E.g. each time I want to change the currently playing song, what was muscle memory gets scrambled by the interruption. Or, when I'm taking a lot of photos (like on my daughter's kindergarten event today), I tend to keep the screen off in between, and rely on being able to turn it on and shoot a photo in less than two seconds, total. Guess how that got screwed up by this app.
The app itself is great, and I'm still a believer in the concept of managing executive function issues by throwing obstacles in front of bad habits and known focus black holes. However, this experience made me discover the third class of phone activity, next to "distraction" and "work" - quick, intermittent, on-the-fly use, the kind you ideally don't think much about. This class does not distract you... unless someone adds friction to it.
I just saw the app has "every N unlocks" option, I'll try it out and see if this helps with the "third class".
It's grind when I just mindlessly tap to open the browser to search for something random. Lots of times, though, the browser opens when I want to do something quickly, e.g. I get an email and I need to open something in the browser, and it becomes a big annoyance. After a while I just started subconsciously ignoring it, which I think defeats the purpose.
It's a tough problem to solve - I want it to prevent me from doing "mindless scrolling", but not when I have an actual task to accomplish.
I had tried to block Reddit but then I needed it when researching some programming stuff. Most conversations happen on Reddit these days so if you need to look something up for work to see what others are doing, chances are Google will give you Reddit links first especially if what you are searching for is relatively recent.
What I found is that I developed a muscle memory for just ignoring the block and overriding it.
Instead of allowing myself an override that so I could dismiss the block I had to just hard block all of Reddit by setting an PIN I immediately forgot and if I really need something I’ll use ChatGPT to summarize.
I used to have this problem. But now I just use Claude to research any coding or similar stuff that I would have used reddit for. The quality is at least as good as reddit discussions. Now I've totally blocked reddit using NextDNS on my phone and laptop, and configured Kagi to not return any reddit search results.
I'm thinking also about adding an option to have like 50% chance of a popup or a 75% chance, so it's less predictable. I first made it as every 2nd, 3d and so on, but maybe adding a randomness to it will be better? WDYT?
Sorry I can't be more helpful. I've been mulling this problem (selective blocking in dual-purpose apps/sites) in my mind for a long time now, but I haven't found any solution so far.
At least in my last 2 phones, I got them configured such that a double press on the power button wakes the camera app immediately (great for quick photos), while the rest of the system is still locked (need the unlock pin when trying to navigate away from the camera app)
So in that situation the app could choose not to interrupt.
Not sure if it helps. Have not tried the app yet.
Edit: sorry, didn't see the almost identical answer
As for songs, I specifically mentioned picking a next song. As in, picking from a list, possibly navigating or doing a search first. Next/prev is both trivial and something I rarely use anyway.
I use Android's Bedtime mode a lot, and it has a helpful feature that let's you quickly "Pause for 30 minutes" or "Turn off for now" from a notification [1].
I don't think the app needs notifications as such, but it could have quick access to a pause button.
[1] https://img.gadgethacks.com/img/original/21/75/6372310031848...
I have my own thought and also one in response to the "taking a photo" type tasks.
I'd like a drop down of some tasks I predefined, so I can answer with one of those.
Things like "answering a message" that I can choose instead of entering one. There is occasionally one message with 3 choices, I think, about how this aligns with my goals. So something like that but user defined.
Second thing, maybe a couple of those options could be tied to app launch so clicking it takes you to the common task. For example, "Taking a photo" could drop me right back into the camera app.
Great app, I've been using it all day and just doing so is insightful. And glad this comment chain led me to the "cooldown" function.
Maybe make suggestions based on screentime if possible.
You should add this as a premium-feature for 9,99 USD monthly subscription :)
It forced me to reckon with the fact that tapping on these apps is often a system 1 instinct. The forced delay to reinstall the app is an escape hatch into system 2 thinking, a mode in which I normally realize I don't even want to use the app, I'm just bored. And then I'd pick up a book or use my newspaper-reader-app (i.e. a more intent/system 2-driven choice).
Off-loading apps or even just removing them from the home screen is really helpful. It gives your system 2 brain an opportunity to mutate your environment to make system 1 processes lead to more fruitful outcomes.
For the same reason, I clear my browser history every month or so and avoid bookmarking certain sites like hn or reddit.
Maybe I should just delete my accounts and access them through browser instead
I configure a random password for Screen Time so that it's a real hassle to circumvent the daily limit when I get over it.
