DaoTrace
Pick a Stone. Know Yourself.
Only for iPhone
$0.99 · Designed for iPhone. Not verified for macOS.
iPhone
Do you ever feel anxious, but can't figure out what you're actually afraid of?
DaoTrace is a self-reflection tool built on the "River World" philosophy from the book "Ren Xuan Tian Xuan Lun" (On Human and Heavenly Choice). Each day, seven guided layers help you reach the bottom of your mind's river — and pick up a stone.
Pick a Stone Every Day
7 layers, each deeper than the last:
Layer 1 · Fact: What happened today that stirred the water? Write only what occurred.
Layer 2 · First Reaction: What did you feel immediately? Not the "right" answer.
Layer 3 · Greed: What did you actually want? Be specific — no grand words.
Layer 4 · Fear: What are you actually afraid of? Write the ugliest, smallest, most direct fear.
Layer 5 · Self-justification: What excuse did you use to feel better?
Layer 6 · Main Stone: What stone did you pick up today? One sentence only.
Layer 7 · Simulate Choice: If you face the same thing tomorrow, what will you choose?
Once sealed, entries cannot be edited — whatever you pulled up is what it is.
Understand Your Patterns
Every sealed entry triggers automatic NLP clustering to surface recurring stones.
- Semantic clustering groups similar stones (Apple NaturalLanguage framework, fully on-device)
- Stone timeline shows which stones keep reappearing
- Weekly / monthly reports highlight repeated patterns
- Stone comparison: view entries from the same group side by side to see if you've actually changed
See Your River
A dynamic SpriteKit visualization maps your data into a living river:
River width (variety of topics), water depth (7-layer completion rate), flow speed (recording frequency), surface ripples (how many excuses you wrote), and river stones (your top recurring patterns).
Radically Minimal — Written for Yourself
DaoTrace intentionally does not include:
- AI commentary on your entries (thinking is yours, not the tool's)
- Streaks or check-in rewards (no manufactured anxiety)
- Social sharing (your stones don't need anyone's approval)
- Psychological assessments
All data stays on your device (SwiftData local storage). iCloud sync available via Apple CloudKit encryption.
More Details
- Supports Simplified Chinese / Traditional Chinese / English — switch instantly in Settings
- Face ID / Touch ID App Lock to protect deeply private content
- Full dark mode support, system-synced or manual
- Home screen Widget: today's status + current river type
- Auto-save drafts every 30 seconds and on layer switch
- Later Notes: add reflections after sealing, shown in a different color beside the original
DaoTrace is a self-awareness tool and does not provide mental health counseling, therapy, or medical advice. If you are experiencing serious psychological distress, please seek professional help.
Privacy Policy: https://daohen.me/privacy.html
Terms of Service: https://daohen.me/terms.html
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Fixed a crash that affected some users after upgrading to the previous version.
The river view now properly adapts to light mode — it no longer forces a dark background when you're using the light theme.
Fixed several missing translations across Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English.
The developer, 珊 杨, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- 珊 杨
- Size
- 3.8 MB
- Category
- Health & Fitness
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.6 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.6 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.3 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 2 more
- English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 yangshan
