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Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#81

Post by sebisaacsinflow »

skeletron wrote: post #22

Many of the reviews of the Android app are quite critical of the trial and payment model, for example: > CAUTION: After the free trial period (7 days), they will charge for an annual subscription ($102.95 US). This is OPT OUT, not opt in. In other reviews they say they will offer a refund (I will update when/if I get one) but for an app for people with executive function issues, an opt out format seems shady. Either…

Thanks for highlighting this - we're trying to figure out what the best model is for our community. A lot of other apps follow a similar model, we allow people to cancel anytime and have refunded everyone that has forgotten to cancel. Some people also like having the subscription because it is a pay per use model rather than putting everyone under the same one-off bundle. We're working on extending the free trial / moving to a freemium model. Would love any suggestions on how to improve this.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#82

Post by mysterydip »

beaconstudios wrote: post #18
mysterydip wrote: post #3

One thing I've wanted in an app is some kind of organized quick way to do "where did i put that?" and "did I try this food option before and did I like it or not?" My main concern with any app is remembering to use it. I have a dozen or so alarms, and todo lists, and I still forget to check them. Beyond some push notification, what ways can your app help me remember to use it to make it a habit?

you might want to try Notion or Evernote something like that; externalised memory is generally served by note-taking apps. Roam is also good, if you don't like organising your notes hierarchically. Remembering to use it is not an issue of memory, but of habituation; there are decent habit-tracking apps like habitica to help with that. Of course, the first habit you'll want to build is the habit of using a habit track…

My phone says I have 219 notes, many of which are pages long. I need a better way to organize them, especially when I need to add something. Large flat files of text get difficult to use. Maybe the apps you mentioned address that in some way, I'll have to look.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#83

Post by throwanem »

beaconstudios wrote: post #67
101008 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so shady and I "could" understand it coming from a random startup... but by a startup backed by YC? And that it gets it own Launch HN thread (while others startups had to do it in the batch posts?). This is no the first time in the last months that something like this happened, unfortunately.

why do you think YCombinator isn't willing to exploit people? They're a VC accelerator, of course they are. Just because the profit motive doesn't always lead to immoral behaviour, doesn't mean that profit-motivated people aren't going to pursue immoral behaviour if it's profitable.

It's a little surprising to see YC start to risk the brand this way, though, and as others have noted in this thread, not for the first time recently - Skip the Interview, in particular, being of note in this connection, after having shut down the same day it launched due to a complete, and frankly rather easily predictable, failure of product-market fit.

Right now, and in the past, "YC-backed" has consistently been a very solid selling point, both for following rounds and in recruitment. Maybe it's just a transient bobble, and I strongly hope that proves true. Still, at this rate, I'm starting to wonder a little what "YC-backed" might come to mean a few years hence, and whether it'll still be worth the same.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#84

Post by sebisaacsinflow »

WhiteDawn wrote: post #74

As someone with ADHD, I’ve stayed away from this product because it is a subscription service. I will sign up for subscription services fully well intentioned and then proceed to not use the service and forget to cancel it in time. I know myself well enough now to stay away from any product offering a subscription. There is no real “managing” it, it’s just a fact of life for me and something I live around. An app tar…

Thanks for the feedback. We're working on some potential solutions to this and in the meantime we refund everybody who requests one.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#85

Post by mysterydip »

msluyter wrote: post #65
mysterydip wrote: post #3

One thing I've wanted in an app is some kind of organized quick way to do "where did i put that?" and "did I try this food option before and did I like it or not?" My main concern with any app is remembering to use it. I have a dozen or so alarms, and todo lists, and I still forget to check them. Beyond some push notification, what ways can your app help me remember to use it to make it a habit?

Re: "where did I put that" -- I got a set of Apple airtags recently and they've been a godsend. I also have an apple watch, so via the watch I can find my phone, and via the phone I can find my wallet/keys/etc... They're awesome. Re: reminders, one thing I've noticed with any sort of reminder system based on alerts/notifications, is that while they work for a while, eventually my brain just starts ignoring the alerts…

Yes exactly! The alarm goes off that says "empty the dishwasher" and my brain says "yup it's 7:15," then goes on to something else before I digest what the alarm is for.

I'll definitely check out airtags, thanks!