I don't have those yet but I wish I did! I was just thinking back to how cool the iPod was back in the day. (The one before touchscreens!)
(I was also thinking how cool it would be if it had the iPod's UI but Rockbox's (and every other mp3 player in human history) support for just putting folders full of files on it... but I guess I'll keep dreaming!)
This has the side effect of me listening to music more intentionally and not wasting time selecting tracks and skipping around. Listening to a full album is great, something I rarely did before. And physically owning music feels great.
Sure, it is less practical for traveling but it mostly sits on my desk to help me get through work. And CD's having a fixed run length helps me to take breaks so my tinnitus does not get worse.
Alas, ever since Apple showed it's Courage™ by ditching the audio jack, Bluetooth headphones became ubiquitous (doubly so thanks to AirPods and alternatives). They're nice and all, but they also have mikes, so you want to use them for calling and voice messaging too, and then you can also put notifications on them, ... with Bluetooth device switching being what it is, this complements and reinforces smartphone's role as single device for everything.
EDIT: I wonder if it's possible to have some kind of mixer wearable that would accept wireless audio streams (both in "music" and "headset" modes) from multiple devices, mix them together, and route to a single set of wireless headphones. That would solve a lot of the issues I have with wireless audio in practice.
For camera, turning the screen off while camera app is open means I can just press the power button and slide up, and I'm back in camera app (unless Intenty interferes).
For flashlight, having a quick key (that works even when the phone is locked) is a qualitative change - I use the phone flashlight much more often, now that I can casually turn it on and off with zero effort, like a traditional torch. There are actually two major use cases I have for that daily:
- In autumn/winter, by the time I pick my kids up from the kindergarten, it's already dark. There's a stretch of pavement that's pitch dark, so I just casually light it up as we walk over it.
(That was the driver behind me changing the button mapping from camera to flashlight; having done that, I now instinctively turn the flashlight on and off as I walk, lighting up dark spots.)
- Have you ever tried to read something from a phone while walking at night? It's a big problem - the screen pretty much blinds you, unless you turn the brightness down to minimum. You can't read and monitor ground under your feet at the same time. However, if you also turn on the flashlight, the brightness of the screen and the light reflecting off the ground are similar, so reading becomes comfortable and you regain awareness of terrain.
I figured out that trick long ago, first with Kindle (Paperwhite) - I'd put my phone against the back of the Kindle, turn the backlight on the reader, and the flashlight on the phone. But it works even better for reading from the phone itself.
I'm even more excited about browser or OS agents being able to unilaterally scrub the web of all advertisements, spam, polarized toxicity, etc. Forget adblock - I can effectively block all the bad things Google, Meta, Twitter, etc. do and their army of PMs won't be able to stop me.
This tech is going to rip the advertiser and algorithmic madness out of the internet and make it serve me and only me.
I have thought of a workaround. Instead of an app that asks "Why?", a sticker on your phone that asks "Why?" Or maybe just a question mark. I will order one for my phone.
Tools that help with managing digital health and screen use can help you slow down access to any problematic apps a bit more than others.
maybe a better solution would be "why?" when you switch or launch apps. Then being able to select apps that don't cause the prompt like camera and bank apps
The key point is to make it harder (but not impossible) for me to use the phone. A "Do you need this?" is a great start, but since I can easily sneak by, I will soon do that. Even if I click "1 minute" to get a reminder, that should not be a simple notification, but back to the large big screen covering things.
What LB does is genius. You can enable a barrier so that if you reeeeeeally need to, you can get around, but it's annoying and time consuming, and thus the quick loop of "pick up phone and get stuck" is broken. The barrier in LB can be to type a (long) passphrase, or my favorite: a 64-char random string which cannot be copy-pasted. You need to manually look at 2-3 chars at a time and replicate the whole thing. Very effective.
But again, also the snap back to reality thing. If I keep using it, throw up a big overlay with a good question "Is your attention well spent?" for example. Make me wait before I can continue.
About typing "captcha" or random characters. I think it's just a different type of nudge. Another can be a small mini-game to play like catching a moving object. I'm going to consider adding different types of nudges to the app. Thanks for the suggestion.
--
[0] - Those that also use Tasker. I'd wager that for your target audience, the proportion of such users is much higher than in average case.
My hack was to take a picture on my phone, have Apple's image recognition copy the string to my iCloud clipboard, and I'd paste it on my mac.
It's too easy to defeat the purpose of these things if you're even slightly driven.
