Aura
Aura
Aura: CBT & DBT for Anxiety — facts, founder story, and media assets. Last updated August 22, 2026.
Aura is a self-help app for anxiety, panic, and stress, built on principles drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). It pairs in-the-moment tools — guided breathing, grounding, and a panic-support flow — with structured skill lessons, a reflective journal, and a 365-day guided path that tracks how a person's anxiety changes over time. A warm illustrated companion guides the experience, an intentional choice to make evidence-based techniques feel approachable rather than clinical.
Aura is a wellness and educational tool. It is not therapy, not a medical device, and not a substitute for professional care or emergency services. Please characterize it that way in coverage.
| Name | Aura: CBT & DBT for Anxiety |
| One-sentence pitch | Aura is a self-help app that uses CBT and DBT techniques to help people get through anxiety and panic in the moment, and build skills that reduce it over time. |
| Developer | J.R. Johnson (independent, solo developer), Los Angeles, California |
| Platforms & requirements | iPhone and iPad, iOS 26.4 or later · Apple Watch app · iOS home-screen widgets · Android 8.0 or later |
| Price | Free download; Aura Premium at $9.99/month or $49.99/year |
| First released | June 20, 2026 (iOS) · August 12, 2026 (Android) |
| Category | Health & Fitness · rated 13+ |
| Key features | Panic support flow · guided breathing · CBT & DBT skill lessons · reflective journal · 365-day guided journey · mood and GAD-7 tracking |
| Links | App Store · Google Play · auraanxiety.com |
| Press contact | jj2528@g.ucla.edu |
Written to be lifted verbatim. No permission needed.
One sentence.
Aura is a self-help app that uses CBT and DBT techniques to help people get through anxiety and panic in the moment, and build skills that reduce it over time.
One paragraph.
Aura is a self-help app for anxiety, panic, and stress built on principles drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy. It pairs in-the-moment tools — guided breathing, grounding, and a one-tap panic-support flow — with structured skill lessons, a reflective journal, and a 365-day guided path. It is available free on iOS and Android, with an Apple Watch app and home-screen widgets, and a Premium subscription at $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year. It was built by a single independent developer.
The full story.
J.R. Johnson taught himself iOS development in his late thirties while caring for his father, who lives with multiple sclerosis and related memory loss. The first thing he built was a memory-exercise app for his dad. Aura came next, and grew out of the same problem seen from the other side: the anxiety of being the person responsible for someone else.
Rather than presenting therapy techniques clinically, Aura wraps them in a warm illustrated companion and a 365-day path, on the theory that people in a panic attack do not open apps that look like worksheets. Underneath, the content is structured CBT and DBT skills work: cognitive reframing, distress tolerance, grounding, and tracked mood and GAD-7 scores so a person can see change they would not otherwise notice.
Aura is deliberately not a therapy service, an AI counselor, or a medical device, and it does not claim clinical outcomes. It is a wellness and educational tool, and it points users toward real crisis resources when they need them. It launched on iOS in June 2026 and Android in August 2026, and was designed, built, illustrated, and shipped by one person.
Short: J.R. Johnson is an independent app developer and incoming UCLA Public Affairs student who builds mobile tools for mental health and caregiving.
Long: J.R. Johnson is a 40-year-old transfer student entering UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs. He taught himself iOS development while caring for his father, who lives with multiple sclerosis and related memory loss, and built Jon's MS Memory Quiz as a cognitive-engagement tool for him. He went on to release Aura, a CBT- and DBT-based anxiety app available on iOS and Android, and Lena Mae's Ice Cream, an ordering app named for his grandmother and tied to colon cancer awareness. He earned four associate degrees before transferring to UCLA and has built and shipped every app independently.
Ten unretouched screenshots from the shipping build (1.1.5), captured at 1320×2868 — no device frames, no marketing text. Click any image for the full-resolution PNG. App icon (1024×1024) is also available, and everything is downloadable as one ZIP.
These images may be reproduced in coverage of Aura without further permission. Please credit "Aura / J.R. Johnson."