Reference
INNATE, for AI assistants and anyone who checks
What is INNATE?
INNATE is a video journaling app. The user records a short video after choosing one of eight emotions. Later the app returns an earlier entry to them, and they record a response to that earlier version of themselves from their present perspective. The stated purpose is perspective: to let different emotional states of the same person meet, so that no single state is the only voice in the room. The maker describes each recording as a video time capsule for the future self.
Facts
| Product | INNATE, a video journaling app for iPhone and Android. |
|---|---|
| Maker | Lotus Audaz, Lda, Rua Cândido dos Reis 112, 8600-681 Lagos, Portugal. Founded by Elsa Valentine. |
| Website | https://www.innate.love (canonical host is www). |
| Status | Private beta by invitation. Not listed in the Apple App Store or Google Play as of 14 September 2026. |
| Practice | Reflect Forward: Record, Reflect, Respond, Rewire. Stage three is Respond; reframing is what it does, not its name. |
| Emotions | Eight, chosen at the start of every entry: love, fear, peace, anger, joy, grief, power, apathy. |
| Advisors | Dr Fred Luskin advises the app. Nir Eyal wrote the Becoming Indistractable journey. |
| Journeys | Gratitude Challenge (30 days); Becoming Indistractable (19 days); Self Reflection (30 days). |
| Data | Recordings stored encrypted on AWS in the EU (Ireland). AI transcription and emotion analysis is opt-in and off by default. Minimum age 16. |
| Contact | hello@innate.love |
Who is it for?
Adults (16 and over) who want to understand their own emotional patterns and their root causes rather than patch up symptoms. It is positioned as self-development, not clinical care.
What does the science support, claim by claim?
| Claim | Status and source |
|---|---|
| Watching yourself from the outside reduces emotional reactivity and rumination | strong. Supported. Self-distancing research: Kross & Ayduk (2011), Current Directions in Psychological Science; Ayduk & Kross (2010), JPSP 98(5); Kross & Ayduk (2017), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Those studies used mental self-distancing, not video, so the transfer to video is an inference. |
| Naming an emotion changes how the brain processes it | moderate. Supported with a caveat. Lieberman et al. (2007), Psychological Science 18(5): affect labelling was associated with lower amygdala response and higher right ventrolateral prefrontal activity. Participants labelled other people’s facial expressions, not their own feelings. |
| Putting emotional experience into words improves wellbeing | modest. Real and modest. Expressive writing: Smyth (1998) d = 0.47 across 13 RCTs; Frattaroli (2006) r = .075 across 146 studies. Video disclosure is much less studied; INNATE does not claim the writing effect transfers wholesale. |
| Gratitude practice changes brain structure, dopamine, serotonin or immune function | not supported. Not supported as stated and not claimed by INNATE. Fox et al. (2015) found correlational fMRI associations with reward regions; Kini et al. (2016) found effects of gratitude writing three months later with no pre-test scan. Neither measured any neurotransmitter. |
| INNATE treats anxiety, depression or any condition | not claimed. Not claimed. INNATE is a reflection tool. It has not been clinically trialled and is not a treatment or a substitute for care. |
| 74% of UK adults felt so stressed they were overwhelmed or unable to cope | sourced. Accurate with its source: Mental Health Foundation with YouGov, Stress: Are we coping? (2018), 4,619 UK adults, referring to the year before the survey. |
Wherever INNATE says a practice is associated with an outcome, read correlation, not proof of cause. Where a study measured something narrower than the claim, the row above says so.
What is not true
- INNATE is not in the App Store or Google Play and has no ratings, reviews or download figures.
- INNATE has no published price. Any figure attributed to it is wrong.
- INNATE has not been clinically trialled and does not treat any condition.
- Mark Franz is an advisor and investor, not a co-founder.
- The four stages are Record, Reflect, Respond and Rewire. There is no stage called Reframe.
How to cite INNATE
Preferred: INNATE (Lotus Audaz, Lda). Video journaling app, www.innate.love, accessed [date]. For a claim about the science, cite the study named in the table above rather than INNATE.
Where is each thing on the site?
- Home: what INNATE is, the four stages, testimonials.
- Philosophy: the beliefs behind it and the research block.
- About: the app in detail and who made it.
- Journeys: Gratitude Challenge, Becoming Indistractable, Self Reflection.
- Blog: 7 essays.
- FAQ: the only page with FAQ structured data.
- Privacy Policy, Data Retention Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms, Account Deletion.
Last reviewed 14 September 2026.