Things like the OP and LeechBlock are tools for people who have already mostly conquered their addiction, to help keep them from relapsing. On their own, they're not sufficient to turn an addict into a non-addict.
Maybe the goal was to motivate you to find a hack anyway :)
All apps, and actually the phone manfacturers themselves make phones harder to use through user hostile patterns. Mandatory updates, re-logon, TOC confirmations, cookies, self promotions in the face, adverts, warnings, spray of notifications on marginal things, answering questions to important (or not) questions, selecting important (or not) huge amount of settings, suggestions (actually another self promotion mostly), update informations, etc. all make the phones as difficult to use as much those helps, or even more. For insane amount of money. Problem relocation machines they are.
Why exactly?
If you have not experienced this, and don't see the need per the above, I'm happy for you.
To login to my work Microsoft account requires a passcode and then three face scans.
That's why MFA is referred to as defense-in-depth rather than being a better password.
If you plan on carrying a lead lined box with you everywhere you plan on authenticating for work you can do the same with your personal phone before you switch the work profile on.
I used to answer emails from bosses and managers while at home (at a previous employer), but it gets out of hand quickly and then they expect you to do it. Never again. Set boundaries immediately. At 15:00 I'm gone.
The idea was that if you're unlocking your screen, you should at least: (1) reinforce a mantra, or (2) force yourself to acknowledge you shouldn't be unlocking the phone.
Happy to share notes if you think that would be helpful.
I even remember in 2019 finding an app that was using a popup after unlock to learn words of a foreign language, unfortunately, it closed and I cannot recall the name.
I would be happy to see the notes.
We also had a lock screen app that you needed to play a tune on an instrument in order to unlock the screen. This too died because of Google maintenance burden (it had 500k downloads IIRC). Here's what I could find about that one: https://music-lock.en.softonic.com/android
But nevertheless. It's a bit disappointing that major operating systems are becoming more closed for developers to create such beautiful apps
- isn't it possible to select multiple intentions? I've tried but when I turn on one, another one turns off. - for apps like these I'm really missing a more expensive lifetime subscription. I'm okay with paying some more upfront if I don't have to pay a periodical fee.
Anyway, really nice work!
> - isn't it possible to select multiple intentions? I've tried but when I turn on one, another one turns off.
Here is the place where I made a UX mistake. I implemented nudges in a similar way as "modes" on iOS or routines on Samsung phones. You can enable one at a time. If you want to customise the content you see, you have to customise it inside nudge, not by enabling another one. I didn't make any UX tests before releasing this and I see a lot of confusion here. Apologise for that.
> for apps like these I'm really missing a more expensive lifetime subscription. I'm okay with paying some more upfront if I don't have to pay a periodical fee.
That's another miscalculation I made :) But I already have plans to replace the subscription with one-time purchase. Again sorry for the inconvenience.
Again, thanks for a try
Done and done.
I liked Opal, but with Intenty I tried to create an alternative way without blockers or limits. For some reason, app blockers and time limits are very frustrating for me and rarely work. That was one of the primary motivations for the app creation. While I admit that for the majority setting proper limits on certain apps will work.
This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background.
I've found a good way to discourage mindless phone staring is to set the display to monochrome (e.g. through colorblind emulation). The decreased visual stimulation seems to have an effect on me, at least until I want to see a photo or video in colour and go back to normal.
The "in-app purchases" are for small complementary features, like making the screen appear on a schedule, making it impossible to skip the screen, and adding a lock button to lock the screen. Those features aren't essential for the app to function.
> This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background.
Well, yes and no. In the app, you can interact with the prompts. There is a history of your itneraction. You can export it and then analyze it if needed.
> I've found a good way to discourage mindless phone staring is to set the display to monochrome (e.g. through colorblind emulation). The decreased visual stimulation seems to have an effect on me, at least until I want to see a photo or video in colour and go back to normal.
+1 here. I have always had this setting on closer to bedtime.
it's totally fair to charge for work you've done. the fact it's simple is irrelevant. what matters is the value it brings to the user.
I think it's really refreshing to find an app that doesn't lock any features behind a paywall or makes using it more cumbersome unless you pay. I'm mostly okay with one-time payments though.
Just because you invested some time into making a project doesn't mean that you absolutely need to make some money to make it "worth" it. Hell, most open-source software is built on free/voluntary labor.
I agree, and I make many projects for fun and find it rewarding when others use what I've built. But that is a decision that I make myself, for my own work. I never feel like I have the right to tell others whether they should build something with profit in mind or not.
