Help Center

Zaba is a mindful wishlist app. The idea is simple: pause before you buy. Save what caught your eye, sit with it for a bit, and let time do what impulse can't, basically filter the "must have" from the "meh, actually."

Zaba is:

• A private wishlist that gives every item breathing room
• A structured reflection test when you're not sure
• A quiet record of what you skipped and what you kept
• A place to spot the patterns behind your spending

Zaba is not:

• A budget app or expense tracker
• A shopping app (no links to buy, no product feeds, no ads etc)
• A judgment machine — skipping isn't winning and buying isn't losing

1. Add your first item. Tap the + button in the Wishlist tab. Only the name is required — everything else (price, image, category, cooldown etc) is optional. You can always add details later.
2. Set a rethink time. Pick how long you want the item to sit before you reconsider it (the minimum is 1 day). Or you can skip the timer entirely if you'd rather rethink whenever.
3. Log your mood. Optional but powerful. How were you feeling when you wanted this? That single data point is what makes your Insights actually useful later.
4. Wait. When the cooldown finishes, the item's status changes to Ready to rethink. You'll get a notification if they're on.
5. Rethink. Open the item and decide: still want it, let it go, need more thinking? If you're unsure, take the reflection test!

That's the loop. Everything else supports it :)

The Wishlist has three tabs: On Hold, Skipped, and Purchased. Every item lives in one of them.

On Hold — where new items land. They stay here until you decide something about them.

• Free plan cap: 10 items on hold at once. Premium removes the limit.
• If you hit the cap, resolve or remove something before adding another item.

Skipped — items you decided to let go. Each card shows how much you saved. Skipping isn't failure, it is the whole point. You can move a skipped item back to On Hold if you change your mind.

Purchased — items you bought. Each shows the purchase date. After a few days, Zaba will prompt you to review it — did you love it, or regret it? Once you review, a badge appears on the item.

• You can't change a review after submitting.
• You can't move a purchased item back to On Hold or Skipped.

Each tab has its own filter and sort options. Touch and hold any item card for quick actions (mark as purchased, skip, edit, share, delete etc).

The cooldown is Zaba's core mechanic. It's the pause.

How it works: Set a rethink time when you add the item. That many days later, the item becomes "ready to rethink."

Minimum: 1 day. Anything shorter defeats the purpose.

Default: You can set your preferred default in Settings → Preferences → Default Rethink Time. Every new item starts with it.

"None" is valid. If you don't want a timer, don't set one. You can open the reflection test on any item at any time (cooldown or no cooldown at all).

The 3-Day Intentional Rule. For your Intentional Rate metric (see Insights), a purchase only counts as "intentional" if there was a real pause — either a finished cooldown of 3+ days, or you simply waited 3+ days between adding and buying (even with no timer). Anything faster doesn't count.

Rethinking early. You can always open the reflection test before the cooldown finishes. Zaba flags this so it doesn't inflate your intentional rate.

Three optional context layers. All are optional, but each adds a lot to your Insights.

Tags — why you want it:

• Need — an essential, replacement, or something genuinely useful
• Treat — you want it, but it's not urgent
• Curious — you're still unsure or just exploring

You can filter by tag, and items tagged Need earn credit toward your Intentional Rate. You can change a tag later — self-awareness evolves.

Moods — how you felt. Zaba has 6 most common moods: Stressed, Sad, Bored, Neutral, Content, Excited.

Important: Mood is captured at the moment you added the item and cannot be edited later. It's a snapshot of your emotional state when you first wanted the thing. Editing it later would defeat the point. Zaba uses it to figure out your shopping triggers.

Categories — what it is: Default categories cover most things. You can toggle defaults on/off in Preferences, and create custom categories on Premium. If you delete a custom category, existing items keep the name in their history so your Insights don't lose data.

10 questions designed to cut through impulse.

When to take it:

• On any item, any time (cooldown done or not)
• Automatically offered in the Impulse flow (see below)

How it scores. Each answered question is a "buy signal" or a "skip signal." Skipped questions don't count. Your verdict is the percentage of buy signals across your answered questions.

