Download Now

Replace Mindless
Scrolling

Our vision

Become the global platform helping people challenge each other to become better versions of themselves.

The phone is not the problem, it’s how we use it - so that it doesn’t make use of us. That is why digital balance is key and why Zario works.

What is Zario?

Zario is the first global app to help people live more digitally balanced lives. We use the latest psychology research to create engaging challenges in the real world to help reduce and replace unhealthy screen time consumption.

Although the smartphone is one of the best tools of human creation and interaction, the way and purpose of using it needs to be refocused. Zario helps us improve our habits by at least 1% each day, which means a 100% change in 70 days.

“Habits are the compound interest
of self-improvement”

James Clear, (2018) Atomic Habits:  An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Why Zario?

All good things come at a cost, and although social media can be helpful, it can also have a negative impact on our lives. That's why we advocate for a healthy balance.

Zario provides the tools, and healthy habitual alternatives to “mindless scrolling” and gives us control on how much time we want to spend on any given platform.

At Zario we always prioritize your privacy and your data remains yours. All challenges are completed offline and Zario will never sell your data; that is what we are against.

Why Zario?

All good things come at a cost, although social media can be helpful, its effect on our minds can be negative and that's why we want to help create a healthy balance.

Zario provides the tools, and healthy habitual alternatives to “mindless scrolling” and gives us control on how much time we want to spend on any given platform.

At Zario we always prioritize your privacy and your data remains yours and all challenges are completed offline, Zario will never sell your data, that is what we are against.

How it all began

2017 - A Scroll Free Car Ride

If it wasn’t for a public transportation and Airline traffic control strike happening simultaneously in Paris on a sunny spring day in 2017, then Zario would have never happened.

Ondrej and Killian had both separately planned to visit a friend in Paris and ran out of transportation options and decided to test out a car sharing app to get to Paris from Zurich where they both live. While the other passengers were quietly scrolling their phones for the 7 hours journey, the guys became friends and avidly talked about life experiences, passions and their shared dreams of one day starting a company. This was the beginning of a very long friendship. Little did they know then, that they would one day start a company together.

2019 - Champagne Showers

On the beaches of Mykonos, Ondrej was celebrating his recent promotion in his previous consulting career and went to the beach with his best friend and brought a bottle of Champagne. His eyes were immediately drawn to a handsome man laying on a beach so he and his friend decided to put their towels in close proximity.  

As they were opening the Champagne bottle, the temperature had caused the pressure to rise, and the cork immediately flew to the sky as it was popped and caused it to shower everyone in close proximity.  This obviously grabbed Bartek’s attention and was the start of a connection that would continuously evolve.

2020 - A Problem That Created More Problems

After years of nonstop business travel abroad, staying in foregin hotel rooms scrolling for hours to feel closer to friends and family, Ondrej and Killian both decided that they had enough of the draining consultant life.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, and people were feeling the negative impact of spending too much time on their phones and in front of their screens.

The Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” exposed us to the influence social media platforms have on people. The problem seemed to globally grow out of hand, but nobody seemed to be doing anything about it.

2021 - Researching & Developing a Cure

The year was spent analyzing existing solutions, talking to industry experts across the world and reading every book on the topic of digital wellness, habit change, psychology and gamification. The biggest revelation came from understanding that excessive scrolling came from feeling of discomfort; such as fear of missing out, loneliness, awkwardness or boredom.  What every other player in the space was focusing on was only the symptom, hence restricting phone use actually turns out to have a negative long term impact. What needed to be done, was to treat the root cause. It’s not just about reducing, but about replacing unwanted screen time.

So the team tested all types of prototypes from programmed chatbots on telegram, to physical groups of strangers competing together in meaningful exercises.  The team received such good feedback on their tests, that they were convinced they were onto something big that could help people all over the world feel better, more focused and learn about our own behavior and improve our relationship to our phones.

2022 - Take Off

The years started off with a bang, where our team quickly grew to 11 people from all across the world. We received governmental funding and support from the Swiss government. We published the 4th and improved version of Zario in the Appstore and Playstore and received a tremendous amount of good feedback and support.

The year will continue on a hyperbolic path, where we will secure funding for the next 18 months which we will use grow our community by 1000x and make a lasting impact on people across the world. Perhaps you want to join us to make a life changing impact? Then send us an email and tell us how you can help: info@zario.io

2017 - A Scroll Free Car Ride

If it wasn’t for a public transportation and air traffic control strike happening simultaneously in Paris on a sunny spring day in 2017, then Zario would have never happened.

Still strangers at the time, Ondrej and Killian were visiting friends in Paris when they ran out of transportation options to get back home to Zurich. They both decided to try a car sharing app, which is how they first met. While the other passengers were quietly scrolling their phones for the 7 hours journey, Ondrej and Killian became fast friends and avidly talked about life experiences, passions and their shared dreams of one day making an impact as entrepreneurs. This was the beginning of a lasting friendship. Little did they know then, that they would one day start a company together.

2019 - Champagne Showers

On the beaches of Mykonos, Ondrej was celebrating a recent promotion and went to the beach with his best friend and brought a bottle of Champagne. His eyes were immediately drawn to an attractive man on the beach, and so his friend decided to put their towels in close proximity.  

As they were popping the Champagne bottle, the unexpected pressure caused the cork forcefully fly into the sky. Champagne showered down on everyone in close proximity. This caught Bartek’s attention and was the start of a connection that would continuously evolve.

2020 - A Problem That Created More Problems

After years of nonstop business travel abroad, staying in foreign hotel rooms, scrolling for hours to feel more connected to friends and family, Ondrej and Killian both decided that they had enough of the draining consultant life.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, and people were feeling the negative impact of spending too much time on their phones and in front of their screens.

The Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” exposed the world to the influence that social media platforms have on us. The problem was growing out of hand, but nobody seemed to be doing anything about it.

2021 - Researching & Developing a Cure

The founders left their jobs to focus on finding a fix. Analysing existing solutions, talking to industry experts across the world, and reading every book they could get on the topic of digital wellness, habit change, psychology and gamification. The biggest revelation came from understanding that excessive scrolling comes from some feeling of discomfort; such as FOMO, loneliness, awkwardness or boredom.  What every other player in the space was focusing on was only the symptom; restricting phone use actually has a negative long term impact. What needed to be done, was to treat the root cause. It’s not just about reducing, but about replacing unwanted screen time.

2022 - Take Off

2022 is off to a tremendous start and our team has grown to 10 people from all across the world. We received funding and support from the Swiss government. We are on course to publish the 4th and completely redesigned version of Zario in the Appstore and Google Play Store and have received a tremendous amount of good feedback on our tests.

The year will continue on a hyperbolic path, where we will secure funding for the next 18 months which we will use to grow our community and make a lasting impact on people across the world. Perhaps you want to join us to make a life changing impact? Then send us an email and tell us how you want to help: info@zario.io