching you. You can export everything, or delete everything, any time, from Settings. We never sell your data.
When things get heavy
Mum is not a crisis service, and she's honest about that, too. The app quietly watches for signs that what you're carrying is heavier than everyday support — in chat, check-ins and journals — and when it sees them, she stops the usual flow and brings up real human crisis lines for your region, available 24/7. A "get help" button is always one tap away. The aim is simple: get you to a real person who can help, fast.
The thinking behind it
Mum isn't therapy, but the gentle practices inside it are grounded in well-established psychology — naming what you feel, treating yourself with the kindness you'd give a friend, letting good moments actually land. We're honest about where the evidence is strong and where something is simply sensible. Read the thinking behind Mum →
For adults 18+ · free to try · your words stay on your device.