So wow, this is big and scary!
After months and months in the making, we're finally rolling out the latest release of WorryTree! But it's not just any old release with a few bug fixes and tweaks. This is a big one.
Following months of talking to users, working through their feedback and testing, testing and testing some more, we've made some significant changes that I wanted to tell you about today.
The basis of WorryTree
So first of all, the core of WorryTree really hasn't changed much. The worry recording, managing and problem solving sections have stayed the same, and we've added an extra feature where you can now download all of your worry data between a set of dates, and save the data or share the data with someone else via email or message. We've added this in due to popular demand, so that WorryTree users who are currently seeing a therapist can send their worries over before their next session. There's a little bug currently with the Gmail app that puts all of your worries in the subject line as well as the body text, but we're working to get that glitch sorted out as soon as possible. In the meantime, you should be able to save your worries as a file on your phone and then add that as an attachment in the Gmail app instead.
Introducing WorryTree Plus
This is probably the biggest change we've made, and the one I am most nervous about!
We've added a whole new section to WorryTree in this release which brings you extra content and a few new features.
WorryTree Plus users will be able to:
Work through a whole new section all about dealing with uncertainty (something a lot of us worriers really struggle with)
Consider their worries in the context of negative thinking styles (we're also going to add the option to view your worries by thinking style so you can easily see which are your most common thinking patterns)
Review past worries and add extra content to them assessing what actually happened in the end and whether your worry turned out as expected
Set optional push notifications if you need to be reminded to check in with your worries and negative thinking - this will really help reinforce the habit of more positive thinking
Connect WorryTree to your own calendar so you can set reminders and times to action your problem solving activities
Why we decided to add a Premium Version
The original work we did to build WorryTree was supported by the brilliant team at Ieso Digital Health but any further work since then, bug fixing and added features, has been entirely self-funded by us, the Founders. We're not app developers, we're just ordinary people trying to help other people who worry a lot just like us. But app development is really complex and you have to stay ahead of the software changes or else your app very quickly becomes obsolete and won't work on the updated platforms that Google and Apple create.
We want to make sure that the basis of WorryTree remains free forever for people to use, and we'd rather keep WorryTree advertising-free too, because when you're in the thick of an anxious reaction to something the last thing you want to do is try to find your way around adverts.
So we've decided to support the future of WorryTree by creating a premium option, which will enable us to invest that back into future feature development, making it even better for our users.
Rolling out this February
The new release of WorryTree will be rolling out to all of our 4,000+ current active users (hello! 👋) by the end of this month. As with all new releases, we can't be certain there won't be bugs and gremlins until we get it out there being used, so it may be that we experience a few glitches for the first few days but we'll be working hard behind the scenes to round them up and send them on their way.
Let us know what you think!
If you're a regular WorryTree user and your update comes through this week then please let us know what you think, either by emailing us or by completing the feedback form which you can find on the main menu of WorryTree. Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing more detail here about all of the new sections and we'll also be introducing them over on our social media accounts too!
And if you're interested in becoming a part of our virtual development and beta testing team, or you just enjoy our content and want to know more, then you can sign up for our monthly newsletter below.