Light After Loss - Grief Support App

A compassionate iOS application designed to support individuals navigating their grief journey through practical tools, gentle reminders, and meaningful rituals.

Built by Danielle Olson with Love, Care, & Claude Code by Anthropic. 👩🏽‍💻

🌟 Overview

Light After Loss provides a private, non-judgmental space for grief support based on three core principles:

• Reaching out for help - Making it easier to ask for support when needed
• Getting in touch with feelings - Providing tools and reminders for emotional processing
• Creating rituals - Establishing meaningful ways to remember and honor loved ones

📱 Features

Ask for Help

• Pre-written message templates for requesting support
• Practical and emotional support suggestions
• Easy sharing options with iPad-compatible ShareSheet
• In-app bug reporting with email integration

Daily Reminders

• Fully customizable notification times
• Rotating supportive quotes and messages
• Gentle touchpoints throughout your day
• Custom time management interface

Rituals

• Create personal rituals for connection, reflection, birthdays, and anniversaries
• Photo management with upload, display grid, and deletion (5-photo limit)
• Music integration with Spotify and Apple Music
• Step-by-step ritual creation guide
• Full-screen ritual playback view

Resources

• Crisis support information (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
• Grief support groups and helplines
• Family addiction resources (including mental health support)
• Important awareness dates

🛠 Technical Details

Requirements

• iOS 18.5+
• Xcode 16.4+
• Swift 5.0

Architecture

• SwiftUI-based interface
• MVVM architecture pattern
• Local data storage for privacy
• Responsive dark/light mode with adaptive colors
• Custom font system with easy toggle capabilities
• Music integration framework (Spotify/Apple Music)

Project Structure

Grief Support/
├── Grief Support/
│   ├── Grief_SupportApp.swift    # App entry point
│   ├── ContentView.swift         # Main tab navigation
│   ├── Views/                    # Feature views
│   │   ├── AskForHelpView.swift
│   │   ├── RemindersView.swift
│   │   ├── RitualsView.swift
│   │   ├── ResourcesView.swift
│   │   ├── SettingsView.swift
│   │   └── CommonComponents.swift
│   ├── Design-Docs/              # Design documentation
│   │   ├── context.md           # Core experience design
│   │   ├── development-log.md   # Development history
│   │   └── readme.md
│   └── Prototypes/              # HTML wireframes
│       └── grief_support_wireframe.html

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the repository
2. Open Grief Support.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Select your target device/simulator
4. Build and run (⌘+R)

Build Commands

# Build for iOS Simulator
xcodebuild -project "Grief Support.xcodeproj" -scheme "Grief Support" -destination "platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 16" build

# Install and launch
xcrun simctl install booted "path/to/Grief Support.app"
xcrun simctl launch booted dmolson.Grief-Support

📖 Documentation

For detailed information about the app's design philosophy, user experience principles, and feature specifications, please refer to:

• Context File - Comprehensive design documentation including color palettes, typography, and UX principles
• Design Documents - HTML wireframe demonstrating the app flow

🎨 Design System

Color Palette

• Primary: #555879 (Muted purple-gray)
• Background: #F4EFE8 (Warm cream)
• Cards: #F0EBE2 (Light beige)
• Accent: #DED3C4 (Warm gray-beige)

Typography

• Headers: Melodrama-Medium (custom font replacing unavailable Excon)
• App Title: Chubbo-Light (for "light after loss" header)
• Body: Satoshi (custom font for all body text)
• Quotes: Satoshi-Medium (for rotating supportive quotes)

🫱🏽‍🫲🏾 Contributing

This app was created with care to support those experiencing grief. If you'd like to contribute:

• Read the design documentation to understand the app's philosophy
• Ensure any changes maintain the gentle, non-judgmental tone
• Test thoroughly with accessibility in mind
• Submit pull requests with clear descriptions

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License:

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Danielle Olson

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

🤍 Acknowledgments

This app is dedicated to all those navigating the difficult journey of grief. May it provide some light in dark moments.

In loving memory of Matthew James Olson. 🏴‍☠️🦝 I'll love and miss you forever, little brother.

"Grief is love with nowhere to go" — Jamie Anderson