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#86

Post by comprev »

throwanem wrote: post #38
mStreamTeam wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with ADHD, I can confirm this model is super predatory. I cancel all my credit cards every year just to get rid of all opt-in charges on regular basis

Billing an entire annual subscription up front, as opposed to monthly, seems especially questionable. What if the therapy doesn't work? What if it's so badly implemented that it can't work? You're still out a hundred bucks just the same, and that's just in the first year. edit: There is also a monthly subscription option, in the Apple app store at least. It's $22 a month - so over twice as much as the annual. This do…

That reminds me of a quip by Rachael in an episode of Friends when her and Ross [Ph.D] are at the hospital - "Now remember Ross, there are real doctors here"

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#87

Post by mStreamTeam »

sebisaacsinflow wrote: post #81
skeletron wrote: post #22

Many of the reviews of the Android app are quite critical of the trial and payment model, for example: > CAUTION: After the free trial period (7 days), they will charge for an annual subscription ($102.95 US). This is OPT OUT, not opt in. In other reviews they say they will offer a refund (I will update when/if I get one) but for an app for people with executive function issues, an opt out format seems shady. Either…

Thanks for highlighting this - we're trying to figure out what the best model is for our community. A lot of other apps follow a similar model, we allow people to cancel anytime and have refunded everyone that has forgotten to cancel. Some people also like having the subscription because it is a pay per use model rather than putting everyone under the same one-off bundle. We're working on extending the free trial / m…

The best model for your community is free and open source.

Your current model of opt-in subscriptions makes it clear you're looking for the best model for your bank account

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#88

Post by beaconstudios »

mysterydip wrote: post #82
beaconstudios wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you might want to try Notion or Evernote something like that; externalised memory is generally served by note-taking apps. Roam is also good, if you don't like organising your notes hierarchically. Remembering to use it is not an issue of memory, but of habituation; there are decent habit-tracking apps like habitica to help with that. Of course, the first habit you'll want to build is the habit of using a habit track…

My phone says I have 219 notes, many of which are pages long. I need a better way to organize them, especially when I need to add something. Large flat files of text get difficult to use. Maybe the apps you mentioned address that in some way, I'll have to look.

Yeah they do - notion allows you to organise notes hierarchically, as trees or in databases (like a table where each row is its own page), and roam allows you to network your notes into a graph. Notion is probably better in your case, roam is more designed for building knowledge graphs when researching.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#89

Post by sebisaacsinflow »

skeletron wrote: post #48
throwanem wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billing an entire annual subscription up front, as opposed to monthly, seems especially questionable. What if the therapy doesn't work? What if it's so badly implemented that it can't work? You're still out a hundred bucks just the same, and that's just in the first year. edit: There is also a monthly subscription option, in the Apple app store at least. It's $22 a month - so over twice as much as the annual. This do…

I just downloaded the Android app to check, and it's a similar ratio as you describe for the Apple app store: £19.99 per month if paid monthly, but £7.17 per month (as £85.99 per year) if paid annually. And on my phone at least, the monthly payment option is also hidden behind a scroll down action: https://i.imgur.com/rV0bMTH.jpg , with the yearly subscription already selected by default. It would seem they're pushin…

Thanks for the feedback - this is due to screen size on Android and we're current working on fixing issues impacting smaller screen sizes at the moment.

Re: Launch HN: Inflow (YC S21) – Self-help app for people with ADHD

#90

Post by throwanem »

samstave wrote: post #80
throwanem wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billing an entire annual subscription up front, as opposed to monthly, seems especially questionable. What if the therapy doesn't work? What if it's so badly implemented that it can't work? You're still out a hundred bucks just the same, and that's just in the first year. edit: There is also a monthly subscription option, in the Apple app store at least. It's $22 a month - so over twice as much as the annual. This do…

Perhaps there is room for the following: (Please dont kill me for the off-the-cuff idea:) A per-login / frequency of use model; You agree to a MAXIMUM of $100/year as WELL AS a max per month that may be charged (== to $100/12 max) -- but the idea is that if you skip a month or some amount of time you are not charged.... The usage is based on certain amount of time-in-app or somesuch.... you get the idea. --- Anyway,…

I think that's a good insight, not least in that a model like that incentivizes real utility in the product. Granted, it could also incentivize dark-pattern stickiness, but there's still the seed of something worth considering here.

Granted IAP isn't that flexible, or not to my knowledge, at least. But Stripe is right there, too.

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