Where scientific method meets spiritual practice.

Discern is a personal research instrument for practice. The app has four tabs (Experiments, Library, Insights, Settings) and the journey is the same shape every time: choose a practice from the Library, start an Experiment, observe daily with sliders and notes, and read the signals and patterns in Insights. At the end you compare, adjust, continue, pause, or try something else. Inside that loop two lenses sit alongside each other: the scientific lens (sliders, optional tags, signals and patterns over time) and the spiritual lens (your free-text note and lived experience). Both belong to you. The wider thesis lives in docs/product/vision.md.

Yes. The free tier covers the full concept library, unlimited beginner Experiments, and up to 5 non-beginner Experiments per calendar month, with a personal dashboard and daily observation logging. See Pricing for membership and donations.

Open the app and go to Settings, then Billing, where you can manage the subscription via the Stripe Customer Portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you've already paid for. The formal terms live in our Terms of service.

Discern is operated by Candid Maverick Limited, a private limited company registered in England and Wales. More on the About page.

Yes - 30 days. No card is required to start the trial, and it converts to paid at day 30 only if you choose to continue. Cancel any time before then and you won't be charged. Donations are one-time, from £5 with no upper cap, and never recurring.

Discern is a personal research instrument, not a guided programme. There are no audio sessions, no daily prescription, no algorithmic feed. A meditation app teaches a practice; a journaling app captures words; therapy is a clinical relationship. Discern sits alongside any of them and asks a different question: across what you reported and what others doing the same practice reported, what is the pattern? The frame, and what it does not try to be, is documented in docs/product/vision.md.

Yes. The personal data export (the right under GDPR Articles 15 and 20) produces a JSON bundle of everything you've logged. Open Settings, then Export your data.

Your observation data belongs to you. Discern processes only the data needed to run the service, does not run third-party advertising or analytics SDKs, and does not sell data. Aggregated, anonymised community insight is shown alongside your own observations only when enough other people have reported on the same practice, never as individual records. The full document lives in our Privacy policy. The data principles are also stated in docs/product/vision.md.

Yes, and respectfully so. Each practice in the library is presented through both lenses: the scientific lens (what was measured, what participants reported, where the evidence is mixed or thin) and the spiritual lens (what the tradition says, in its own language). Sources are cited. Discern is evidence-led without overclaiming. The bridge thesis is laid out in docs/product/vision.md.

Anyone in the community can propose a practice or concept for the Library. Votes signal what the community would like reviewed and added next. Two sources of vote: an Experimenter subscription carries a vote on open proposals while the subscription is active (it pauses if the subscription pauses); a one-time donation from £5 carries a permanent vote with no time limit. The two stack on the same proposal, up to a maximum of two votes per person per proposal. Donation size does not change a vote's weight. A high-voted proposal becomes a queue position; Candid Maverick still does the editorial review on every entry before it lands in the Library.

Yes, for browsing the library and logging observations. The app uses a hybrid offline model: recently-loaded content is available without a connection, and observations log into a queue that syncs when you reconnect. Search and billing changes need a connection.