InnerPulse 3.0: clinical mental-health screening that never leaves your iPhone

Globally, an estimated 970 million people live with anxiety or depression - most without ever being clinically screened (WHO World Mental Health Report, 2022). The apps that have grown to fill that gap have repeatedly broken users' trust: in the U.S., the FTC has taken enforcement action against BetterHelp, Cerebral, and Tessa for sharing sensitive health data with advertisers and data brokers. InnerPulse takes the opposite architectural stance. After a one-time purchase of 4.99 euro, the app needs no proprietary network connection to function - verifiable in minutes with standard tools such as Little Snitch or mitmproxy.

Version 3 is the largest release since launch. The redesigned Insights tab adds a Year-in-Pixels overview of mood patterns, four design themes, PDF export, CSV import, and a Privacy Center that documents every permission and how it is used. Opt-in Apple Health and WeatherKit factors feed the on-device mood model with sleep, workouts, hydration, cycle, and weather data - without any of it leaving the phone.

"Mental-health apps have repeatedly broken their users' trust in recent years - through data sharing with ad networks, opaque cloud storage, untraceable data flows," says founder Marvin Blome. "InnerPulse is my answer to that: an app whose privacy promise isn't built on a privacy policy, but on the architecture itself. Verifiable in two minutes with Little Snitch."

The framing has resonated with early users. On Reddit's r/iosapps, where the launch thread reached 7,100 views and 38 comments within days, one user described the app as "structured reflection without surveillance - exactly what a lot of people quietly want but don't trust most apps to do" (u/Old-Comedian-2540).

InnerPulse currently holds 5 out of 5 stars on the App Store and reached #13 in the German Paid Health & Fitness chart shortly after launch. 9to5Mac featured the app in its Indie App Spotlight on April 25, 2026, calling it "in depth, private, and on-device".

The release coincides with Mental Health Awareness Month, which began on May 1, 2026. InnerPulse is available worldwide on the App Store for iPhone, in seven languages, as a one-time purchase of 4.99 euro.

InnerPulse is an iOS app for structured self-reflection based on the clinically validated screening instruments GAD-7 and PHQ-9. Available on the App Store as a one-time purchase, fully localized in seven languages, and built by indie developer Marvin Blome in Hamburg. The app stores all data exclusively on the user's device, runs no analytics or tracking SDKs, and requires no account.