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

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Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#351

Post by alexvitkov »

ryanmcbride wrote: post #276
alexvitkov wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has always boggled my mind - If you don't trust me to pick a decent password and maintain my own machine, why in God's name would you trust me to write code or deploy/maintain company infrastructure?

They _don't_ trust you to do that stuff. Not unilaterally at least. In a healthy system you generally aren't able to change anything without sign off from multiple other people.

If I have a group of N people who I individually don't trust not to use mike1234 as a password, I wouldn't trust them as a collective either - at least until N gets impractically large.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#352

Post by nottorp »

bornfreddy wrote: post #225
TeMPOraL wrote: post #213

I installed this in the morning to give it a test drive, and after several hours, I learned the following: it's great when I reach for the phone as a distraction; it's a big annoyance otherwise. 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 s…

Maybe the app should kick in only if you start using one of the "bad" apps, like a browser or a social network app? Being in the way when I want to snap a quick photo doesn't sound nice.

Do apps have permission to interfere with other apps on Android?

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#353

Post by nottorp »

p1necone wrote: post #28

I feel like we're far too obsessed with the "nobility" of stuff we do for fun. Watch YouTube shorts, scroll reddit, whatever. 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 migh…

Why blame the phone btw? You could doom scroll or mindlessly watch YouTube even on a desktop.

And you know, you could mindlessly watch cable tv :)

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#355

Post by hulitu »

> Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

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".

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#356

Post by namuorg »

jarko27 wrote: post #303
namuorg wrote: post #197

For anyone looking for something similar for their desktop browser, try out Intention: https://getintention.com Show HN post from 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22936742

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!

Aw yay, glad it was beneficial in helping you bringing Intenty to life!

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#357

Post by 0xf3ffff »

Inspired by someone's comment on Reddit, I have setup this routine on my Samsung phone:

- 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).

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#358

Post by mrkramer »

anonyme-honteux wrote: post #329
mrkramer wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, my impression always was and is that Android app development is complex, especially when you got Java in the mix....maybe now it's easier when Kotlin is around. 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…

Kotlin is a great langage, but Android being difficult was not about Java but about Android APIs being terrible.

Yea and that....my bad for not mentioning it.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#359

Post by jarko27 »

pdecker wrote: post #218

this is great, especially the design. but, as some of the comments have stated, it will prob get annoying. Instead, I think it would be better to incentivize people to use their phone/social apps less. Touch Grass. Earn Points.

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

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#360

Post by j1elo »

bfdm wrote: post #295
j1elo wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's maybe a solution: don't trigger the app if the phone is unlocked via a hardware shortcut. 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 in…

+1 I rely on this hardware shortcut heavily when trying to catch photos of the kids in fleeting moments. Edit: just tested this and the nudge does not appear to interrupt the camera quick access

Fastest feature request implementation ever! :-)
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