Most people have had the moment.

You’re driving somewhere unremarkable and a song comes on, and suddenly you’re thinking about your mum. Or your kid does something small that makes your chest ache in the best way. Or you’re on a walk and you think — I really should tell them this.

And then the moment passes. Life keeps moving. You never say it.

Stillwith exists for that moment. Not to plan ahead. Not to think about mortality. To say something now, while it’s true.

Where this came from

When I was 12, I had an accident that put me in the emergency room. While I was being treated, I looked over and saw my dad’s face. He was terrified. That moment stuck with me — not the pain, but the question it left behind: what would happen to the people I love if I wasn’t there?

Years later at university, I started researching how people actually grieve. I joined Facebook grief support groups and asked a simple question: what do you wish your loved one had left behind?

The answer was almost always the same. Not possessions. Not photos.

Words. A voice message. A simple goodbye.

Research backed this up — a 2023 study in OMEGA — Journal of Death and Dying found that 81% of bereaved people found after-death communication comforting, and 84% said it helped their bereavement. People were improvising with platforms never designed for this, because nothing better existed.

But the more I sat with that research, the more I realised the problem wasn’t only about death. It was about all the love people feel and never express — the things left unsaid not because of loss, but because ordinary life kept moving and the moment passed.

That’s what I actually wanted to build for. Not a tool you open when you’re thinking about your own mortality. A tool you reach for when you’re feeling something, and you want it to land with someone eventually — even if now isn’t the right time.

What this is built on

Four principles that shaped every design decision:

What this is not

Stillwith is not a funded startup optimising for growth. There’s no team of engineers, no investors, no business model built on your content. It’s an independent product, built carefully by one person, meant to last.

Your memories are yours. You choose who receives them and when. You can delete everything at any time. Nothing is sent without your confirmation.

Built by

Aron Chen

Designer & developer

Stillwith is built end-to-end by me — research, design, iOS, Android, and web. If you want to talk to a human before trusting this with something that matters, I’m here.

And a quiet thank you to my fiancée, Michelle — who put up with late nights of building this, and who reminds me, better than any research ever could, why this work matters.

[email protected]