Council is a private iOS journal. Write or speak an entry, then convene a small council of ten archetypal inner voices — the Critic, the Caretaker, the Rebel, and more — that each read what you wrote and reflect it back from their own angle. They don't advise, don't remember, and your writing stays encrypted on your phone.
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Maker
📌
Hi PH 👋 I'm Artiom, and I built Council solo.
I journal, but I kept wanting a second angle on what I'd written — without an AI "assistant" telling me what to do. So Council does something narrower: you write (or speak) an entry, then convene a small council of archetypal inner voices — the Critic, the Caretaker, the Rebel, seven more. Each one reads only that entry and reflects it back from its own stance. They don't advise, don't remember across sessions, and don't talk to each other. It's Internal-Family-Systems-flavored, but really it's just a way to think with yourself.
Two things I cared about most:
• Privacy — entries live only on your phone, encrypted. No account, no cloud. Transcription and read-aloud run fully on-device; when you consult the council, one entry is sent once and discarded.
• Calm — no streaks, no scores, no notifications-by-default.
Free to journal; the council is free 3×/month, with an optional subscription for unlimited. iPhone, iOS 17+.
I'd genuinely love feedback — especially on the voices themselves. What would your inner council sound like? Happy to answer anything.
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I like that the voices reflect back instead of advising, and that they deliberately don't remember across sessions. Was that only for privacy, or do you think the forgetting actually makes the reflection better?
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Maker
@alieksia Thank you! Started as privacy (nothing stored, nothing to leak), but the forgetting became the point. When an AI remembers you it starts answering to its model of you instead of to what you actually wrote today. Wiping the slate keeps each voice responding to the entry in front of it, not to a profile. Turns out that's more honest, not less.
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@artiomleo1 That's a sharp way to put it - forgetting as the honest choice, not a limitation. I came in skeptical of the no-memory call and you've turned it around.
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the no-memory, no-advice framing is what got me. one thing I'm curious about: since the voices don't remember and don't advise, what happens if an entry is genuinely dark, does the Critic or Rebel still just reflect it back in character, or is there some line where the app steps out of the persona and just points you to help instead?
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Maker
@galdayan Thanks, that's the bet the whole thing rests on. There's a hard line though. If an entry looks genuinely dark, crisis detection kicks in ahead of the voices and the app drops the personas completely, just surfaces a card with real help resources. The voices don't get to stay in character through that.
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@artiomleo1 good, that's exactly the right failsafe to have. glad the personas don't get to override that. makes me trust the rest of the concept more knowing there's a hard exit built in
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The Critic caught me off guard in the best way, zeroing in on a line I glossed over, and knowing nothing is saved off my phone makes me actually want to keep writing honestly.
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Maker
@gltenrd2p that's exactly it. The Critic goes for the line you hurried past, because that's usually the one that matters. and the honesty part is the whole bet: you only write the true stuff if you trust it isn't going anywhere. the second a journal feels stored or read, people start performing. On-device is what makes honest writing possible. Glad it clicked.
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love that the ten voices are stateless and the journal stays local. feels like the team actually thought through the trust part first instead of bolting encryption on later, honestly refreshing for an app like this.
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Maker
@gnezpie Thank you, that's exactly the read I was hoping for. Privacy wasn't a feature I added at the end, it was the constraint I started from, and it shaped everything downstream: no account, no cloud, stateless voices, transcription on-device. It made the app harder to build in a few places, but a journal is about the most private thing there is, so it felt like the only honest way to do it. Appreciate you noticing the order it was built in.
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Finally got to hear the Rebel argue back at me for once, kind of unsettling how quickly the voices feel distinct.
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Maker
@aminet52n Ha, the Rebel is a bit of a menace, in the best way. That "unsettling how quickly they feel distinct" reaction is the thing I worked hardest for, so it's great to hear. The goal was for them to feel like actual different parts of you, not one AI wearing different hats. And the Rebel getting to you usually means it said the thing you'd been avoiding.
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tried it last night with a rough venting entry and the Critic plus Caretaker voices actually hit different angles than i expected, kind of cool that nothing leaves the phone
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Maker
@glzaro44d thanks for giving it a real try, that means a lot. Critic + Caretaker on the same entry is my favorite combo — one pushes, one softens, and the gap between them is usually the useful part. And yeah, nothing leaving the phone was half the reason it felt worth building. Curious which voice surprises you most if you keep going.
I like that the voices reflect back instead of advising, and that they deliberately don't remember across sessions. Was that only for privacy, or do you think the forgetting actually makes the reflection better?
@alieksia Thank you! Started as privacy (nothing stored, nothing to leak), but the forgetting became the point. When an AI remembers you it starts answering to its model of you instead of to what you actually wrote today. Wiping the slate keeps each voice responding to the entry in front of it, not to a profile. Turns out that's more honest, not less.
@artiomleo1 That's a sharp way to put it - forgetting as the honest choice, not a limitation. I came in skeptical of the no-memory call and you've turned it around.
the no-memory, no-advice framing is what got me. one thing I'm curious about: since the voices don't remember and don't advise, what happens if an entry is genuinely dark, does the Critic or Rebel still just reflect it back in character, or is there some line where the app steps out of the persona and just points you to help instead?
@galdayan Thanks, that's the bet the whole thing rests on. There's a hard line though. If an entry looks genuinely dark, crisis detection kicks in ahead of the voices and the app drops the personas completely, just surfaces a card with real help resources. The voices don't get to stay in character through that.
@artiomleo1 good, that's exactly the right failsafe to have. glad the personas don't get to override that. makes me trust the rest of the concept more knowing there's a hard exit built in
The Critic caught me off guard in the best way, zeroing in on a line I glossed over, and knowing nothing is saved off my phone makes me actually want to keep writing honestly.
@gltenrd2p that's exactly it. The Critic goes for the line you hurried past, because that's usually the one that matters. and the honesty part is the whole bet: you only write the true stuff if you trust it isn't going anywhere. the second a journal feels stored or read, people start performing. On-device is what makes honest writing possible. Glad it clicked.
love that the ten voices are stateless and the journal stays local. feels like the team actually thought through the trust part first instead of bolting encryption on later, honestly refreshing for an app like this.
@gnezpie Thank you, that's exactly the read I was hoping for. Privacy wasn't a feature I added at the end, it was the constraint I started from, and it shaped everything downstream: no account, no cloud, stateless voices, transcription on-device. It made the app harder to build in a few places, but a journal is about the most private thing there is, so it felt like the only honest way to do it. Appreciate you noticing the order it was built in.
Finally got to hear the Rebel argue back at me for once, kind of unsettling how quickly the voices feel distinct.
@aminet52n Ha, the Rebel is a bit of a menace, in the best way. That "unsettling how quickly they feel distinct" reaction is the thing I worked hardest for, so it's great to hear. The goal was for them to feel like actual different parts of you, not one AI wearing different hats. And the Rebel getting to you usually means it said the thing you'd been avoiding.
tried it last night with a rough venting entry and the Critic plus Caretaker voices actually hit different angles than i expected, kind of cool that nothing leaves the phone
@glzaro44d thanks for giving it a real try, that means a lot. Critic + Caretaker on the same entry is my favorite combo — one pushes, one softens, and the gap between them is usually the useful part. And yeah, nothing leaving the phone was half the reason it felt worth building. Curious which voice surprises you most if you keep going.