• 70%+ → Positive: "This feels like a mindful yes"
• 40–69% → On the fence: "You're not quite sure yet"
• Below 40% → Negative: "This might not be a priority"
• 3 or fewer answered → Automatically "You're not sure yet"

You can go back and change answers during the test using the back arrow.

The verdict. Whatever tier you land in, you get options to buy, skip or keep the item for later. The verdict is a recommendation, not a rule. Zaba never blocks a purchase — the choice is always yours.

The "Begin reflection" button on the Home tab is for the standing-in-a-store moment. No wishlist, no waiting — just reflect right now.

Flow: Type the item name → Set your mood (optional) → Answer the questions → Verdict.

After the verdict:

• Add to wishlist → creates a bare item (name + mood). You can set cooldown and add details later.
• Let it go → nothing gets saved. Clean exit.
• Mark as purchased → creates the item and marks it bought. The item will appear in Purchased tab in your wishlist.

If your wishlist is full (10/10): You'll see a banner before the test. You can still reflect — the test has value on its own, but you'll need to make room before "Add to wishlist" works.

Notes are optional short reflections you can attach to any item or challenge check-in. They act as a private journal over time.

How to write one: Tap Add note on any item, purchase review, or challenge check-in. Zaba shows a writing prompt — tap New Prompt to shuffle prompts, or hide them if you'd rather freestyle :)

Multiple notes per item. Each note is timestamped. Great for tracking how your feeling about an item shifts across a long cooldown.

Prompts are contextual. The prompt you see depends on where you're writing from — a new item gets different prompts than a reviewed purchase or a challenge check-in.

Notes are yours. They're not shown in Insights, never sent anywhere, never analyzed. They're just for you.

6 structured challenges to build spending awareness over a set period. One challenge active at a time.

Free:

• No-Buy Week — 7 days of essentials only
• No-Buy Month — 30 days of essentials only

Premium:

• Declutter Week — remove one item a day
• One In, One Out — swap old for new every time you buy
• Closet Rotation — wear forgotten pieces for 7 days
• Digital Detox — 7 days off shopping apps

How they work

Start: Read the rules, pick a start day, decide if you want daily reminders. Tap Begin Challenge.

Daily check-in on Home: Check-in question with simple answers Yes or No. That's it. Add a note if you want!

No failure state. If you buy something during a no-buy challenge, the day is logged and the challenge continues. Awareness is the goal, not perfection.

Missed days. If you miss check-ins 4 or more days, Zaba will ask if you want to log them retroactively or just continue from today.

End early. You can stop any challenge anytime. It's saved as "Ended early" in your history — no shame, just a record.

Repeat. Run any challenge as many times as you want. Each attempt is tracked separately.

History

See every challenge you've run — completed or ended early, with the day-by-day progress and notes. You can always delete a challenge from the history.

Zaba supports home screen widgets for active challenges!

• Add via long-press on your home screen → tap + → search Zaba
• The widget shows your active challenge's day count and progress
• Widgets update when you check in

No widgets for wishlist items or insights (yet) — the challenge widget is the only one right now :)

Insights show you what your behavior actually looks like over time. Zaba tracks four core rates.

Skip Rate

The percentage of items you let go, out of everything you resolved (purchased + skipped).

Example: You resolved 10 items this month — bought 6, skipped 4. Skip rate: 40%.

Items still on hold don't count. They're undecided.

Intentional Rate

How much pause went into your purchases.

• Purchase with a real pause (3+ day finished cooldown, or 3+ days between adding and buying) = full credit
• Purchase tagged Need but bought quickly = half credit
• Purchase tagged Need and with a pause = full credit
• Quick untagged purchase = no credit

Average across all purchases.

Example: 5 purchases. 2 waited 3+ days (full credit). 1 was a same-day Need (half credit). 2 were quick untagged buys (no credit). Total: 2.5 / 5 = 50%.

