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Cold-plunge app design, a habit worth keeping

Clearwater’s SnowCap app helps people keep a cold-plunge habit, with or without the hardware.We designed it, from device setup to challenges.

Clearwater welcome screen: a swimmer in open water, the Clearwater wordmark, Continue with Email, Google and Apple sign-in and the consent checkboxes; An active SnowCap session: the timer at 00:01 against a five-minute goal, water temperature 5°C and heart rate 80; Clearwater home: SnowCap and Sauna with their temperatures, Schedule Session and the user’s statistics; Challenges: the active Month Streak at 14 of 30 days and Heat Wave recommended
Device
control setup, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, sessions, sharing and updates
Crews
and challenges schedules, streaks and public stats
306
screens for iOS, Android and tablet, in one design

We designed Clearwater’s mobile app to make cold-plunge practice useful before someone owns a SnowCap device. Research and mapped flows connect guided sessions with schedules, challenges and crews, then add device pairing, control and sharing to the same routine. Clickable prototypes covered iOS, Android and tablet; Clearwater’s team owned the hardware and app implementation.

What a cold-plunge habit asks of an app

The practice before the device, the device itself, then what keeps someone going:

  1. Start

    • Welcome and sign-up
    • Quick tour
    • Choose a product

  2. Set up

    • Installation steps
    • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
    • Pairing

  3. Plunge

    • Cooling to target
    • Timer and goal
    • Heart rate

  4. Keep going

    • Schedules
    • History and streaks
    • Challenges

  5. Together

    • Crews
    • Public stats
    • Sharing

  6. Own it

    • My products
    • Shared access
    • Software updates
Wellness Hardware
A calm, visual product that still says plainly what the device is doing and what went wrong.
Without SnowCap With SnowCap
A full practice for people without the device, and the device shown as its deeper version, not an advert.
Motivation Noise
A community tied to the practice itself, not another feed to scroll.

Home, in the order a morning plunge needs it

Found
Home had to serve someone with two devices, someone with none, and someone about to step into cold water, without turning into a control panel.
Decided
One order down the screen: a greeting and the date, each device with its temperature and a start button, scheduling, then the person’s own numbers. Everything else sits in the tab bar.
For the user
Standing next to the plunge, the person sees the water temperature and starts a session from the first screen.
Clearwater home: Hello, Maya and the date, SnowCap at 20°C and Sauna at 35°C each with a start button, Schedule Session, and statistics for session length, streak, finished and completed sessions, above the tab bar
After: home with SnowCap and Sauna connected

  1. Whose day

    A greeting and the date, so a session lands in the right place in the history.

  2. The devices

    Each device with its schedule, water temperature and a start button.

  3. The next step

    Scheduling the next session, one tap from home.

  4. The numbers

    Session length, the longest streak and finished sessions, in words, not a chart.

  5. Everywhere else

    Home, schedule, a session, community and challenges, with the session in the middle.

How the work progressed

From competitor research to a clickable prototype and a numbered screen map, one question closed at a time.

  1. Discovery

    6 hrs

    What cold-plunge apps already did, and where they lost people at the start

    Artifact Competitor research on Plunge, Coldture and a cold-therapy app, and the information architecture

    Competitor research table comparing Plunge, Coldture and a cold water therapy app, row by row from onboarding to sign-up, with a summary column of what Clearwater should do

  2. User Flow

    54 hrs

    Every path from the welcome screen to a finished session, including the ones where the device isn’t there

    Artifact User flows for onboarding, setup, sessions, schedules, community and profile

    Part of the home user flow: the home page and its content notes, branching to start a session in each mode or add a schedule

  3. Wireframes

    103 hrs

    What each screen holds, before colour and photography

    Artifact Black-and-white wireframes for every flow

    Wireframes of the system screens: loading, no internet connection and an error with a retry

  4. UI & Design System

    149 hrs

    A look that feels like wellness rather than a remote control

    Artifact Moodboards, three styles for the key screens, the final UI and a UI kit

    Moodboard, Ethereal Minimalism: the mood, style and type notes above reference screens and a colour palette

  5. Adaptives

    71 hrs

    The same product on a tablet by the plunge

    Artifact Tablet versions of the flows

    Tablet versions of the Challenges screens laid out side by side

  6. Animation

    11 hrs

    How the schedule and calendar move, so the app feels calm in motion too

    Artifact Motion for the schedule and calendar screens

    Four schedule key frames: the day timeline with the current time and a Morning Ice session, the Add Schedule form with the temperature picker, the list of schedules, and the delete confirmation

  7. Delivery

    22 hrs

    What the client’s developers needed to build it without guessing

    Artifact A clickable prototype, a numbered screen map and a Zeplin export

Every path mapped before it was drawn

Found
A session depends on the water: too warm and it has to wait; a device has to be found before anything else works.
Decided
Each flow was mapped end to end with its branches first: what happens when the water isn’t ready, when the name is too short, when Bluetooth is off. Then one tab bar for the whole app.

