After 20 years of yoga practice and a career in product, I built the app I couldn't find
After years as a product lead, I kept noticing the same thing: yoga apps are built backwards.
A real class isn't visual. You walk in, the teacher speaks, you move. Apps do the opposite — hundreds of classes, endless browsing, more content than you'll ever need. Intimidating before you even begin.
I've practiced for over 20 years. None of the apps came close to replicating what a real class feels like. So I built one.
Honestly, I couldn't have done this a few years ago. I'm not a developer, and the budget constraints were real. AI changed that equation completely. So when the tools caught up, I stopped waiting.
It wasn't a straight line. One of the hardest pieces was audio — pre-generating pose-level guidance that actually sounds like a teacher, not a robot. ElevenLabs got me closest, though even that had its challenges. It also ended up being the best tool for background music — with its own credit management headaches.
Full article on that here: https://www.yogakosh.com/blog/i-thought-finding-a-yoga-voice-would-be-easy-it-rebuilt-my-entire-app
The other major challenge was illustrated pose images at scale — in a consistent style I actually liked. A graphic designer was never in the budget. A combo of DALL-E and Nano Banana got me there.
Article on that process here: https://www.yogakosh.com/blog/from-1-to-100-automating-asset-creation-for-my-yoga-app
The result is yogakosh — audio-first, no catalog to browse, a flow ready when you open it. Or build your own in three taps. Then put the phone down.
It launched on the App Store today.
appstore link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yogakosh/id6761315127
If you practice yoga, I'd genuinely love feedback. If you're a builder, I'm curious what questions you have about going solo on something like this.
Product hunt link: https://www.producthunt.com/products/yogakosh?launch=yogakosh
website: https://www.yogakosh.com/
Love this story. Building the product you wished existed after 20 years of personal practice often leads to much deeper user understanding than chasing trends.
The combination of domain expertise and product experience is a powerful advantage. Looking forward to seeing how users respond and what insights emerge from early adoption.
Thanks! will share more soon :)
This is a strong wedge because you’re not trying to build “another yoga app.” The audio-first decision changes the whole category frame.
Most yoga apps make the user browse, choose, compare, and watch. Yogakosh seems closer to recreating the feeling of walking into a class where the teacher already knows how to guide the session.
That positioning is worth leaning into harder. The promise is not just “AI yoga flows” or “personalized yoga.” It is more like: open the app, hear the class, put the phone down.
For launch, I’d focus less on general productivity/wellness users and more on people who already practice but hate screen-led fitness apps: busy professionals, older practitioners, people returning to yoga, and anyone who wants guidance without staring at a phone.
The story is strong. I’d make the launch message more about “yoga without the screen dependency” than the AI build process.
Thank you — this framing is sharper than how I've been saying it myself. "Yoga without the screen dependency" is exactly the promise, and you're right that I've been underselling it.
The audience targeting note lands too. People who already practice but are frustrated by screen-led apps are the exact early adopters who'll feel the difference immediately.
Appreciate you taking the time.
Glad it landed.
I think Yogakosh has a cleaner launch angle than most wellness apps because the product behavior itself is different: start the class, hear the guide, put the phone down.
That deserves a tighter launch message than “AI yoga.”
Drop your email and I’ll send over a cleaner written version. I’d keep it focused on launch positioning, first audience to target, and making “yoga without screen dependency” obvious fast.