I have been totally burned out by having to maintain all my free apps in the Play Store though, lately. Even a simple non-internet-using app needs an update every year and needs to comply with new bullshit policies every few months. It has totally changed my opinion on free vs paid apps. I still despise subscription models, but I absolutely understand that there's just no free apps out there anymore. It just costs too much of my time to keep doing it for free.
All that said, F-droid is the only one I'll ever love.
I had a paid app which was a one time payment and was not doing anything special regarding permissions (no internet, nothing like that), but since it wasn't was bringing much revenue (some 3$-4$ per year), I let the Play Store remove it automatically. I couldn't justify adding the absurd data policies (since I wasn't using any user data) and the cost of updating it regularly.
Sorry for my 100 users, that cannot reinstall the app anymore!
I can definitely see your point though. Maybe an option would be open sourcing your app? (considering it's already free anyway) - that way you could maybe find some contributors to make it easier to keep up with everything.
Regardless of what license you use, people will find a way to abuse your stuff. One of the two apps I open sourced we're published on the play store with tons of ads, in many different flavours. The other was used as a base to scam people.
You didn't say this earlier. You said this app doesn't need to be developed with profit in mind.
Personally I would much prefer that developers lock poweruser features behind a paywall rather than plaster ugly ads all over the place. Making it a paid app works too, but likely 95% of the potential userbase would not try the app if they had to reach for their wallets first.
(I would leave the comment at that, but it would probably come across as a bit facetious and would fail any 'low-effort' test. But I genuinely mean it: remove the necessity to obtain a certain amount of money every month, and all of a sudden, people would be able to create, share, and enjoy for free.
As a developer, I feel more than sufficiently compensated by seeing people use and enjoy my work and thanking me. Getting featured on Hacker News would make my day; nay, year.
I just need to be able to eat and use a computer. I shouldn't have to prove myself valuable just to be allowed to live. I think everybody, regardless of what they do, deserve a livable basic income.
I don't see a problem with in-app purchases, but have you considered offering the unlocked app for free under Google Play Pass?
Never used 'Google Play Pass' and haven't explored it from a dev perspective. If that's something like a toggle in Google Play Console then I see no problem enabling it.
I've been so happy slowly going through my phone and removing every single app on my phone that has either ads or in-app purchases. I don't miss a single one.
I think by this point in time, most people who are taking an active effort to remove advertising from their lives are well aware that the concern with "ads" isn't primarily about the requirement to see ads - it's the privacy-consuming infrastructure behind them.
The benefit is that it re-enables monochrome mode after I might disable it manually.
I would love to be able to do this but couldn't find a way on GrapheneOS.
My own strategy is to simply use pi-hole to block time-wasting websites entirely. It's kind of a sledgehammer, but it works for me.
I have my regular main phone that I use M-F for work and personal.
then I bought a second phone and installed GrapheneOS on it. I use this phone when I go out or doing anything on the weekends. I only have a few contacts on it and only 2 apps that I use that are my banking app and Signal. Keeps all the distractions away from me.
I bought a used unlocked Pixel 7 Pro off eBay for $250 so it wasnt the cheapest route but sure makes it really easy.
I've realized recently that it takes at least 3 times more work and time to do things on a smartphone than to do the same things on a laptop. This holds true for messaging apps where we are so limited by the typing speed and error-prone nature of composing messages on a smartphone, and the lack of good multitasking options like on a desktop interface. I have more time in my life now, more than ever, after I started to avoid using my phone for things wherever I can.
I pick up my phone to check email a lot, then go onto other useless apps. By catching email usage, I also stop myself going on the rest.
Show HN post from 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22936742
But as soon as I think about implementation I realize how complicated it is to make such an intelligent system that would understand intent and based on intent adapt the action. In theory, it all can be manually connected, but then it would require a complicated setup.
Of course, it's only from an implementation perspective. From the UX it can be trivial.
Your idea is very good and you can even monetize your app by selling ad space when users choose "boredom" then you can recommend them sponsored apps and games.
This idea would be also interesting on PC, when users lock their screens and then come back to do something. Maybe it can even be part of some diary/note taking app where when you unlock your screen note window pops up and asks you "What are you planning to do now?".
I got the Bigme Hibreak which isn’t the worst, but lacks recent android versions. Gives me hours of my life back every day, compared to the phone addiction I experience with my lcd colour screen smartphone
All of that would perfectly work on e-ink. Instead I got a Pixel and after four years I have attention span of a squirrel.
