Meridian launches here on Tuesday. Before then I wanted to share some of what I figured out building it, because the hard problems weren't technical.
The technical problem was getting a local LLM running on Android without routing anything to the cloud. Solved that with llama.cpp compiled via NDK with a custom JNI bridge. Kairos runs entirely on your device.
The harder problem was behavioral. I don't think blockers work because they add friction without changing intent. You route around them in seconds or force yourself against your own volition in a war of attrition against yourself. Time trackers tend to not work because awareness without intervention just creates anxiety. Two extremes, neither felt like it addresses automaticity directly: The unconscious reach for the phone.
The intervention point I don't see anyone building at is the moment before the app opens. At least in a way that felt ethical to me. That's where Meridian lives.
Meridian is a privacy-first Android app that puts a moment of intention between you and your most-used apps.
Before you open Instagram or TikTok, Kairos, Meridian's on-device AI asks why you're there. No cloud. No data collection. No subscription. One-time purchase.
Built for people who already know they have a phone problem and want a tool that respects their intelligence instead of gamifying their behavior.
The AI runs entirely on your device. Your patterns stay yours.
