Majority of Autism Apps focus solely on kids. Nothing out there exists for us Autistic Adults. Why?
Most apps that I found when typing "Autism" in the google play store and apple app store seems to be almost entirely focused around appealing to kids.
There's not a single app that I could find that exists for us autistic adults. If all of the autism apps exists, why are none of them specifically made us instead of just for autistic children, and made by neurotypicals?
What I Found Upon Searching The App Store
I spotted a few of the most popular autism apps in both stores that come up on the top of the page. Autism Games, My Autism Navigator, and BASICS: Speech | Autism | ADHD.
I easily spotted a trend with these apps as well as the other ones in the store. One of them obviously, ALL of them are for kids. I don't mind that they exist at all, the problem is that almost all of them appeal to kids and there's nothing out there specfically for us or meaningfully benefits us.
The other problem that I have that most of this apps aren't even made by autistic people. It's mostly made my neurotypicals appealing to adults who have autistic children. Online and society in general by far focused far more on the relevance of autism for kids specfically then they do for us. Hence, why this massive gap has existed for years.
Another problem is most of this apps try to get my attention, often through flashy animation, or intentionally timed out sections in order to force my attention there and no where else. As someone who is an autistic burnout (And I'm sure most of you, but not everyone, is in a similar state as well) Most apps even not involving these autism apps made for kids try to grab our attention anyways, or force us through screen after screen to try to access the one thing (Such as creating a task on a to-dolist app, yet having to go through the task name creation itself, the desc, then the timing for us, the priority list, then the done button on the lower right of the box itself. Rinse and repeat for every other task I have to make instead of having it on one screen). It's all exhausting and proves that most of these apps (But not all) are made by neurotypicals since these gaps are so common and obvious in most of these that it wouldn't be implemented since either one or more of these factors would already be very draining to us, so we wouldn't add it in.
Why This Pisses Me Off
Obvious ignorance to the fact that our problems don't just "go away" when we grow up.
Most of the discussion has been heavily centered around kids. Plenty of autistic adult content does exist, but the natural appeal and focus of autism is something that exist earlier in most people lives who have it, and then goes away at a certain point. This is the common perspective neurotypicals view autism (This is obviously changing and doesn't include everyone, but it still exist to large extent which is why I'm mentioning it here.)
As for majority of us specfically, who have to deal with constant drains and unpredictable enviornments on a daily basis just to do our jobs, the whole "you don't look autistic" from some NT's still largely play to the fact that being autistic as an adult really isn't "that big of a deal" or "being overexaggerating" or even faking it. This is infantilization—treating autistic adults like we're perpetual children who need 'strategies to support learning' instead of tools to manage our actual adult lives. The app industry has decided we stopped existing at age 18 and the neddle has largely not moved. (Considering how autism apps for kids still dominate the app store. Thus the perspective of autism being a "kid-only" thing still exists in most people's mind when developing an apps for autism people (Not everyone, some autism adults/neurodivergent apps exists and are fairly popular, but autism kid apps still dominate by far by a wide margin)
Most of these app developers find the market of profiting off parents of autistic children to be valuable. So the app store is oversaturated with these apps as a result.
Most of us (Inlcuding me) who are significantly exhausted most of the time due to unpredictable demands at work and home end up browsing for a solution since alternatives such as work "accomadations" doesn't help that much, only to be greeted with almost nothing that specfically benefits us. It also paints the narrative that our problems are less severe than they really are, which isn't true at all.
What I Decided to Build to Counter this Narrative
I decided to build to an autism energy tracker, called Spoons, that I used to help track my energy at any given time, using a simple slider from a scale of 1 to 10.
I've been in burnout for over 5 years, and no app specifically addresses "Autistic burnout", "shutdowns", "meltdowns" or "masking fatigue". I created Spoons to help be aware of what was subtly draining me and also what might be keeping me in burnout after all this time (Such as the light intensity from running outside, or constantly being moved around at work.).
The app itself launches on April 2026. getspoons.app - You're more than welcome to enjoy the waitlist if your interested. There's only one email once the app released, involving the download link and some additional data to get started.
Note: I'm sharing my personal experience as an autistic adult, not medical advice. If you're experiencing severe burnout or crisis, please consult a healthcare provider familiar with autism.