Really have to do something about it, will try grayscale for now.
https://www.thelightphone.com.
Also I wonder if my app is working nicely on an e-ink smartphone, very interesting.
Disclosure: I'm the developer of Pro Launcher.
People that will use their phone for distraction (which I don't think there's actually anything wrong with) will take only a few days to get "notification fatigue" from those screens and automatically bypass them without even thinking about it.
I get that you can prevent bypassing the screen as you mentioned as an extra feature but people will just click the other button then.
There's not a single person (myself included) I have seen use screen time not automatically bypass the limitation instantly as it pops up.
This isn't consistent with the data. I'm a cofounder of Clearspace and we see that when people make it through the first two weeks, they stick around for months or years.
YMMV - because our feature set looks slightly different - half users are in a mode where you have to do pushups to unlock distracting apps which really does tend to stick for people that opt in. (like this https://x.com/_oliver_hill/status/1825605422885253445)
A good comparison I think are "self help" books. People are still reading them and those books are really helpful during certain times. While same ideas and concepts are circulating across those books.
I believe such kind of apps and software deserve to exist. Whatever helps people to make their lives better.
And how many make it through the first two weeks? I'll take a guess and say less than 1%.
The fatigue from the screen is real.
What I'm trying to achieve here with the app is to give a set of tools that can help deal with this fatigue. Like adding a variety to the texts you see, changing the intensity of the pop-up screen, adding cooldown, or hard mode and schedules.
The Northstar is to adjust the nudge automatically based on the level of fatigue from the screen.
I know I'm far from it now. But I'm attempting. I'm changing the nudges often and their configuration manually for myself now. And it works for me and I believe it can help other folks as well.
That's it.
You can take the more drastic approach and lock yourself out of your phone by changing it's unlock code and use a timelock [0] to prevent yourself from bypassing it for a given time. Works also with parental-control like Apps that require you to enter a password/code to unlock. No bypassing here.
[0]: lockmeout.online
If I reached the point where I was comfortable literally being unable to use my phone for a period of time, I would just not have a phone or not carry it with me.
You can even do more like make outgoing calls using Siri/Google Assistant, Take Photos/videos etc. This is default setting at least on iOS.
I may or may not have that right now but I for sure did some years ago. And if you are having issues with your attention? Boy, loading on more stuff that you are supposed to “attend to” for sure does not help. Someone who is having self-reported issues with their attention is not going to see some automated mindfulness message and go, oh wait time to slow down and take a good gander at what I want to spend my attention on right now.
On the contrary that will just tire them more. Which makes them more susceptible to losing their awareness or attention.
But people who think there is one-weird-trick to fixing these issues are incapable of understanding the +1 attention problem: that loading more stuff onto the person is not going to help.
I can also recommend Stretchly for the computer https://github.com/hovancik/stretchly.
Forces me to stand up and look further / go grab some chicory.
- when app X is opened - start 10 minutes timer (wait) - turn on blue color filter - turn on grayscale mode - flash screen
This is particularly effective with photo/videos social media apps (e.g. Instagram), as with all colors dulled down they lose much of their appeal. Not so much on text-based apps like Reddit. Therefore, a couple of days ago I went even more nuclear and added two more steps:
- wait 3 more minutes - close the app
When that happens, I just put my phone away. It's hard, because when the routine starts running (i.e. when I open the targeted apps) a notification shows up, and I can kill it right away from there, preventing it from triggering the annoying effects. Also if I switch apps and come back the timer resets. A tiny amount of willpower is needed anyway to make these things work. Another thing I did was to put a "Screen Time" widget on my homescreen, so I any time I unlock my phone I am reminded of how much time I am throwing away Doom Scrolling (that's also the name of the routine, btw).
Both of these things can also be implemented with iOS, as it also has a Screen Time widget, and the capability of turning your screen to grayscale after X seconds when an app is opened via Shortcuts' automation (although I prefer Samsung's routines are they are much more versatile).
It's only "addictive" because it's fun, it's no more pointless than anything else you might do for fun. What are you really achieving by using this app? Do you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone, or are you just arbitrarily ranking it low on the "worthiness" of random shit you might choose to do to kill some time.
If I want to scroll Reddit, I would like to make a deliberate decision rather than doing it habitually in an "uncontrolled" way, just immediately out of boredom.
The app intervenes in this unconscious phone pickup habit loop and prompts me to reconsider this.
I'm not deleting social media apps from the device and I believe we shouldn't. I'm just trying to adjust the way how I reach them.
