Show HN: Generate a fake app to replace any addictive app
detoxify.app
detoxify.app
By installing the fake app, you'll be surprised how many times you unconsciously you open them, although you are aware that they are fake apps. It feels like our brain is on auto-pilot, once we're hooked/addicted to unconsciously open addictive apps.
Uninstalling can just leave you searching for the app before you remember.
I don't really know if it will help any more than just uninstalling but I suppose for some it could.
When I wanted to break that routine I asked my mom to put a parental lock on the TV.
Even though TV showed jo channel for me I still lied down in front of it, twiddled with remote. Sometimes for many minutes. My dumb brain gradually learned that TV is not fun anymore (not that it was much fun in the first place).
I think similar mechanism might help you shake off your app addiction.
Not sure if this tool does this but maybe you could even have you fake facebook app show you static screenshot of facebook and let you scroll up and down a bit. You might have additional twists like scrolling locking up after few minutes forcing you to abandon or restart. Or maybe screenshot might be blurred a bit.
The real Facebook for sure does this!
The disturbing part is that even weeks later, if I am really bored I will reach for my phone and pick it up. There just isn't much to do on there anymore, so I put it down. I think I'm going to start leaving it places altogether so I lose the habit of having it on my at all times.
You could root the device and redirect reddit and hn domains to 127.0.0.1 with /etc/hosts file (does android have that).
We're far from having a good UX, so please feel free to provide your suggestions, or contribute directly to the repo (it's open source).
Will the count be used later?
The app is open-source, you can have a look at the code.
Thanks for being part of the problem I guess?
Edit: I can kind of see how it might work for some people: just uninstalling a 'toxic' app like Twitter doesn't always work for long, as you can usually still go on the website, or even reinstall it absent-mindedly (e.g. when drunk or low on willpower). Having a fake app on your homescreen might help as a sort of reinforcement tool in those situations. For example, when you want to go on Twitter, you open the fake app, and because it's missing the usual toxic notification dopamine hit, you can gradually unlearn the association. Maybe.
Edit 2: I made the above edit before seeing the replies :)
By installing the fake app, you'll be surprised how many times you unconsciously you open them, although you are aware that they are fake apps. It feels like our brain is on auto-pilot, once we're hooked/addicted to instinctively open addictive apps.
It helped me quit my Instagram habit, so it's already more than paid for itself. Next is Twitter. :(
Detoxify looks a lot better though, and definitely has clearer instructions!
PWAs are offline first and there's one database with the number of opens.
I'm not saying that they don't deserve money, but should they ask disingenuously?
You mean one field in local storage [1]
Using github pages or similar, this could be completely free to run.
I didn't ever say that it was to "cover server costs" because even years ago I barely paid pennies a day for hosting.
1. publish an overview of donations annually,
2. justify roughly what costs were covered with the donations.
If websites don't do this, then I'm not donating.
He even says everything is stored locally.
Let's change context. You go to a restaurant because it is advertising free meal opening night. You go, you eat, you have a good time. When you stand up to leave you are informed that in order to leave you have to pay the door tax.
A restaurant like that would be sued for false advertising. How is willfully gathering data about yourself only to be extorted money to access that data later on any different?
My objection to the current wording is that it comes across as the server costs are though the roof. As a static site with a little thinking it can be heavily cached both online and on device, “New” apps could be generated offline and uploaded or auto generated using a server less (I still hate that term) back-end, knocking down that $7 per month to pennies per month. To the point where the domain name is the most expensive part of the site. Heck I can think of ways to use GitHub pages to run the site and get those server costs down to $0p/m.
But for me personally that can countered by simply remove the word server (Anyone who really knows the term “server” will have an idea of the cost). Removing the ref to their overheads removes that from you thought process when deciding on if dropping a few bucks is a good value. For me personally the message feels like they are struggling to cover their overheads when I know they will be small (To the point where personally I would run it for the shits and giggles of it). If they are even struggling to cover server costs the owners of the site won't be motivated to maintain the site.
Infact remove the word “costs”. When we walk into a supermarket we don’t think of the stores costs when we are purchasing things. By removing the wording I wouldn't be thinking about their server costs and thinking about it as more like dropping the creators a few bucks.
IMO being honest and a little bit cheeky can get you a long way. So personally I would word it like “Hey, want to see the number of times you have opened this app? Well for the low price of a cup of coffee instead of this Annoying message that is exactly what you see. Click here...”
But that's just my own opinion on the matter.
But it is absolutely his RIGHT to complain about an unexpected nag message.
You don't have to agree with him. But don't ask him to shut up if you don't.
The other reason is to cover our Heroku cost ($7 per month) and any other costs (e.g. domain name, the time we put in making/maintaining it, etc.). Nevertheless, please can just ignore and continue using the app for free.
But thanks for the feedback, you are right about the message, we thought it's too long to describe it all, but we'll try to come up with a better and clearer message.
I really don't think it's the right idea to blatantly lie, it's quite obvious that server costs are negligible here. No one is denying your work or effort.
> "For us, in order to be able to cover our server costs, we ask our users to contribute a tiny amount if they find the app useful. Donate to see the detox counter again."
As far as this message goes, I'd just remove the word "server". We all know that's not the only cost associated, so pointing it out as the only cost seems... dishonest? Maybe you'd want to link the word "costs" to a web page that elaborates on the costs a bit. Not with concrete numbers, but more like percentages: 60% on the time maintaining it, 10% for the server and domain(s) etc.
As far as the funding model goes, I feel like pay-what-you-want would be a good strategy for this use case, but that's up to you to decide. I'm certainly bad at monetizing my projects, so I'm in no position to make suggestions.