What's New: Autism Support, PWA Install, Confetti & More
Written by Vent It Out, a service of Daily Mindset Moments CIC
A Major Update for Vent It Out 🎉
We've been working hard to make Vent It Out more inclusive, more personal, and more fun. Here's everything that's new.
🛡️ Autism Support Tools (Opt-In)
We're proud to introduce a dedicated Autism Support section — a set of tools designed specifically for autistic individuals. This is completely opt-in. Other users won't see any of these features unless they choose to enable them from their Profile Section.
Here's what's included:
- Sensory Calm Screen — An emergency "I'm Overwhelmed" button that opens a full-screen, low-stimulation environment with gentle colour transitions and guided breathing. Designed for moments of sensory overload.
- Social Scripts — Pre-written phrases for common difficult situations like asking for space, communicating sensory needs, or declining invitations. Each script includes context, the suggested text, and practical tips. Copy them to your clipboard with one tap.
- Meltdown & Shutdown Journal — Track what triggers episodes, your warning signs, what helped, intensity, and duration. Over time, patterns become clearer and coping strategies improve.
- Curated Resources — Links to trusted organisations like the National Autistic Society and the Autism Self Advocacy Network, plus crisis support information.
We've also added three new frustration categories: 🔊 Sensory, 🎭 Masking, and 🔄 Routine Change — so autistic users can track these specific types of frustrations alongside the existing categories.
📱 Install Vent It Out on Your Phone
Vent It Out is now a Progressive Web App (PWA). That means you can install it directly to your home screen and use it like a native app — no app store needed.
- Android — You'll see an "Install" banner at the bottom of the screen. Tap Install and you're done.
- iOS — Tap the Share button in Safari and select "Add to Home Screen".
Once installed, the app also caches pages for basic offline support, so it loads even when your connection drops.
🎊 Confetti Celebrations
Milestones now feel like milestones. We've added animated confetti effects for key achievements:
- Level up — A big purple and pink explosion from both sides of the screen
- New badge unlocked — A dual-cannon spray effect
- Every frustration released — A subtle purple burst
- 7-day streak milestones — A gold and red firework
All effects respect the prefers-reduced-motion accessibility setting — if you have reduced motion enabled, confetti is skipped entirely.
⭕ Progress Ring
The old flat XP progress bar has been replaced with an animated circular progress ring in your Profile Section. It shows your current level in the centre with a purple-to-pink gradient arc that smoothly animates as you earn XP.
👋 Personalised Greetings & Display Names
The homepage now greets you with a time-based message — Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, or Good night — along with your name.
You can set your display name in two ways:
- During sign-up — there's now a "What should we call you?" field
- From your Profile Section — click the pencil icon to edit your name at any time
🧠 Smart Mood Recommendations
The Mood Tracking page now features an intelligent recommendation engine that analyses your recent mood patterns and suggests targeted techniques. It looks at:
- Your average mood over the last 14 entries
- Your mood trend — improving, declining, or stable
- Your dominant emotions — the most frequently logged feelings
Based on this analysis, you'll get personalised suggestions from a pool of 10 techniques including breathing exercises, gratitude journaling, progressive relaxation, and social connection prompts.
There's also a new Mood Summary Dashboard showing your average mood, trend direction, entry count, and top emotions at a glance.
🔔 Push Notifications Fixed
Push notification subscribe and unsubscribe now work correctly. We fixed issues with the VAPID key configuration and database permissions that were preventing notifications from being enabled.
🔧 Bug Fixes
- Notifications reappearing — Dismissed broadcast notifications no longer come back after refreshing
- Stale deploy errors — The app now auto-reloads when it detects outdated cached files after a deploy
What's Next?
We're continuing to build features that support your wellbeing journey. If you have suggestions or feedback, reach out through our Contact page or the live chat. Thank you for being part of the Vent It Out community. 💜