So they are trying to find hacks to counter their habits.
I can relate. Sometimes I'm on HN a bit more longer than ideal. But that's not a big issue for me and it's not very often so I'm not finding a fix for this.
ADHD brain is a bitch. "Gimmicks" help to trigger a intentional conscious response to break out of a pattern.
It’s the equivalent of getting up on a soapbox and exclaiming that we live in a society. (Except everyone is on their phone and won’t give you any attention)
Why? Why are you on your phone? Well, have you, the critiquer of the supposed malaise given any real thought to that? Or do you have no insights to offer, nothing more than a rhetorical one-word question to ask, nothing that penetrates the surface of the supposed problem?
Have you, OP?
At least propose a theory. Like: maybe people are overstimulated and have choice fatigue. Then what the hell does yet another automated nagger help? One more reminder that you should drink a cup of coffeine-free green tea and smile at a stranger?
Nothing was uncovered. Nothing was gained.
[1] This is not true. Making YouTube shorts takes some editing skills.
This is not true. Almost everything in mobile phones exploit human brain biases to keep us hooked. It's about regaining control of what you want to use your time for.
Basically anything I in-fact do when my phone's not around, is better than the phone.
The only thing I do without the phone that's almost as low-value is video gaming (gee, more electronics...)
And you know, you could mindlessly watch cable tv :)
people don't realise how addiction works - see the Vietnam veterans case: https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits
we have bigger (social) problems that's causing the phone addiction: if it wasn't a phone, it would be video games, TV or alcohol or something else.
If your work, or lack of money, or your kids school, or your parents health are causing you stress, most often you can't simply "change your environment" to a less stressful one.
Is it possible to provide a lifetime subscription (instead of a monthly one) for premium features?
Now I realize that the decision to make nudges in the same way as modes on iOS was a bad decision. I made it intentionally, you select nudge as one mode to enable. If you want to customize the content, just change the prompts in the nudge. Apologies for the inconvenience.
And about lifetime subscription. I also get that. I will replace the subscription with a one-time purchase eventually.
For example, if you plan to use this app for 7 years (which is a reasonable expectation for a piece of software's lifetime) and it costs $2 a month, the net present value is somewhere around $138. That is, if you decide right now to use the app for 7 years, you are costing yourself $138 in today-dollars.
Which is rather a lot.
Of course the subscription does have the benefit that you can cut off your usage at any point, however the people asking for a perpetual irrevocable license are probably not the type who appreciate this capability.
It's surprising to see how much time can slip by unnoticed each day. Using it can really make you more mindful of how you're spending it.
I didn't know they had such a feature. I'm going to check this out.
> It's surprising to see how much time can slip by unnoticed each day. Using it can really make you more mindful of how you're spending it.
Exactly. I have so many unnecessary phone pickups during the day. Without such apps that would slip unnoticed. Also, it's worth mentioning that when you notice those moments at least in my case it makes you feel guilty a bit that you picking it up unconsciously, but maybe that's my individual behaviour.
Employee not complying? Bye bye equity, severance
Employee opening device too much? Fired.
Of course C-level executives would get exempt from policy because “rules for thee but not for me” attitude.
As for personal usage, I would much rather configure “Focus” mode to block certain apps from opening. Rather than rely on this. I would install this on phones of annoying people though for shits and giggles
Just like Google or Microsoft does with "hey, we have a new feature nobody uses, press ok" or "hey, we are spying on you in a new way" or "hey, we determined that you need a microfone and a camera button in Messages, although you only send text messages, press ok".
1. A physical blocker like Brick (getbrick.app) and/or a Kitchen Timer Safe (KSafe).
2. One Sec app
I'll occasionally leave my phone at home and use only an Apple Watch with LTE.
These are the only flows that haven't become frustrating over time and have worked to cut screen time and addicted apps (or altogether).
https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/requestin...
The Play Store lists these permissions:
* view network connections * full network access * run at startup * draw over other apps * prevent device from sleeping
The only one that gives me pause is "draw over" because it would allow the app to capture screen content, and that is only concerning because of "full network access" enabling it to send data. I'm not sure why this app would require _both_ of these permissions.
https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.actureu...
This one is huge though? You can e.g. imitate other apps' login forms and collect passwords.
I dare everyone to try putting their phone into grayscale instead of color display.
- Set time limits on apps. - Block App Store. - Set a Screen Time pin, then forget it.
