I built a decision app because group chats cannot decide — here is what I learned
The problem I kept noticing the same pattern: six people in a group chat, twenty minutes, zero decisions. Restaurant, movie, weekend plan — the loop always ended with "I don't care, you pick" followed by everyone picking the same thing they picked last time. So I built Choozy , a free Android app whose only job is to end that loop. What it does Spin wheel — add your own options, tap once, done.…
For years, the same scenario played out repeatedly: six individuals in a group chat, twenty minutes, zero decisions made. Wherever they needed to decide on a restaurant, movie, or weekend activity, the conversation always concluded with "I don't care, you pick" followed by everyone selecting the same option they had chosen previously. To address this issue, <source>creator<end> developed Choozy, a free Android application designed to break this endless loop.
Choozy's functionality is straightforward yet effective: users can spin a wheel by adding their own options, flip a coin with animated results, swipe through options until only one remains, utilize group mode by scanning a QR code, input voice options, and choose from six preset categories such as Food, Movie/TV, Activity, Quick Pick, Music, and Game. The application operates offline and is available in five languages including Turkish, English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Choozy's creator learned several valuable lessons during the development process:
1. They initially focused on building the spinning wheel before implementing preset options. This mistake resulted in an empty wheel at the start, which made the app ineffective during its initial 30 seconds. Adding preset options before the wheel greatly improved the app's first-session completion rate.
2. The creator discovered that animations are not the sole focus of the product. A quick spin with a two-second deceleration provided a feeling of finality, encouraging users to accept the outcome and preventing them from re-spinning.
3. Offline functionality is crucial for a decision-making app. If the app required a network round-trip to spin a wheel, it would lose its speed advantage. All processes were designed to be local whenever possible.
4. The QR code group mode proved to be the key to the app's growth. A decision app meant for an individual user is just a utility, but when shared with friends, it becomes something worth spreading. The QR code flow took the most time to develop but is responsible for the app's wide dissemination.
Choozy was built using Flutter, a single codebase for Android, and AdMob for a free tier with an optional ad-free upgrade. The app does not require accounts or sign-ups, and it does not collect any data, which helps to build trust among users making group decisions. If you have ever found yourself in a group chat that stalled over dinner plans, you can download Choozy from the Play Store or visit the web version at minval.tr/choozy/.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
