Seven Ukrainians in the US have launched a startup — an application that helps users get rid of the bad habit of quitting smoking. The co-founders of the service, Kateryna Babiy, technical lead and lead developer of QuitQly, and Oleg Polishchuk, lead integrator of the service, told dev.ua how the application works and who can use it.
Seven Ukrainians in the US have launched a startup — an application that helps users get rid of the bad habit of quitting smoking. The co-founders of the service, Kateryna Babiy, technical lead and lead developer of QuitQly, and Oleg Polishchuk, lead integrator of the service, told dev.ua how the application works and who can use it.
The idea for QuitQly doesn’t belong to one person — it was born in the team after long discussions during the hackathon. «We spent several days discussing what kind of product we could create that would have a real social impact, and not just be another entertainment. Each of us had stories of friends or family members who tried to quit smoking, and we saw how difficult it was: constant temptation, lack of support, and it was hard to break the habit,» says Kateryna.
According to Oleg, it was important for the developers to do something truly useful — something that could change someone’s life. «That’s how the first prototype of QuitQly appeared at the hackathon: an application that combines technology, gamification, and psychological support to help people overcome one of the most difficult challenges — quitting smoking,» he says.
It was at the hackathon that the developers met and began working on the implementation of the idea. «We assembled a team that simultaneously works in large companies and devotes evenings and weekends to our startup, balancing between full-time work and the development of their own ideas. Each participant brings their unique skills and expertise to the project, and this is what allows us to quickly implement complex functions and create a high-quality product,» says Kateryna.
Together with Katya and Oleg, Roman Fedytskyi, the front-end technical lead, developer Oleksandr Plekhov, tester Nazar Babiy, and designers Svyatoslav Teslyak and Viktoriya Kozyk worked on the application.
Interestingly, the team didn’t have a great need for money — all development was done on its own, from prototype development to the finished product.
«At this stage, we are investing our own money in advertising and marketing, there will be more investment needs for expanding the functionality and more aggressive marketing. All necessary expenses were made equally in the warehouse. There were not many expenses — the main investment is our time,» says Oleg.
QuitQly helps users gradually quit smoking by combining motivational elements, an interactive avatar, and gamification. Rather than focusing solely on statistics or strict controls, the app supports users through:
Target audience: people who want to quit smoking and are looking for support in an easy and motivating way, regardless of age or experience using technology. The application is currently available for iOS and Android users and supports three languages: Ukrainian, English, and Spanish.
«Currently, the application is launched in the USA and Canada, but our goal is to gradually open it to users in different countries around the world,» says Kateryna.
The startup now has its first users in the US and Canada, is preparing a release for Ukraine, Mexico, Spain, and France, and is also collecting feedback to improve the product. «There are not many users because we haven’t spread the word about the app’s release yet, and we plan to launch marketing soon,» says Oleg.
The app’s monetization model is based on subscriptions, with the possibility of additional in-game purchases, which allows you to simultaneously maintain the financial sustainability of the project and focus on its social impact.
QuitQly has already integrated RevenueCat to manage subscriptions and monetization in the app, as well as OneSignal to effectively use push notifications and support users on their journey to quitting smoking.
The developers are planning a large-scale update of the service in the near future:
You can download the service for iOS and Android .
