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jarko27

341 karma · joined November 22, 2024

Software Engineer

Making Intenty and oh my hours in free time

Contact -> yaroslav@mindfulbun.studio

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jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
I just checked all APIs/Libs that the app uses had declared support of API_LEVEL_28, but have recommended a higher target (above 30). My bad. I assumed this modern Material 3 Compose had hard API-level requirements.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
By default (if hard mode is not enabled) there is a way to skip the nudge
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Well, you are right about the audience, many people might prefer to downgrade to older versions. However, support of older versions will significantly complicate the development.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Unfortunately the minimum android version is Android 11
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Making it work in the long term is going to be a challenge. I agree.

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

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Thanks for reporting this. I will be taking a look at this issue in the next release.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
That app I mentioned also had iOS version as well. I don't know how they made it, because AFAIK any customisation to unlock/lock process weren't allowed on iOS from the very beginning.

But nevertheless. It's a bit disappointing that major operating systems are becoming more closed for developers to create such beautiful apps

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
You also can try setting nudge Cooldown. It will prevent nudge from popping up during Cooldown period. For now it's 3 minutes max, but I can easily add more options in next release.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Yes. App already has a setting call Cooldown. It allows to have time after phone lock during which the app won't pop-up again. Not sure if that's what you are suggesting, and it's max time right now is 3 minutes.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
I can relate to this. I conducted UX experiment during my Master's in Human Computer Interaction which was testing an impact of various interventions to screen time and user perception. I observed very similar pattern, if it clicks it stays with the people. Of course the experiment was with small group, but still.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
After receiving so many comments about the "premium" version I'm going to consider adding a one-time purchase as an option.

Thanks for sharing.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
That sounds nice. In my case, I rely heavily on many "essential" apps that are available on smartphones. Maybe the approach of having another Kale phone and a "Junk" phone is a thing (https://x.com/george__mack/status/1681378342627311640). And Punkt will be a great candidate for Kale phone.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
I remember a very cool similar thing from Google Digital Wellbeing Experiments called unlock clock https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalwel...
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
The original app was released ~ 4 years ago, but it survived several rounds of overhauls from scratch while keeping the original idea - "showing nudges after phone unlock". It can be considered a launch because it's almost a remade app.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
The fun fact. I've been using that extension while I was making Intenty back in 2020. Great extension, I'm glad to see it up and running till now!
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Well, that would be ideal.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Wow. It's so cool to see such a project.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Thanks for giving it a test drive!

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?

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
BTW, it was quite complicated but I added support for flip phones as well. So the app works correctly on flip phones as well. Flip phone users might have an ultimate setup.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Interesting. How are you dealing with cases when you need a navigation like Waze or Google Maps? Navigation apps are my main obstacles for trying a "dumbphone".
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
I think it's not the apps are brain rot.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
The network is used for checking in-app purchase status, requests to Google Play only
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Yeah, but then it's a completely different app.

On Android, you can even combine Intenty and one-sec.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Wow. Thanks for reporting. Fixing it.
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Thanks for the try.

> 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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
As an experiment, I wanted to try something similar, but more extreme maybe since it's not Android AFAIK

https://www.thelightphone.com.

Also I wonder if my app is working nicely on an e-ink smartphone, very interesting.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
I think it will work just fine in combination with Intenty. Of course, it might be too challenging to use the device with so many obstacles. But if that helps to be more mindful about phone usage, why not?
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Likely it's an Android version. Minimum Android version is Android 11
jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Physical barrier on the phone is probably the best way to tackle with such things, but that's not what always available or convenient.

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.

jarko27··on Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone
Thanks

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.

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