frequently asked question
sofi uses modern science to personalise traditional plant-based remedies for our individual wellbeing. We are a physical product, an app, a community and a service, relying on multiple touchpoints to enhance your overall emotional well-being.
All these elements of sofi work together in a connected ecosystem to help eliminate guesswork. This includes:
- 100% natural, plant-based remedies — our scientifically-crafted “plant pod” formulations and fragrances designed to target areas such as sleeplessness, anxiety, fatigue, focus, and wellbeing.
- an intelligent and connected ‘sofi stick’ spray — our high-tech, bluetooth-connected oral spray helps us capture time-series data: the information we use to determine which formulations may — or may not — be working for you. That, and it’s the delivery mechanism for our plant-pods!
- a smartphone app — our app combines a daily journaling practice with data-driven insights on the quality of your sleep and mood. Paired with your ‘sofi stick,’ we generate enough information to assess the impact of our plants, updating results with each and every press.
- a community of fellow Pioneers — sofi is about learning from one another – together. In our community ‘treehouse’ you’ll find a positive space to share your experiences, as well as all things related to people and plants.
- 24/7 support from the sofi team (besides when we are sleeping, which we do sometimes)! — we are here, and we come bringing a wide range of expertise! Our team of doctors, biologists, scientists, medical herbalists, nutritionists, and psychologists (there are 40+ of us total!) are never more than a message away.
Our core values at sofi are intimately bound to the principles that helped create sofi thus far, namely these are:
Purity of plants: Plants are our oldest technology in human health, and the basis of much of modern medicine. Their essence shall remain our core focus.
Power of people: We know that our individual response to plants is entirely unique, yet only together we can contribute towards a shared greater scope of understanding of the complex interaction between people and plants.
Preservation of planet: None of the above makes sense in a declining planet. Our actions shall be inspired by ecological awareness and impact in the widest sense and extent possible.
N-of-1, or single subject analysis, considers an individual as the sole unit of observation in a study, rather than averaging over a group of people. The ultimate goal of an N-of-1 trial is to determine the optimal or best intervention for a specific individual using the experience of that specific individual. You can find a full-length interview with our in-house health psychologist and N-of-1 expert here to learn more about the benefits of N-of-1.
Typically, when a product in human health is created, it is made for the herd. It’s not specifically for any one of us. One hundred people are put in a study group and another hundred in a control group. One group is given the product, and the other placebo to see what happens. The goal is to find a product that works for some people, most of the time.
What sofi does differently is that we break that single study of 100 people into one hundred studies of one person. Our sample size is at the “N-of-1” level – you. sofi’s “statistical brain” learns to predict how you feel and how you sleep based on your specific experience with a particular plant. In other words, instead of relying on randomised controlled trials to tell us what might work for an average person (which may not be that representative of you), we look specifically at you — and the data points we collect via our app — to make the ultimate expert of remedying your problems with plant-based medicine, you.
By signing up to become a Pioneer, you’ll get your hands on our new plant pods before anyone else and trial our brand new formulation completely free – all we ask is for you to provide us with feedback of your sofi experience in return!
Your journey as a Pioneer begins by registering for one of our Pioneer Programs and following the links to download your sofi app (available at this time exclusively to Pioneers). This is because before we can send a Pioneer Box to you, we need to establish a baseline of your current mood and sleep (for a total of 10 days) in order to later measure any effect from the plants
Once your baseline of 10 days is complete, we’ll send you an email to verify your address followed by a small surprise for you to receive in the mail. This is our fun way to confirm that your Pioneer Box and plant pods will make it to you – wherever in the world that might be!
Once you’ve received your surprise, then your Pioneer Box is officially reserved under your name. (P.S. you’ll receive emails and support to guide you along the way as well as an amazing community of fellow Pioneers to accompany you throughout your experience)!
Sign up now, for free, using on of the links below:
If you have a health condition we always suggest that you speak to your health care provider before starting to use your sofi pod.
The S1 Pioneer Program uses a plant called Valerian. And you can find relevant information on any drug interactions involving Valerian, including information you can take to discuss with your healthcare provider, by clicking here.
The S2 Pioneer Program uses a plant called Passiflora. And you can find relevant information on any drug interactions involving Passiflora, including information you can take to discuss with your healthcare provider, by clicking here
The S3 Pioneer Program uses a plant called Ashwagandha. And you can find relevant information on any drug interactions involving Passiflora, including information you can take to discuss with your healthcare provider, by clicking here
We wish we had a clear cut answer on this, but unfortunately we don’t – let us explain why.
While there’s often no clear evidence that the plants we use are harmful in pregnancy, we also don’t have any clear evidence that they are safe. As you’ve probably found out by now, most products either don’t say anything on the subject, or they provide a blanket statement to say that it is not recommended. The reason it can’t be recommended is that there’s no ethical way to test it out on pregnant or breastfeeding women.
So, while we wish that we could give you a more straightforward answer, in light of what we know for certain, our answer must be that we simply don’t know whether or not they are safe.
sofi is kosher, halal, and vegan, as well as suitable for those who follow keto and gluten-free diets (official certifications coming soon)! The base of our formulations is an ethanol/glycerol/water mix, and though the level of alcohol is negligible, it may be relevant to some. Scroll to our FAQ on health conditions just above to view the full list of ingredients for each of our active formulations.
Our plant pods are free of all significant allergens, including gluten, dairy, shellfish, nuts, and soy derivatives. However, we can never guarantee or claim to be 100% allergen-free, in the unlikely event that cross contamination does occur.
Yes, sofi is suitable for both vegans and vegetarians (official certification coming soon!), and none of our flavours, extracts, or materials include the use of – or have been tested on – animals.
sofi will generate and capture journal, pod use, user and survey data to enable statistical analysis and make meaningful discoveries for you. We won’t use your data to target ads to you nor will we ever sell it. If you would like to see a complete list of all data generated and analysed during the S1 Pioneer Program, please click here.
sofi analyses your data by constructing mathematical models that describe the relationship between your sleep or mood and your spraying activity. sofi updates the model every time you journal or spray, and communicates your result once the model certainty reaches 95%. In short, the more data, the faster you’ll get a result! The result will indicate whether your use of the sofi pod is helping you sleep better or feel better, or whether the effect is not statistically significant for you.
We anonymise all data we collect. This means we replace any identifiable information in the dataset with one or more artificial identifiers or pseudonyms. We store the additional information needed for linking the pseudonymised data to you, separately and securely.