An app created by a 17-year-old Ottawa native is taking Apple's App Store by storm with more than one thousand downloads in its first week.
The relaxation app, Celestial, was launched on March 8, 2015 by 17-year-old Abdou Sarr. The app was only meant to help his friends relax and do better in school, but now it's starting to go viral.
"My friends were stressed about their marks. They were loosing sleep over being on their devices all the time, not focusing in class or on their homework. So, I'm like there has to be a way to fight these problems that arise from these devices," Sarr says.
The app is only available for sale in Canada and Australia, but Sarr hopes it will soon be available in the United States. In just over one week, Celestial as hit number one among health and fitness apps, and number six in the top paid chart.
"It was beating out Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja...it just went crazy," Sarr says.
The app uses a variety of sounds, from waves hitting the beaches in West Africa to rain in the Outaouais to help users relax, concentrate or sleep. There are different sounds for different moods, like white noise for people trying to sleep or brown noise for those looking to focus.
The 11th grader at Sir Robert Borden High School in Ottawa hopes this app will help launch his career in the technology sector.
'I want to get into biotechnology," says Sarr.
"Combining the real world with what's happening around in technology."
He says he hopes to eventually release another app, but doesn't have any solid ideas just yet.
