Potch, Grizzlu’s small-victories journal, is moving to version 2.0 in May 2026. It’s the most ambitious update since the app’s release nearly a year ago, and it marks a milestone for the studio.
A redesign, more than an update
Rather than piling on new features, this version is a real redesign. Five main areas:
- Hand-drawn environments, illustrated by real artists, replacing every previous visual and now shifting throughout the day.
- A garden to grow. Each victory you log earns XP and a draw ticket that can be exchanged for a seed. Plants grow day by day, and the garden’s weather (based on real data from Kyoto) can occasionally give them a boost.
- A fully modernized interface, with thoughtful integration of Liquid Glass introduced in iOS 26, while keeping Potch’s own visual identity intact.
- Beyond the iPhone. A proper iPad layout, an Apple Watch app to log a victory from your wrist, and Apple TV support for revisiting positive moments on the big screen (with privacy settings designed for shared screens).
- Eight languages. Potch is now available in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese and Indonesian.
Other additions come alongside: new widgets, a monthly retrospective, ambient sounds recorded in Japan, reworked notifications, and improved accessibility support.
Two quiet details that change daily use
Victory categories. A victory can now be tagged with a category (Social, Well-being, … or categories you create yourself). A small addition that changes the rereading experience over time.
Sharing. Each victory can be turned into a share card and sent via messages, posted on social, or saved to your photo library. It’s been a recurring request, and it’s now in.
From the studio
Potch is the project that started Grizzlu. The first version shipped in 2025, followed by several minor updates (up to 1.5.1) aimed at stabilizing the app and folding in user feedback. 2.0 is a different kind of release: this is the moment Potch reaches the identity I had in mind from the start.
A large part of the work was done solo: development, design, UX, copywriting. For the visuals though, the call was made early in V2 to collaborate with several freelance illustrators whose styles matched the app’s universe. No generative AI for these assets: an indie studio can choose to pay real artists for the consistency and warmth a generator simply doesn’t deliver. This approach of solo work where possible, focused collaboration where it counts, is how I work in general.
Release and what’s next
The exact date isn’t set yet: a few illustrations are still being finalized and there are adjustments left to wrap up. It’ll be announced on Discord and the newsletter as soon as it’s locked in.
A much more detailed devblog on the behind-the-scenes of this version (technical choices, mascot, garden, accessibility, app economics) will also be published in parallel on the Potch website: read the Potch devblog.
Written by Grizzlu
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