jarko27

Advanced reminders are going to be a thing for the next big release. I agree that one problem is to pass the unlock, but staying on track with your intention is a different story. One periodical notification with static text can in theory fix that, but the chances are low in comparison to the full-screen pop-up. I intentionally focused on the unlock procedure first. For now, you can combine it with other apps like minimalistic launchers and apps that pop up after the app opens. But eventually, improving the reminder experience can make the solution more complete, I agree.

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.

Thanks!

> 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.

In my case it depends on the nudge I'm currently set up.

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.

More advanced reminders are the most frequent feature request so far. As a very trivial way to implement it, I'm thinking about showing the original screen periodically instead of the notification.

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

As soon as Apple allows listening to phone unlock events and displaying app over other apps. Currently there are not APIs on iOS for such thing

For the long term, I recommend changing the prompts from time to time and adjusting intensity and cooldown settings. Sometimes even turning it off, so you are not getting used to the screen.

On iOS it's simply impossible to implement. There is no way you can display an app over other apps after unlocking. I tried to implement something similar, like a widget, but that's a completely different app. Unfortunately, such an app is possible only on Android.

Thanks for the try.

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.

What I'm trying to achieve here is to make more conscious choices.

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.

Well, I agree.

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.

Thanks for giving it a try!

> - 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

> Have you tried RescueTime? It's a similar app that prompts you to log your activities every time you unlock your phone.

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.

Allow me to clarify about "in-app purchases".

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.

While I felt the same after reading, there are worthy recommendations that are good reminders.

For example, learn as much as possible about the domain and stack you are working in or read books about fundamentals rather than blogs because books provide information in condensed form and are best suited to topics that change slowly, if ever.

But some things work just for the author. "Reviewing pull requests as quickly as possible (<<1h)" would simply destroy my focus during the day.

Anyway I believe such posts are a good thing to read from time to time

Not 2024 book, but I found "Essentialism" by Greg McKeown valuable despite it being a mainstream self-help book.

While the core message isn't revolutionary (focus on what truly matters), it provided a useful framework for re-examining my priorities and look and my current state of things from different perspective. Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated well to sink in.

Definitely can recommend pragmatic engineer blog profile

https://bsky.app/profile/gergely.pragmaticengineer.com

You may find there stories about software engineering, tech companies, tech jobs market and more.

Gergely just recently joined Bluesky, so at least for me it's minus one reason to open Twitter.

Wow. I just found Ensō and it's freaking awesome. I often use focus mode in IDEs if available. Probably I'm going to try it instead of my Obsidian.

Also, I wish something similar existed for mobile as well.