The app that allows you to share your emotions to a stranger or a bot, anonymously.

The app that allows you to share your emotions to a stranger or a bot, anonymously.

We often struggle to manage our moods, reduce grief and give peace to our minds. For those feeling stressed, anxious or depressed and wanting an ear to vent out frustration, help is just a mobile application away. A Vadodara-based start-up has launched an application which provides a platform to the people to let out their emotions and also stabilizes their mood. Hakimuddin Aliasgar Vohra with his young team of Hujefa Vohra (brother), Kunal Joshi, Uttam Prasad, and a student of Psychology, have designed an application to de-stress us by giving everyone a platform to clear their emotional thoughts.

Computer application graduate, Hakimuddin Vohra came up with an initiative after he faced some difficult situations in his personal life. While chatting with unknown persons over social media, it helped him decide to come up with a system that provided similar 'anonymous' to others. 

Vohra's father had to undergo expensive cardiac treatment after a heart attack. At this juncture, he 

was also in the final year of his graduation and was worried about his future. But he could not discuss his situation with anyone. The young man finally found hello in some unknown persons he met over social media platforms. "I was studying in the final year of BCA (Bachelor of Computer Applications) in MSU in 2017 was interning at a private company in the applications of virtual reality in daily life. But my dreams took a setback after my father got a heart attack, and I diverted from my efforts to his treatment and care. At that time, I was emotionally disturbed and wanted to speak to someone. But I didn't want to share it with my relatives or friends or anyone that I know. So I started interacting with unknown people online, and it eased off my emotional load. That gave me the idea for my start-up BeFriends – India’s New Age Community Powered AI Backed Emotional Health Support Platform" said founder CEO at BeFriends-HAZHTeq Innovations Pvt Ltd Hakimuddin.

The application includes a feature which uses colours to evaluate the person and his needs, called colour sequence analysis, with an accuracy rate of 75%. In addition, there is graphology which is used to assess someone based on their hand written text. It's accuracy is 85% and helps to know things likes stress, trauma, skills, anxiety and social fear.

The founder has also shown his dedication of using these techniques to help corporates hire better, by having an insight into the emotional aspect of the personality of the right candidate, and support students by helping them choose a career that best suits their personality, physically and mentally.

Moreover, a feature of diary to help keep track on an individual's stress, emotions and moods, done on the application itself, and provides instant help in form of short videos specifically targeted to calm the user’s state of mind and make them smile.

The application also consists of an e-commerce store, which provides products related to mental wellbeing like aromatherapy blends, essential oils, and bath salts, which manufactured by different start-ups like Swasthvritta and BotanyFest Foundation.

If the user is in dire need of professional help, the application suggestively hints on the path of booking a session with the experts listed on the platform.

The company is also looking at a probable Emotional Robot Friend, based on the concept of Emotional Intelligence, the development of which is supported by ARMATH India.

For his novel initiative, Vohra got assistance from various schemes of the state government and Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU) and from his father. 

In 2018, he founded the company HAZHTeq Innovations, after intensive research he launched BeFriends, the 'listening' application in 2020, and is currently incubated with Maharaja Sayajirao Innovation, Startup, and Entrepreneurship Center and co-incubated at iHub. 

Vohra said that the initiative has led over 150 counselling sessions. Almost 40% of these have been in the application and others outside it. "We have listed our application on Play Store and the app will be constantly updated with the development of your E.I. friend Taffy. The application will be soon available for iOS devices too.", he said.

You can find the Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hazhteq.befriends

Alternatively, you can visit the website: http://www.befriendsapp.in/