SensoryShore Pulse
A phone app we plan to build. It uses a heart rate monitor, such as a smartwatch or chest strap, to help you notice rising stress earlier.
Planned product
Noticing rising stress earlier
Many autistic adults find it hard to notice what is happening in their body, or to name what they are feeling. Because of this, overload (being overwhelmed by too much at once) can seem to arrive "out of nowhere", even though signs may have been building in the body for some time.
Status: planned for later
Pulse is not yet available, and we cannot give a date for it. This page describes what we are designing, so you can decide whether it interests you. None of it is available yet.
SensoryShore Pulse is a phone app we plan to build to help with this. It connects over Bluetooth to a heart rate monitor, such as a chest strap or a smartwatch. It compares your readings with what is usual for you, which is called your personal baseline. This helps you notice rising stress earlier than you otherwise might.
The design
How Pulse works
Four design commitments shape everything about Pulse.
Works with devices you may already own
It works with heart rate monitors that use the standard Bluetooth heart rate connection, from an inexpensive chest strap to a smartwatch. You do not need a device made only for Pulse.
Compared with you, not anyone else
When you first start using it, Pulse measures your heart rate variability. This means the small changes in time between one heartbeat and the next, which can shift with stress. It does this only on your own phone, to learn your personal baseline.
A gentle signal, never an alarm
When your readings move away from your personal baseline, Pulse lets you know quietly. It is a prompt to notice how you are feeling, never a demand.
A companion that adjusts its pace
CalmCompanion is our AI (artificial intelligence) companion. It is in development and not yet available. If you use both, Pulse sends CalmCompanion a simple signal about how you are doing, with no heart readings and nothing that identifies you. CalmCompanion can then slow down, keep its replies short, or offer grounding exercises. Grounding means simple steps that bring your attention back to your body and the present moment.
Designed for overload
Gentle vibrations, no screen needed
During severe overload, looking at a screen can be painful. If you wear a smartwatch, Pulse can send slow, gentle vibrations to your wrist to help ground you. You do not need to look at a screen.
Privacy first. Always.
Your heart readings (your heart rate and the time between heartbeats) belong to you. They never leave your phone. They are never sent to SensoryShore's computers, and the AI never sees them. Pulse only shares a simple, anonymised signal about how you are doing, to adjust how CalmCompanion talks to you.
Pulse is not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, or predict any condition. It shows your own body's signals back to you, on your terms.
What you can use today
The NeuroProfile questionnaire is free to use, and you can pause and come back to it at any time.
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