The app-store handling (QR code on desktop, app to right app store on phone) is probably supposed to be clever, but browsing on desktop it just felt annoying. QR codes are fine, but at least give me a small direct link below the code. I don't want to take out my phone to figure out if it's supported, I want to click on a link that takes me to the app store so I can have a look at the page, the reviews, and if I'm logged in click install to trigger my phone to do its thing (not sure if the last part also works on apple or is only a google thing)
Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
11–20 of 96 posts
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#12As an ADHD person, this app looks like a repackaging (with nice design) of all the stuff I’ve built up over years - habit tracking, daily/weekly/yearly reflection, detailed task management, etc. This isn’t for me (because I’ve already built a system that works), but this looks like something that would be very useful. For the target user who does feel stuck and hasn’t successfully built their system, this looks like…
Glad to hear you've built a system that works for you! We've also heard from a lot of our beta users that they've tried to cobble together something similar, and a lot of their feedback and ideas is what we used to build this initial version (in collaboration with our Research Lab to integrate the latest methods too). Many of them weren't able to push their self-built systems over the finish line or maintain it, due to ADHD challenges though. Our goal is to build a flexible enough system that it can be adapted for various learning styles (in practice we're still far off from where we want to be) and continue building agents on top of it that make science-backed exercises and methods more accessible. A lot of the best practices are currently gated behind long textbooks and scattered PDF worksheets so I'm really excited about making this more accessible. For example, this week we're working on an "energy accounting" agent that's widely used (in varying formats) across ADHD practitioners that many ADHDers know they want to do theoretically but haven't found the way to follow through on it.
I love the weekly self review and planning practice you mention; I do a similar one with myself and my co-founder each week and have started moving that process into Indy recently!
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#13As an ADHD person, the landing page is absolutely anti-ADHD - a lot of stuff with basically no info about what it really does. It should have been all concise and tangible information, simple example, demo. Instead just a lot of marketing fluff. I spent all the focus budget there and I have no idea what it does.
Perhaps try to go directly into the app store, I think that copy and the screenshots is a lot more straight forward. Our care team has skewed the landing page to be a bit more of "show the benefit" rather than the functionality (since a lot of the functionality looks like chat bots) but we can definitely take another look through it and I love the idea of including a demo! For now, the youtube demo is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSDxyXv6i4
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#14The app-store handling (QR code on desktop, app to right app store on phone) is probably supposed to be clever, but browsing on desktop it just felt annoying. QR codes are fine, but at least give me a small direct link below the code. I don't want to take out my phone to figure out if it's supported, I want to click on a link that takes me to the app store so I can have a look at the page, the reviews, and if I'm log…
Good point, we didn't consider that people would want to browse the app store from their laptop. We'll look into this today!
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#15The app-store handling (QR code on desktop, app to right app store on phone) is probably supposed to be clever, but browsing on desktop it just felt annoying. QR codes are fine, but at least give me a small direct link below the code. I don't want to take out my phone to figure out if it's supported, I want to click on a link that takes me to the app store so I can have a look at the page, the reviews, and if I'm log…
For now, here's the app store links if you want to access it from your laptop!
for apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/indy-your-adhd-copilot/id67543...
for google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shimmer.co...
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#16i made an account on shimmer when you launched and even tried it out. i have made multiple requests to your nonexistent support to delete it and it all goes into a dustbin apparently. very subpar experience that makes me not trust at all how you'd handle my data.
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#17i made an account on shimmer when you launched and even tried it out. i have made multiple requests to your nonexistent support to delete it and it all goes into a dustbin apparently. very subpar experience that makes me not trust at all how you'd handle my data.
sorry that it hasn't been done yet! we generally attend to these pretty quickly. If you sent it to support, it may have been buried. I can look into it though. Can you send an email to privacy@shimmer.care?
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#18I'm AuDHD and I think the marked for products to help with ADHD that do not actually work for anyone except for the person who came up with them is absolutely saturated. I think what I've come to realize is that the process of building a system is at least as important as the system itself. This means nothing designed by someone who is not me will really work for me, and that's that. I suppose a lot of money can be made off of people who have not yet realized this.
I also have to say something about the "for those who feel stuck... indy will be your compass" reads incredibly fucking dystopian to me.
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#19Thanks! Why would a user prefer this service instead of a conventional AI subscription service with memory (and possibly read access to their desktop data)? The latter can automatically capture key interactions during the day and set reminders for regular checkins. Is there a secret sauce that makes this better so it is worth the extra effort?
Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains
#20Some ADHD folks have something called "justice sensitivity"[0]. Put plainly, we get more bothered than neurotypical folks by actions and events we view as morally wrong.
I can't say for certain that this is caused by my ADHD or not, but I have a "sensitivity" to dark patterns. That is to say, dark patterns bug me more than they probably should.
Hiding the pricing until after signup is a dark pattern. It's a clear case of the company optimizing for their interests over mine and they are therefore unworthy of my trust (or so my brain tells me). After all, what other user-hostile design decisions are they going to make?
What ends up happening is that my brain puts its guard up, and keeps it up. It's constantly on the lookout for more subtle tricks and corner cutting.
Furthermore, I'm offended that they think I'm that stupid (but that's probably the developer in me and not my ADHD).
The landing page piqued my interest but then let me down. Hard. Not because $40 a month (as reported by another user here) is too much, but because I find dark patterns to be morally repugnant.
[0] https://edgefoundation.org/the-fairness-imperative-adhd-and-...
P.S. I struggled to write this as its first thing in the morning and I haven't even had coffee.