  1. Starting a session

    From home to a saved session: the check that the water has reached its temperature, standby while it hasn’t, the timer, the session and its summary, with a heart-rate device on the side.

    Open the full map
    Session user flow: start session in chill, heat, ice or idle mode, a temperature check that sends the user to standby when the water isn’t ready, then timer, session started and session summary, with the heart-rate device branch below

  2. Adding the first product

    Naming the device with its three error states, installation step by step, Wi-Fi, then Bluetooth, and what to do if the device can’t be found.

    Open the full map
    Setup user flow: name your product with its error states, a success screen with progress, install instructions and steps, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth permission and device selection, with a help branch
Connected to SnowCap: the device with ambient 20°C and water 15°C, Chill, Heat and Hold modes with Chill on, a target of 5°C on a dial with the time it takes to get there, and a duration goal of 5 minutes 22 seconds

The whole plunge, set on one screen

The water temperature now, a mode, a target with how long the water needs to reach it, and how long to stay in: everything the device needs, set with dry hands before anyone steps in.

  • Information architecture
  • User flows with every branch
  • Wireframes for each flow
  • A clickable prototype

Seven jobs the app does

The practice first, then the device, then what keeps people at it and the device over the years.

A wellness product, not a remote

Found
The first screens decide whether the app reads as a hardware manual or as something worth opening every morning.
Decided
A calm welcome into a wellness path, a short tour, a product choice that includes the sauna, and the community and challenges shown before any setup.
Begin Your Wellness Path over calm water, with Take a Quick Tour
Tutorial, Please Select Your Product: SnowCap and a Sauna marked New
Tutorial, Community: a person stepping into cold water, and a line about sharing experiences and tracking progress
Completed Challenges: 3 Days Streak and Week Streak, each marked Well Done with its completion date

Useful before the device arrives

Found
Someone who doesn’t own SnowCap yet has to get something real from the app, or they won’t be there when they’re ready to buy.
Decided
A home that invites adding a product without blocking anything, a session timer that works on its own, and a history that fills up from the first plunge.
Home with no product yet: Hello, Maya, Add Product, an empty statistics card and a challenge that asks for a product first
Start in… 10, with the five-minute goal and Tap To Skip
Paused at 8, with play, stop and +10 seconds
My History: four SnowCap sessions with total time, average heart rate and streak

Setting up hardware without the jargon

Found
Pairing a device means Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and permissions, and a person who gets stuck at step two returns the device, not the app.
Decided
One product choice, an illustrated installation guide in steps, a checklist of what Wi-Fi pairing needs, and a list of devices found nearby.
Select Your Product: SnowCap and Sauna
Install Instructions overview: an illustration of the tub and the first steps, location requirements and filling the plunge
Connect to Wi-Fi: the product, a 2.4 GHz signal, the network password and Bluetooth, then Begin Pairing
Turn On and Enable Bluetooth: nearby devices with SnowCap selected and Sauna, then Connect

Running a session in cold water

Found
Wet hands, cold water, a clock running: the person needs the time, the temperature and a way to stop, and nothing else.
Decided
A wait screen while the water cools, a large timer against the goal with temperature and heart rate beneath, pause and overtime states, and a summary to save.
Connected to SnowCap, Cooling Down, Please Wait: current 14°C, target 5°C and the estimated time
A paused session at 00:57 of a five-minute goal, with the water temperature
A session in overtime, 00:26 past the five-minute goal with the extra time marked in orange on the ring, water 5°C, heart rate 106 and Finish Session
Session Summary for a SnowCap Ice Session: total time, goal time, water temperature and streak, with Save Session

Coming back to something uncomfortable

Found
Motivation fades after the first few plunges, and a habit people dread needs a plan and a reason more than willpower.
Decided
A calendar of sessions, schedules that turn the device on by day and time, notifications from the crew, and challenges that mark the moment a streak is kept.
Schedule: a March calendar with session days marked, Schedule Session and statistics
Schedule Details for Morning Ice: turn on at 9:00, off at 10:00, target 2°C, Monday to Friday
Notifications: a Clearwater article about the Sauna, crew members’ sessions and challenges, and an update to install
Challenge “First Time” Completed, with View Stats and Got It

