Rage Release started as a private tool for my own perimenopause symptoms. This is the story of what it is, why I built it, what’s happened since the link to the MVP (Minimum Viable Product – a link to the app in test mode) went out, and what it’s becoming.

The problem I had to build for

Over the past year or two, I started experiencing something I couldn’t name for a while. A rage that came from nowhere and felt disproportionate to anything that was happening. A fog that would lift a thought from the middle of a sentence. A general sense of not quite being in my own body and not finding any of this reflected in anything I could reach for.

The apps that existed were either trackers (log your symptoms, see a graph), mindfulness tools (breathe through it), or general wellness platforms that felt like they’d been designed for someone with a lot more patience than I had in that moment.

What I wanted was something to do with the feeling. Right then. Without preamble. Without creating an account. Without leaving a data trail of my most volatile moments somewhere on a server.

I wanted a rage jar. A private one. So I built it.

What I actually built

Rage Release is a four-mode emotional release and focus app, built in Lovable and wired up with Make.com and Google Sheets on the backend. It runs in the browser so there’s no install, no account, no data stored beyond the session.

Scream: Type it, roar it, whisper it into the phone. Get the words out of the body and into the void.

Smash: Virtual plates, windows, walls. Pick your weapon. Break things. No cleanup.

Remember: Brain fog reminders that follow you around until the thing is actually done.

Bloom: A gentle focus and memory game for sixty seconds of quiet.

Privacy was non-negotiable from the start. The emotional content of a perimenopause rage spike is not something most women would want stored, analysed, or seen. The app was designed to be useful without being intrusive; open it, use it, close it, and leave no trace.

The name question

The app launched as Rage Release. I’ve been through about ten potential names since; a shortlist that includes Howl, Flare, Tempest, Surge, and a few others I loved for about twelve hours before deciding against. The naming process has been its own kind of exercise in understanding who this is for and how she’d describe what she’s going through.

We’re landing on something that feels raw enough to be honest but approachable enough not to put people off. Watch this space.

What happened after I put it out there

I shared the MVP app link quietly at first. No big launch, no press release. Just: here’s a thing I built, it’s for this specific experience, let me know what you think.

The responses were immediate and specific. Not “this is interesting” but “yes, this is the exact thing I needed last Tuesday when I lost it in the car park.” Women who’d been experiencing perimenopause/menopause symptoms for years saying they’d never found language for what the rage actually felt like until they saw the Scream feature named plainly.

That directness is something I want to protect as the product grows. The temptation is always to soften it, make it prettier, make it more acceptable, make it easier to explain to someone who hasn’t felt it. I’m resisting that.

“The women responding weren’t asking for it to be gentler. They were asking for it to go further.”

Sally, and what co-promotion might look like

Shortly after the quiet launch, I had a discovery call with Sally Higham, a menopause advocate and wellbeing professional with a significant community of exactly the women Rage Release is built for.

Sally flagged something I hadn’t fully mapped: the UK legislative angle. Employers with 250+ employees are moving toward mandatory menopause action plans, with voluntary adoption from April 2026 and mandatory compliance expected in 2027.

That opens a B2B conversation I hadn’t planned for; the app as a tool employers offer to staff, positioned as private, stigma-free support. 

The brain fog question

One thing that came out of the Sally call was a sharper understanding of brain fog as its own, distinct category. Brain fog during perimenopause isn’t about forgetting to write things down. It’s walking into a room and forgetting why you went in. It’s losing someone’s name mid-sentence. It’s the fear that this might be early dementia, not hormones.

Rage Release’s Remember feature handles some of this, but it’s a small part of a larger need. Whether brain fog deserves its own dedicated space is one of the things I want to find out through the focus groups, rather than assume. That’s exactly the kind of decision that should come from the people experiencing it, not from me building in a vacuum.

What’s next

Focus groups: Google Meet, small groups, participants try the app beforehand and give live feedback on what works, what’s missing, and whether features like brain fog support belong in the app. Sally is helping source participants. Sign-up is open now if you want in.

Premium model: Perhaps a free core tool, then paid features for tracking patterns, personalisation, and deeper content. Pricing is still being worked out.

The name: I’m close. The shortlist is real, and the right answer is in it.

App store: the web app works well, but a native app opens up different use cases (faster to reach, home screen access, notification-based reminders). This is on the roadmap.

B2B exploration: talking to HR and wellbeing leads about what the workplace version of this looks like. Early conversations happening now.

Brain fog: a question the focus groups will help answer: does it need its own space, or does it belong inside Rage Release? Holding off on building this out further until I know.

Why I’m writing about this

I’m a builder. I build things, I write about building things, and I try to be honest about what that process looks like from the inside (including the parts that are uncertain).

Rage Release exists because I needed it and it didn’t exist. That’s the simplest version of the story. The longer version is about what happens when you build something for yourself and discover you’ve built it for a lot of other people too, and what that means for how you develop it, who you talk to, and what you don’t let the market talk you out of.

The MVP is out with a small test group, the feedback is flowing, the focus groups are coming. The thing is being built with the people who need it.