These two devs created a new platform to encourage kindness

When everyone seems to be screaming at each other, you need a bit of kindness and reassurance.

That’s what Kindsouls works to provide.

KindSouls, available now as a free app for iOS with an Android version en route for this summer, is the brainchild of Omeed Tabiei and Sina Iman, two developers who grew up in Bethesda, Md., prior to moving to Los Angeles. Following up on Tabiei’s weekly meditation experiences and hikes, the two decided to create an app to highlight positive social interaction on the internet.

“We want to create a community of kindness and people who value kindness. We are creating a safe place for people who feel lonely, hurt or in pain because everyone feels these things sometimes, and we want to help heal people’s suffering by helping people feel more connected to one another,” said Tabiei. “When you’re in pain or not feeling great, and a stranger is kind to you, that can turn your whole day around. That’s the core idea that this app is based on.”

The app itself is fairly simple. Simply install Kindsouls, create an account and you can post whatever’s on your mind to the main chat area. The posts can be anonymous. Once your post has been approved by the moderation team, other users can then reply or drag a flower emoji onto your message thread. Where the potential for cyber bullying and trolling is concerned, Kindsouls’ moderation team currently moderates the main area, which recruits additional moderation team members via invitations from Kindsouls’ core staff.

“A feature we’re really excited about is our AI ‘bully filter’ that we call ‘Big Mama,’” said Tabiei, who stated that the KindSouls team, led by Kevin Vinhas from Saint Etienne, France, “is developing an artificial intelligence system that can detect nuanced sentiment of posts which helps moderate posts that are deemed unkind.”

“Our metric for success is how many people have we touched and how many people have we helped and how many lives have we saved,” said Tabiei, when asked how KindSouls gauged its growth and progress. “In a year’s time, Kindsouls will establish itself as a wellness brand, and will have a thriving #kindvibetribe community.”

Kindsouls is available for free and requires an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 10.2 or later to install and run.