Why a companion?
What a companion is, what it is good for, and when to leave it out.
Time: 8 minutes
Goal
Know what you are building and decide whether your app should have one.
What a companion is
A companion is a small character that lives in a corner of your app. It looks around, wanders now and then, and answers a few questions when someone taps it. Think of the little receipt that walks along the bottom of Receipts, or the friend in the corner of this page.
It is not a chatbot. It does not guess. It only says what you wrote for it.
What it is good for
- Personality. A tool feels friendlier and more memorable.
- Quick help. "What is this?", "Is it free?", "Is my data stored?" answered in one tap.
- Guidance. Point new visitors at the one thing they should do first.
When to leave it out
- Forms people fill in under stress (payments, medical, legal).
- Dense dashboards where every pixel of attention matters.
- When you cannot write honest, short answers yet.
The three rules of a good companion
- Calm, not constant. It moves now and then, never all the time.
- Honest. Fixed answers only. If it does not know, it says nothing.
- Kind to everyone. Usable with a keyboard and a screen reader, and completely still for people who prefer reduced motion.
The kit follows all three for you. The rest of the workshop shows how.
Check it works
Open this site, wait a few seconds, and watch the companion in the bottom-left corner. Tap it. Then turn on "reduce motion" in your operating system and reload: it should stay still.
Exercise
Write down three questions a first-time visitor to your app asks. Keep them; you will give them to your companion in chapter 08.