A community about the practice

Found
A social feed can motivate or just add noise; people doing something hard want to see others doing it too, not another timeline.
Decided
People search, a feed of sessions and challenges, a crew ranked by sessions, public stats, and a sharing setting for who sees your numbers.
Community: Search Users, and the feed of recent activity from crew members
My Crew: Crew Leaders, your ranking 3 of 5 with 25 total sessions, and the list
Olivia Crown’s statistics: session length, longest streak, finished and completed sessions and challenges, with Invite To Crew
Sharing: statistics visible only to the crew, invitations received and pending

Owning the device for years

Found
A device lives in a home: someone else uses it, it needs updates, and an update can fail halfway.
Decided
A list of owned products with their state and power, access shared with a named person, and software updates with what to do before, during and after a failure. We designed the update flows; the firmware was the client’s.
My Products: SnowCap and Sauna with temperature, Schedule and power buttons, and Add New Product
A dialog asking to confirm sharing the device with Andrew Brown and listing what he will be able to do, with Grant Access
Software Updates: SnowCap System Update 1.5.2, what it fixes and three things to do during the update
Update Failed: what happened, how to reboot and reconnect, with Try to Reconnect and Contact Support

One calm system for a device and a habit

Found
Device states, stats and social screens could easily look like three different apps, and error screens are where a hardware product loses trust.
Decided
One set of glass cards, buttons and dialogs over the same water gradient, and a system screen for every moment that goes wrong.

Your numbers and a crew member’s read the same

The same statistics card on home and on someone’s public profile.

  • Your Statistics on home: average session length, longest streak, finished and completed sessions
    Home: Your own statistics.
  • Olivia’s Statistic on her public profile: the same rows with her figures
    Public profile: The same card on a crew member’s profile.

Drawn for the moments that go wrong

No connection, a server error, no device found: each says what happened and what to do next.

  • No Internet Connection, with Go Back and Refresh
    No internet
  • Something Went Wrong, with Go Back and Try Again
    Something went wrong
  • Turn On and Enable Bluetooth with no devices found, and Can’t See Your Device?
    No device found

The same product on a tablet

Kept
The order of every screen, the cards, the timer and the tab bar with the session in the middle.
Changed
Wider cards with actions beside them rather than below, two statistics tiles side by side in a session, and more of each list in view.
Clearwater home on a tablet: SnowCap and Sauna each with Schedule Session and a start button, statistics, the current challenge and Discover
Tablet · Home The devices with their scheduling buttons in one row.
A session on a tablet: the timer at 00:01 of five minutes, water 5°C and heart rate 80
Tablet · Session The timer, with temperature and heart rate beneath.
Challenges on a tablet: the active Month Streak, Heat Wave recommended, and Chill Chaser, Week Snow Streak and Heat Seeker to join
Tablet · Challenges Active, recommended and open challenges in one view.

What the developers received

The client’s team built the app from a numbered map, a UI kit and a clickable prototype, delivered flow by flow.

Screen map
Every screen numbered and linked, with notes on each transition.
Clickable prototype
The main flows, from sign-up to a saved session.
UI kit
Styles, components and icons behind every screen.
Zeplin export
Specs and assets for iOS and Android.
Motion
Micro-interactions for the schedule and calendar.

Flows in the handoff

  1. Moodboard and three UI style directions
  2. Wireframes
  3. App UI: sessions, device setup, challenges and community
  4. Tablet versions of the flows
  5. Screen map: every screen numbered and linked
  6. Clickable prototype: from sign-up to a saved session
Screen map of the Challenges section: the list, challenge details, completion and leave dialogs, linked with numbered arrows and notes
Screen map: the Challenges section, each screen numbered and every transition drawn.
Three UI styles for the welcome, tour and setup progress screens: warm light over water, a cool underwater look, and a serif variant
UI styles: three directions on the key screens; the chosen one became the kit.

Where the product ended up

One design for the whole relationship with SnowCap: a practice people can start without the device, setup and sessions a non-technical person can run, schedules, challenges and crews that give them a reason to come back, and sharing and updates for the years after.

screens and states for phone and tablet
306
experts on the team
4
client rating
5.0★

In the client's words

We came to ANODA with an idea: a visually appealing, easy-to-use app that would help us build a community around our healthcare products. They understood that the experience needed to give people a reason to stay engaged beyond using a connected device. We appreciated how they considered our customers’ needs alongside our vision for the business, helping us turn that initial idea into a clear product direction. Their design brought together the simplicity we wanted and a visual identity we were excited to build on.

Antoni Kindler Fractional COO, Clearwater Wellness Co.

5.0

Selling a device people use once and forget?

In Clearwater, the app gives people a practice before they own the hardware and a reason to come back after. Show us your device, and we’ll show you where its app can keep people.

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What we brought to Clearwater

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