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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

#41

Post by wingerlang »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #30
iLoveOncall wrote: post #17

I haven't seen any of those apps (or built-in OS features like screen time on iOS) not become useless in a matter of days. People that will use their phone for distraction (which I don't think there's actually anything wrong with) will take only a few days to get "notification fatigue" from those screens and automatically bypass them without even thinking about it. I get that you can prevent bypassing the screen as y…

> There's not a single person (myself included) I have seen use screen time not automatically bypass the limitation instantly as it pops up. You can take the more drastic approach and lock yourself out of your phone by changing it's unlock code and use a timelock [0] to prevent yourself from bypassing it for a given time. Works also with parental-control like Apps that require you to enter a password/code to unlock.…

The point is that people don't stick with it. Bypassable versions works just as well as this, for a day or two until it becomes slightly annoying. Full lockout will work for a day or two as well, until it becomes annoying. The bypass here is simply that you never use it again.

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

#43

Post by siva7 »

youoy wrote: post #9
Y_Y wrote: post #2

Cool idea. Amazingly they've found a way to put "in-app purchases" though. This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background. 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.

I do the same! It works pretty good for "visually addictive" apps... but not for HN for now

For that you set noproc in hn settings.

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

#44

Post by siva7 »

Y_Y wrote: post #2

Cool idea. Amazingly they've found a way to put "in-app purchases" though. This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background. 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.

Best of all it saves battery

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

#45

Post by akkad33 »

mzhaase wrote: post #36
jarko27 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The point I think was more a critique on the fact that everyone now tries to extract profit with everything, even the simplest of apps.

It's time and effort. If you're not willing to pay you're saying it has no value. I prefer a small upfront fee to seeing in app purchases though

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

#47

Post by zuppy »

Y_Y wrote: post #2

Cool idea. Amazingly they've found a way to put "in-app purchases" though. This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background. 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.

same thing worked for me. on iphone, ios 18 introduced a way to apply shades to everything, including app icon and notification counters. since i made the entire thing darker, i've stopped using instagram. i couldn't believe that such a small thing could do wonders. probably the same thing can be achieved by disabling the notification counter, but i think it's better to have it when you want to look for it, but make it not pop out into your eyes.

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

#48

Post by MMAesawy »

mzhaase wrote: post #36
jarko27 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The point I think was more a critique on the fact that everyone now tries to extract profit with everything, even the simplest of apps.

How would you suggest to compensate devs for developing and maintaining such apps?

Personally I would much prefer that developers lock poweruser features behind a paywall rather than plaster ugly ads all over the place. Making it a paid app works too, but likely 95% of the potential userbase would not try the app if they had to reach for their wallets first.

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

#49

Post by matkv »

ltadeut wrote: post #40
mzhaase wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point I think was more a critique on the fact that everyone now tries to extract profit with everything, even the simplest of apps.

why shouldn't they? they had to take the time to make the app and get it up on the App Store. it's totally fair to charge for work you've done. the fact it's simple is irrelevant. what matters is the value it brings to the user.

It is totally fair to charge for work you've done - but then again, in my opinion, not everything needs to be built with some profit in mind (not talking about this app in particular now).

I think it's really refreshing to find an app that doesn't lock any features behind a paywall or makes using it more cumbersome unless you pay. I'm mostly okay with one-time payments though.

Just because you invested some time into making a project doesn't mean that you absolutely need to make some money to make it "worth" it. Hell, most open-source software is built on free/voluntary labor.

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

#50

Post by jarko27 »

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…

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.

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