Intenty

Productivity

digital wellbeing

SHOW HN2024

Legend

Intenty

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

play.google.com

#phone addiction#screen time#digital wellbeing#phone unlock

817points
381comments
#17of 3,515 in 2024
Top 1%of 2024 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

37 positive, 44 neutral or asking, 10 mixed, 27 critical, out of 118 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.

Idea: 21 for, 13 againstExecution: 5 for, 6 againstPricing: 3 for, 4 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 3 againstDesign: 1 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Useful for breaking phone pickup habits

    From 2 comments
    • 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…
      TeMPOraL on HN
    • brilliant
      byyoung3 on HN
  • Concept of friction before unlocking is appealing

    From 2 comments
    • My buddy has a wallpaper on his phone that says, in large letters, "Do I really to be picking up my phone right now?" Done and done.
      vr46 on HN
    • Great! Apps like these are sorely needed. My feedback would be, apart from what others are saying about sub vs one-time purchase, to look at what Leechblock firefox extension is…
      retSava on HN

Objections

  • Subscription pricing; users want a one-time purchase

    From 2 comments
    • Thanks for giving it a try! > - isn't it possible to select multiple intentions? I've tried but when I turn on one, another one turns off. Here is the place where I made a UX…
      jarko27 on HN
    • Thanks for the try. Now I realize that the decision to make nudges in the same way as modes on iOS was a bad decision. I made it intentionally, you select nudge as one mode to…
      jarko27 on HN
  • Nudges become habitual and are quickly bypassed

    From 1 comment
    • 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…
      iLoveOncall on HN
  • Friction hurts quick intentional uses like photos and music control

    From 1 comment
    • 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…
      TeMPOraL on HN
  • Requires Android 11 and no iOS version possible

    From 2 comments
    • Unfortunately the minimum android version is Android 11
      jarko27 on HN
    • As soon as Apple allows listening to phone unlock events and displaying app over other apps. Currently there are not APIs on iOS for such thing
      jarko27 on HN

Requests

  • Advanced or periodic reminders

    From 2 comments
    • Great! Apps like these are sorely needed. My feedback would be, apart from what others are saying about sub vs one-time purchase, to look at what Leechblock firefox extension is…
      retSava on HN
    • love the app, I think it works much better than a simple background with a question on it, and not only because I like to have pretty pictures there instead an idea: it would be…
      Unearned5161 on HN
  • Harder bypass such as random-string barrier

    From 1 comment
    • Great! Apps like these are sorely needed. My feedback would be, apart from what others are saying about sub vs one-time purchase, to look at what Leechblock firefox extension is…
      retSava on HN
  • Random-frequency prompts

    From 1 comment
    • 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…
      jarko27 on HN
  • Support for older Android versions

    From 1 comment
    • Jarko27: on my Android 9 phone of a few years ago, i cant install it : the play store says it Cant be installed on my device. Why?
      josephernest on HN

Questions

Alternatives named

  • One Sec

    From 1 comment
  • LeechBlock

    From 1 comment
    • Great! Apps like these are sorely needed. My feedback would be, apart from what others are saying about sub vs one-time purchase, to look at what Leechblock firefox extension is…
      retSava on HN
  • Opal

    From 1 comment
    • 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…
      jarko27 on HN
  • RescueTime

    From 1 comment
    • Have you tried RescueTime? It's a similar app that prompts you to log your activities every time you unlock your phone. It's surprising to see how much time can slip by unnoticed…
      superasn on HN
  • Google Digital Wellbeing unlock clock

    From 1 comment
    • I remember a very cool similar thing from Google Digital Wellbeing Experiments called unlock clock…
      jarko27 on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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