You said you don't always feel safe. A journal on a phone someone else can open can be used against you. Steady can lock it behind a PIN and wipe it in one tap — but it's genuinely fine to skip it.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you can't speak, call and leave the line open.
Let's pause there
You said you've had thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting yourself. That answer matters more than the rest of the questionnaire, so we're stopping here.
You can talk to someone right now
Free, 24 hours, and they are not shocked by this. You do not have to be in danger this minute to call — most people who call aren't.
It still counts, and it's still worth telling someone — a doctor, a counsellor, or the person you trust. Thoughts like these are common in depression and they ease with treatment. They are not a character flaw and not something you have to manage alone.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Setting up · 1 of 3Your person
Who's one person you'd reach out to?
Someone you'd actually text on a bad night. A name is enough — it stays on this phone and Steady never contacts them for you.
Saved on this phone only. Not uploaded, not shared with your organization, not visible to anyone else.
Setting up · 2 of 3Your calm
What actually settles you down?
Not what should. What does — even if it's small or strange.
Setting up · 3 of 3Your hobby
What's something you enjoy — or used to?
When people are low, the thing they loved is usually the first thing to go. This is how you find your way back to it.
Monday · 15 September
How's today going?
Today
Check in deeper
If it gets heavy
Journal and habits live on this phone only. Steady has no account and no server — nothing here is uploaded, and your organization is never told anything.
Walk outside
Small and repeatable beats big and rare. Missing days is normal — this doesn't scold you for it.
Last 14 days
6 of the last 14. That's real — most people's honest number is lower than they'd guess.
When it's hardest
On the days you can't face it, do a tenth of it. Two minutes outside still counts here, and Steady marks it the same.
Journal
No prompts, no scoring, no one reading over your shoulder. Write a sentence or a page.
Stored on this phone. Steady has no server to send it to. Lock it with a PIN in Settings, and wipe everything in one tap.
Earlier
A fuller check
These are the questionnaires a doctor would hand you. They're scored on this phone, shown only to you, and stored nowhere.
What a score is and isn't
A score is a measurement, not a verdict. It says how much you've been carrying these past two weeks — not who you are, and not what you'll always feel. Only a professional can diagnose anything, and a high score on a bad fortnight is common and treatable.
Question 1 of 9Depression check
Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by…
Little interest or pleasure in doing things
Depression check
Moderate
You scored 12 out of 27.
What that means
What usually helps at this level
What to do next
This is a screening questionnaire, not a diagnosis. Scores move — retaking it in two weeks tells you more than any single result. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
Help you can actually afford
Free, sliding-scale, and low-cost routes — no insurance needed for most of these.
You don't need the right words. “I've been struggling for a few weeks and I don't know where to start” is enough — it's the sentence these lines hear all day. If you took a check here, you can say the score: “I did a PHQ-9 and got 12.” It tells them a lot quickly.
Steady doesn't take referrals, doesn't get paid by anyone listed here, and doesn't pass your name to any of them.
Good — nothing here says otherwise.
You answered steady across the board. No test to take, nothing to fix. Thanks for taking the minute.
Keep the number somewhere
Not for you — for the night a friend calls. 988 is free and answers 24 hours, for any crisis. That's the whole thing worth remembering.
We'll ask again in about three months. You can open this any time from the menu — you don't have to wait to be asked.
Helping someone else
You don't have to fix it, diagnose it, or get them to leave. Staying in their life is the thing that actually matters.
If you think they're being hurt at home
What helps: say what you've noticed without accusing anyone — “I've noticed you've been quiet, and I'm not going anywhere.” Believe them. Keep inviting them to things even when they say no. Let them set the pace.
What makes it worse: telling them to leave, criticising the person hurting them, giving an ultimatum, or confronting that person. Each one usually costs them the ability to talk to you — and leaving is the most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship, so it has to be planned, not pushed.
Never: leave a voicemail, text or letter that the other person could find. Assume the phone is seen.
If you think someone might be suicidal, ask directly — “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” It feels impossible to say. It does not put the idea in anyone's head, and it is the question that most often opens the door. Then listen, stay, and help them call 988.
Send them something
A message that doesn't corner them
⚠️ Only if you're sure their phone is private. If you're not sure, say it face to face.
If you believe someone is in immediate danger, call 911.
Steady is locked
Enter your PIN to open your journal and habits.
Forgotten it? There's no recovery — Steady has no server and no account, so nobody can reset it. You can erase everything and start fresh below.
Settings
Everything Steady knows is on this phone. There is no account and no server to send it to.
Lock the journal
A PIN on the journal and your habits. The check-in questions and the help numbers stay open — help should never be behind a lock.
Lock is on. Steady asks for your PIN when it opens.
Erase everything
Wipes the journal, habits, your person, and your PIN from this phone immediately. It cannot be undone, and nothing is kept anywhere else.
When Steady asks how you're doing
About every three months.
Steady stores when to ask you next. It never stores what you answered.
How the four questions channel into the rest.
Q1 + Q2 are the PHQ-2, the validated two-item depression screen. A combined 3 or more is a positive screen.
Q3 is the standard safety question. Q4 is the afraid item — the strongest single predictor in partner-violence screening, because it asks about fear instead of asking someone to call it abuse.
Safety outranks mood. Positive on Q3 or Q4 and you land on the safety resources first — and there the journal is offered with a warning, because a journal on a monitored phone is a risk.
Everything after the questions — your person, your calm, your hobby, the journal — is the part that keeps going after the bad night.
The storage promise, stated honestly.
The four questions: never stored. Not on the phone, not anywhere.
Journal, habits, your person: on the phone only. No account, no server, no sync. NGI cannot read them, and neither can anyone's lodge or employer.
PIN lock and a one-tap wipe, because the person most at risk is the one whose phone isn't private.
Nothing is ever sent on someone's behalf. They pick the person, see the message, and send it themselves.
Verified today against each official source:9881-800-799-72337417411-800-662-43571-800-422-4453211.
RAINN and the Trevor Project are deliberately not included — unverified, and a wrong crisis number is worse than a missing one.
This prototype stores nothing at all, including the journal.