Downside: if you need to install a new app, you need to do a iTunes backup, factory reset and restore the backup,. Also apps won't continue to update with this approach.
Worth it though. I don't miss wasting 10-20 hours a week on brain rot apps.
It's the content available on platforms and the way how you navigate inside the app. You can watch various content on YouTube for instance.
I’lo try it.
One feature request: instead of giving me a freeform field to enter "why", give me a few of common uses cases as options like: - Picking up the phone for real use (order, cab, call etc) - For social connection - For mindless scrolling
overtime you can plot why the phone was picked
> One feature request: instead of giving me a freeform field to enter "why", give me a few of common uses cases as options like: - Picking up the phone for real use (order, cab, call etc) - For social connection - For mindless scrolling
You can add quick answers to the prompts, it's there, no need to type every time
> overtime you can plot why the phone was picked
Already you can export all historical data to CSV to analyze it. There is also an interesting thing to observe, it's time spent on the screen.
It would save me a download (and possible uninstall) if they were.
*goes for all apps, not just this one.
It reminds me of an anti-bullying app that simply asked, "Are you sure you want to send this?", which greatly decreased the abuse. Instagram seems to have the same approach now.
an idea: it would be neat to have extra functionality with specific apps, with regular interruptions to ask if you're still on track or what have you. maybe not even a button press, just like a 5 second breather with a message on the screen and then it goes away. sort of like the notifications you currently have in place but for the whole screen. users could modify the message for each app...
look forward to seeing further development!
But the thing you suggest with modifying the message for each app sounds interesting. Are you thinking about something like "Have you found what you searched? Or you are just scrolling" on Reddit?
In any case, it's an item on the roadmap already
Now, I really don't want to come across as smug or anything, but I'm not one of the people this would help. I already use my phone in a consciously controlled manner and I don't do things like endless doomscrolling. Despite, it's clear from the evidence that a lot of people do and would benefit from this app. So I'm really curious... what is that like? What goes through your head when you grab the phone, see the app, and then decide to put the phone back down? If you realize at that point that you don't actually want to use the phone right now, why did you grab it in the first place? I'm not insinuating anything, I'm genuinely just curious.
If that's about using the phone less, like during focus time I pick it up habitually to procrastinate the screen can say "Just put it down and check it at the scheduled time". When I see the text I'm kind of dragged out of the habit loop and just putting it down or press the lock button. So it's a kind of replacement of one habit with another one. See an app screen? Lock the phone.
If it is about a weekend or a vacation I put a text on the screen about being more relaxed and not having FOMO. Like 'If that's something important, you will know about it'. Here the mechanism is almost the same, I'm replacing the habit of checking stuff with something different like music or locking my phone back again.
I have a free moment, I enter a bus, I sit down at a table, boom phone.
I may be an usual case as I believe it to be caused by general anxiety and wanting to avoid the world.
TL:DR;: For me (not a doomscroller) it's sort of automatic to check my mails and messages. Not thinking much while grabbing the phone
Like the ones you share location with
Keep you accountable more than reflexively remembering the override pattern
Has to be at the OS level so that everyone already has it
Don't take it? It's bad to dit on the toilet longer than 10 minutes.
>>"Don’t sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn"
>> Leave your devices behind when you head to the bathroom (...) too much time spent on the toilet can cause possible health problems...
I really like the art :)
When you're editing a prompt, the back button takes you back to the nudge screen instead of the prompts popup, which feels like a bug.
> When you're editing a prompt, the back button takes you back to the nudge screen instead of the prompts popup, which feels like a bug.
Yeah, it's on the list of things to fix. Now to exit the prompt popup properly you have to click either on cross or out of the popup area.
Would it be totally impossible technically to target API_LEVEL_28 (Android 9)?
Many people in your users "niche" deliberately use an older device (such as Android 9) to limit the phone addiction: newer device => richer experience => even more addiction => for this reason some people in your niche use an older phone.
The app uses several APIs that are not available on older versions. In one moment in time when I had the support of lower versions the app consisted of many wrappers for OS API versions. It was a challenge to support and add new features to such a codebase.
Plus even Android 11 already reached end-of-life support https://endoflife.date/android.
Technically it's not impossible, so I might consider adding it in future.
Actually, I just got an idea…
Thanks for sharing.
it's pretty easy to work around but all I generally need is something to knock me out of my flow.
