A new Pakistani app called ‘Zehni‘ is turning heads by letting users voice their feelings, track their moods, and get gentle AI support in return. Designed by Mariam Rehan, Zehni offers a unique space where Pakistanis can vent, reflect, or simply pour their hearts out, while an AI companion listens, understands, and replies with comforting words.
Voice Journaling Meets AI Therapy
The app is more than just a diary. Users speak into Zehni, which then transcribes their thoughts, detects their mood, and responds with short, empathetic Urdu phrases like, “ab kaisi ho? udaasi ka waqt guzar jata hai.” It’s part mood tracker, part emotional AI, and almost like a collective therapy session made for Pakistan.
According to its creator, Mariam built the entire backend using Replit — skipping typical tools like VSCode or Docker — and then deployed it on Render. Despite countless bugs (like “journal_entries does not exist” and “null value in column ‘password’”), after 16 hours of debugging, it finally worked. Now, anyone can anonymously read shared journal entries or add their own voice recordings.
What’s Next for Zehni?
The app currently uses the browser’s built-in Web Speech API, which works best on laptops. Mariam plans to upgrade it with more reliable transcription tools like OpenAI Whisper or AssemblyAI, add user authentication, and polish the interface over time.
But even in its raw form, Zehni is already helping Pakistanis express what they’re feeling and find a small moment of AI-powered comfort. As Mariam puts it, “this is what happens when you stop waiting for perfect conditions and just… build it anyway.”
