Name Counter — A Modern Spiritual Chanting & Prayer Tracking App

Name Counter started as a very simple idea:

A clean digital replacement for traditional counting devices people use while chanting names like Ram, Radha, Allah, Waheguru, Om, prayers, dhikr, rosary repetitions, and other spiritual practices.

But while building it, I realized something important:

Most existing apps were either:

• outdated,

• cluttered,

• limited to one religion,

• missing multilingual support,

• or lacked motivation and progress systems.

So what began as a “simple counter app” slowly evolved into a much larger product focused on spirituality, consistency, inclusivity, and user experience.

What the App Does

Name Counter helps users:

• Count chants, mantras, prayers, and repetitions

• Track daily, weekly, monthly, and lifetime progress

• Maintain streaks and consistency

• Create multiple chants simultaneously

• Join friendly competitions with friends

• View leaderboards by country, religion, and globally

• Get reminders and notifications

• Use religion-based themes and personalization

• Stay private with incognito and visibility controls

The goal was to make spiritual practice feel calm, motivating, modern, and distraction-free.

Built for Multiple Religions & Languages

One thing I noticed early:

India (and the world) is multilingual and spiritually diverse.

So instead of building the app around only one language or one religion, I redesigned the entire architecture to support:

• multiple religions,

• multiple scripts/languages,

• and dynamic theming.

When a user selects a religion during onboarding:

• the entire theme changes,

• colors adapt,

• gradients update,

• and the app feels more personalized.

For example:

• saffron/orange inspired themes,

• emerald/green spiritual themes,

• calm blue themes,

• and more.

The idea was not to build “another counter app,” but to make users feel comfortable and represented regardless of their background.

Features I Ended Up Adding

What originally looked like:

“just increment a counter”

eventually became:

Core Features

• Multi-chant support

• Daily/weekly/monthly/lifetime tracking

• Combined + individual chant analytics

• Streak tracking

• Goal system

• Friendly competitions

• Global/country/religion leaderboards

• Smart reminders

• Offline sync + background sync

• Incognito/privacy mode

• Language & religion personalization

UX Features

• Haptic feedback

• Smooth animations

• Milestone celebrations

• Progress charts

• Theme-based gradients

• Beautiful toast notifications

• Responsive onboarding flow

Privacy Features

• Hide from leaderboard

• Disable profile visibility

• Private chanting experience

• Incognito mode for public spaces

One feature I personally love:
Incognito mode darkens/hides the screen so users can chant comfortably in public without exposing what they are doing.

Engineering Behind the App

Although the app looks simple on the surface, a lot of engineering went into making the experience smooth and scalable.

Mobile Stack

• React Native

• Redux Toolkit

• React Query

• Zod

• i18next

• Reanimated

• Gifted Charts

• React Hook Form

Backend & Infrastructure

• Node.js + Express backend

• Appwrite for database + authentication

• RevenueCat for subscriptions

• Firebase Cloud Messaging

• Firebase Remote Config

• Firebase Crashlytics

• Firebase Analytics

• Deep Linking support

• Offline-first syncing logic

Web & Landing Platform

I also built:

• a Next.js landing page,

• multilingual support for the website,

• SEO-friendly SSR/SSG pages,

• legal/contact/about pages,

• embedded webview support for mobile.

The backend handles:

• syncing chants,

• competitions,

• notifications,

• subscriptions,

• and user management.

The Real Challenge Wasn’t Coding

The real challenge was balancing:

• simplicity,

• scalability,

• inclusivity,

• privacy,

• performance,

• and calm UX.

I spent a lot of time thinking about:

• how users from different religions would feel,

• how to make the app distraction-free,

• how to keep the UI peaceful,

• and how to make everything feel modern without losing simplicity.

As a senior frontend developer, I also wanted:

• proper architecture from day one,

• scalable code organization,

• crash tracking,

• analytics,

• remote configuration,

• offline reliability,

• and maintainable infrastructure.

So the “simple counter app” slowly turned into a full ecosystem.

What I’m Still Working On

The biggest upcoming feature is:

Real-Time Voice Chanting Mode

The idea:

• users continuously chant,

• the app listens in real time,

• counts automatically increase,

• and everything works with minimal delay and high accuracy.

Another planned mode:

• users set a target count,

• the app continuously recites the chant,

• and automatically tracks progress during listening sessions.

This is currently one of the most technically challenging parts of the project.

If anyone has experience with:

• real-time speech recognition,

• low-latency audio processing,

• multilingual chanting recognition,

• or streaming speech pipelines,

I’d genuinely love to connect and learn from you.

Final Thoughts

This project reminded me how quickly “simple apps” become complex when you deeply care about user experience.

But honestly, that’s also the fun part of engineering.
Download and share your thought and give 5 star rating if you like hard work behind it.