New app Houston lets microdosers set intentions and track experiences

In 2018, Brandon Goode was trying to bike through the rain. Every time he pulled his hood up, the wind whipped it back. At first, Goode, a former professional soccer player, was wet and annoyed. Then he noticed something: Rain really brought out the smell of the trees and the flowers. It was nice.

That was Goode’s first day microdosing, the practice of regularly taking a small amount of a psychedelic substance (in his case, psilocybin, aka magic mushrooms) — far, far less than the amount that would induce a “trip.” So little, in fact, that a person is supposed to be able to go about their daily routine. People typically microdose with the aim not of getting high, but of improving mood, creativity, productivity, and other goals.

“It was like a very subtle nudge to be more present and enjoy the things around me,” Goode said of what microdosing felt like on that first day to him.

Microdosing and psychedelics became a bigger part of Goode’s life, and career, after that rainy day on his bike. He went on to study psychedelics at Imperial College London, and became the first full-time employee at therapeutic ketamine clinic Field Trip Health. On Wednesday, Goode launched an app called Houston, which his company describes as the first user-oriented microdosing companion app. 

There are other psychedelics-oriented apps out there. But the other two microdosing-specific apps, microdose.me and Mydelica (which can also be used with larger doses), both came out of academic settings and were created for the purpose of collecting data and doing research. Houston is purely a service for users. It is free, though Goode is considering a premium subscription version down the road.

Houston will let users track the days they do and don’t microdose, log what they’re taking and the amount, chart their daily mood, set intentions, and reflect on how the day went. There are also learning modules, music suggestions (called “dose day radio”), a community feed, and a personal dashboard. 

Why the name “Houston”? Because it’s “your guide to inner space,” Goode said. “It’s who you can check in with while you’re on your journey.”

When signing up for Houston, you’ll share your microdosing habits, experience, and goals.
Credit: Houston

The practice of microdosing has gained popularity over the last decade — and especially during the pandemic — among people self-medicating for mental health, with Silicon Valley workers looking to optimize their bodies with “biohacking,” and for people with many reasons in between. Devotees say microdosing can reduce depression and anxiety, and increase mindfulness, empathy, and focus.

Despite growing use in the western world, and a long historical practice of microdosing in indigenous societies, scientific evidence for the reported effects of microdosing are largely anecdotal. There have been three double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of microdosing, none of which fully back up those reported effects — that’s in contrast to an increasing amount of studies finding sustained, positive effects from full doses of psychedelics like LSD. But when it comes to microdosing, one recent study suggests positive results could be due to the placebo effect, or the expectation that even an indiscernible dose of mushrooms or LSD might make you feel good. Furthermore, psychedelic substances are also still largely illegal in North America, although their status is changing in Canada and several U.S. cities.

“We’re a little bit further than we were a couple of years ago for sure, when there was almost nothing on the topic,” Joseph Rootman, a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, who recently co-authored a study published in Nature of over 4,000 microdosers, said. “But we still have a long way to go before we really understand this medicine.”

Pick your microdosing substance of choice by picture.
Credit: Houston

While people who take psychedelics may still have a loosey-goosey, “chill out, man” reputation, the best way to describe microdosers is regimented, and scientific. On reddit forums like r/microdosing and r/psychedelics, there are journals, spreadsheets, debates, and exhaustive guides. Users discuss what substances to take and in what doses, the benefits of tracking other metrics like sleep and diet, fastidious catalogues of moods and other subjective qualities like productivity, and overall, an active, dedicated community. 

Goode actually used these forums as a resource for building Houston, engaging with users to see what would be useful and what sorts of things they like to track. Houston is essentially a way for tracking-oriented microdosers to do what they’re already doing, in one contained digital space that happens to also be pretty. Goode tapped a designer from Headspace to design Houston, and aesthetically, the influence is noticeable. The interactive nature of an app was also important in Houston’s creation: Goode said that he used to track microdosing with a notebook that he came to largely ignore.

“Having something that’s pretty non invasive and already integrated into our lives like an app is just a simple friendly way for people to responsibly track their experiences and provide a little bit of curation for set and setting whether it’s a recommended article, or some community connection, or a notification to check in how you’re feeling,” Goode said.

When you open Houston, you create a profile and answer some questions about your microdosing practice (or lack thereof), and your motivations. After logging in, you’ll answer some questions about how you’re feeling that day, choosing an emoji along a spectrum of sad and happy faces. Then you’ll drill down into the specifics of that emotion a little later. 

You’ll also mark whether it’s a microdosing day. When you do, immediately, a screen pops up asking, “What’s your intention today?” You can easily tap options like “Be more present” or “Focus on my work.” Then, you’ll answer what you’re dosing, by choosing between illustrations of a mushroom, an LSD tablet, a marijuana leaf, or a flower (meant to represent an herb). You’ll also mark the dose. After putting in your data, you’ll get a screen with a suggested dose day radio based around your intention, and the ability to check in at any time. The app will also send you notifications to ask you how you’re feeling intermittently. You can view all of this data on a personal dashboard.

Rootman agrees that an app makes sense for microdosers, as long as any data assessments are clearly and accurately explained. He and his co-authors actually used an app, microdose.me made by Quantified Citizen, for collecting data for their study.

“What we’re finding out by the fact that, you know, we were able to get 4,000 people to even participate in a study just because they are passionate about the science is that psychedelics users are a motivated bunch that care about their well being,” Rootman said. “There is a science-y, experimental edge to them that pushes psychedelic users to be a little bit more quantitative in their own well being, in their own medical decisions. So I think an app is great, and it makes sense that it’s coming out of the psychedelics movement.”

While data from Rootman’s app was collected for the purposes of the study, he also thinks logging in general is beneficial for people. There’s still a lot about microdosing that’s unproven and unknown. But for people curious about their wellness, the practice of tracking mood and other mental health signifiers can be beneficial whether or not psychedelics are involved.

“The best way to be able to figure out how you’re doing is to write it down, and take a look back,” Rootman said.