St. Margaret’s Alumnus Develops Viral App Featured in National Publications

St. Margaret’s alumnus Ian Thomas ’09 recently developed a mobile app that’s been an immediate hit and featured in national publications like The New York Times and The Atlantic this month.

The app, called WeCroak, is designed to motivate human behavior and perspective through reminders about the limitations of one’s lifespan. Inspired by Bhutanese forklore stating that to be happy, one ought to contemplate their own mortality five times daily, the app sends push notifications that serve as a reminder of life’s finiteness. When the notification arrives, you can open the app for a quote from a poet, philosopher or notable thinker like Henry David Thoreau or Emily Dickinson.

The app is the brainchild of Mr. Thomas and Hansa Bergwall, a publicist in Brooklyn. The two met when Mr. Thomas rented a room in Mr. Bergwall’s apartment through AirBnB, and had a conversation about the topic. The app launched six weeks later, and currently ranks high in the App Store’s paid Health & Fitness apps.

You can read about Mr. Thomas’s app in The Atlantic and the New York Times.