If you mechanically open phone at least do something useful in it
read a quote https://github.com/jameshnsears/QuoteUnquote
track a habit https://github.com/iSoron/uhabits
learn vim https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=develop.exampl...
c++ quirks https://github.com/vsklamm/CppQuiz
or else
that's really it.
I find that having a very light data plan helps too (in addition to saving money). I have the $5/month annual plan from Red Pocket that gives me 500 MB. I'm well aware that I could burn through 500 MB very quickly, so that makes me think twice about whether I really need to load a web page if I'm out somewhere without Wi-Fi.
[1] Audiobooks on my phone, ironically. But making audiobooks more accessible is probably the best value that smartphones have provided for me. Libby, for borrowing audiobooks from the library and listening to them, is the one entertainment app that I have installed.
Instead, I think it would be better to incentivize people to use their phone/social apps less.
Touch Grass. Earn Points.
I'm planning to implement as much tooling as possible so you can deal with annoyances that appear over time. While incentives can be outside of the app. For instance, there is an initiative called OfflineDay. https://www.reddit.com/r/OfflineDay/
And even now in-app, you can create a nudge for OfflineDay
Been four years since I had cell service or regularly carried any internet capable devices and I have never been happier.
My anxiety has plummeted and my attention span and productivity have skyrocketed. I do not have a phone as a security blanket anymore and feel so much more confident in public.
Smartphones are optional for most people, but if you are forced to carry one, keep it in airplane mode whenever possible and only use it when solving the specific problem that forces you to carry it that you lack any alternatives for.
If you need mobile entertainment buy a paper book.
The main benefit is really just having more free time, focus and attention that you can channel into things you actually care about. So if anyone needs motivation to un-tether, think of it like this: being a phone user cuts your life roughly in half (in terms of the portion of time that's actually available to you to use).
I could go even more extreme on the phone decoupling, for instance I still bring it with me if I'm going to a bar or something, but at the moment I'm more focused on whittling down social media usage on computers as well. It does feel like the endgame could be a better life through just abandoning most of the tech that was cooked up in the last 15 years.
How do they do 2-factor auth to Heroku/Gitlab/whatever? Maps in a foreign country where you can't even read the letters? On way to job interview when the interviewer has an emergency and needs to postpone? Good friend is in the town and calls you to hang out? Translation when a tourist comes to ask where something is?
So I think about carrying a flip phone for my telephone, an e-reader for entertainment, and a smartphone in airplane mode for (mainly) maps, photos, music, notes. But then I'd be carrying three devices, which seems worse in its own way.
Probably worth the change ultimately?
It seems like it'd be ideal for the backcountry use-case. Super long battery life because you could just wake up the GPS every few hours and get a new fix, reframe the map, then go back to sleep and use the latent image like a topo map.
I never had a big relationship to my phones simply because I can't stand typing on them. My plan (prepaid) is 1€/month for 1GB and 9cents per min/SMS.
I think there's a lot of gains to be made in tailoring UX/UI to the individual. Not just for individuals (this person reading more books) but for societal advancement. (this person reading more books, generalized)
What really makes people always come back, no matter what, is the psychological addiction, not the physical one. Which is also why phones can be just as difficult to stop as gambling compulsions or drug addictions.
Can you also do something against gambling? Would be cool.
Additionally, you seem to need this illusion of control, that you and your "strong mind" are actually in charge, which current research heavily disagrees with. If you want to put that to the test, I've got a few ideas for you...
Humans are not as simple as you seem to think. If only it were that easy. I'd argue, actual adults are primarily able to discuss a topic without shitting on those they perceive as "weak".
Greetings from somebody who used to work on the treatment side of things.
Ahh, the typical reaction, lashing out, and ad-hominem. I am sooo unsurprised.
I am well aware that everyone has their breaking point. What is easy for one individual is hard for another. No worries. However, I never expected phone compulsion to make someone fail the Gom Jabbar test. I mean, seriously? If you have trouble regulating your tool usage, how do you even get through life!
Yes! Outcast the people who have an addiction. I'm sure that will help get them back on track! Have you ever thought about writing a book?
I literally lol’d. This is the kind of nonsense that dribbled down my chin when I was like 13 and thought I had the whole world figured out.
Do yourselves a favor and delete all social media.
Which is baffling to me, because apps which send even 1 notification I don't like get uninstalled unless they're some non-optional thing, in which case they get muted.
The only notifications I get on my phone is from Home Assistant telling me when my dryer has finished or warning me if the fridge door temperature is too high (I cannot recommend this enough - it usually means you should clean off the heat exchanger).