Impulse Rate

The percentage of purchases made in the heat of the moment. A purchase is impulsive if either:

• Bought within 24 hours of adding, OR
• Bought within 3 days while logged with a reactive mood (Excited, Bored, Sad, or Stressed)

Example: 5 purchases. 1 was same-evening. 1 was two days later while stressed. That's 2/5 = 40%.

If it waited longer than 3 days, it's not impulsive anymore — even if the mood was reactive when you added it.

Satisfaction Rate

The percentage of your reviewed purchases marked as Loved it.

Example: Reviewed 4 purchases, marked 3 as Loved. Satisfaction: 75%.

Only reviewed purchases count. Unreviewed ones don't.

Beyond the four rates, Zaba surfaces deeper patterns:

• What Motivated Your Buys — tag breakdown across purchases
• Your Shopping Triggers — mood breakdown, showing what emotional states drive you to buy
• How You Felt After Purchases — Loved / Regretted split
• Categories — spending by category, with the buy/skip ratio per category

No data yet? Insights need at least 3 skipped or purchased items before patterns show up.

Premium is a one-time purchase. Pay once, keep forever. No subscriptions and no recurring charges, ever.

What Premium unlocks

• Unlimited items on hold (vs. 10 on free)
• 4 extra challenges (Declutter Week, One In One Out, Closet Rotation, Digital Detox)
• Custom categories

If you already bought Premium and don't see it (new iPhone, reinstall, etc.):

Settings → scroll to the bottom → Restore Purchases. Same option lives on the paywall.

Make sure you're signed into the same Apple ID you used to buy. If nothing happens, please email me.

Redeeming an offer code

Settings → Redeem Code, or App Store app → your profile → Redeem Gift Card or Code. If it won't redeem, this Apple support page usually has the answer: support.apple.com/en-gb/108285

On your iPhone. All of it. No accounts, no cloud servers, no analytics. I have no way to see what you add — there's literally no infrastructure for it.

Turn on iCloud Backup in Settings → Your Data if you want a safety net.

• Zaba stores an encrypted copy in your private iCloud container
• Only you can access it — not me, not Apple
• Uses your existing iCloud storage (tiny amount — data is measured in kilobytes)
• Syncs automatically across your Apple devices signed into the same Apple ID

Depends on iCloud Backup:

• On — an encrypted copy stays in your iCloud. Reinstall, turn iCloud backup on and everything comes back.
• Off — data lives only on this device. Deleting the app deletes the data. No copy anywhere.

Settings → Your Data → Delete All Data. Two-step confirmation. Wipes local data and, if iCloud Backup is on, the iCloud copy too. This action is irreversible!

Zaba fetches exchange rates from the Frankfurter API (European Central Bank reference rates) when you use multiple currencies. This is the one external call the app makes. No personal data is sent — just the currency codes.

Check three things:

• Zaba → Settings → Notifications — master toggle on, individual types on
• iOS Settings → Notifications → Zaba — allowed at the system level
• iOS Settings → Focus / Do Not Disturb — not silencing Zaba

If all three look fine, delete and reinstall (turn iCloud Backup on first so you don't lose data).

If iCloud Backup was on, sign into the same Apple ID and reinstall — data comes back automatically. Give it a minute to sync. If it was off, the data lived only on the old device. Nothing I can do to recover it, sorry. Turn iCloud Backup on now to prevent this next time.

Zaba uses ECB reference rates from Frankfurter. They're daily rates, not real-time trading rates — so they'll differ slightly from your bank's rate. For a spending awareness app, close is close enough :)

Try Settings → Restore Purchases while signed into the Apple ID you used to buy. If nothing happens after 30 seconds, please email me.

Apple handles code redemption. This support page walks through the fix: support.apple.com/en-gb/108285. Still stuck? Email me.

Force-close and reopen first. If it keeps happening: check you're on the latest version (App Store → your profile → check for updates), restart your iPhone, and if still broken, please email me.

Your mood is locked once you set it. It's meant to be a snapshot of how you felt in the moment, and editing it later would break the whole point of shopping-trigger insights. Tag and category are editable anytime.