u/InternationalCod8574

you open instagram to mindlessly scroll and instead you get a a full screen pop up saying Sara (your friend) just went for a run - here's her photo and to stop using instagram and do one of your pre-selected habits.

or it intercepts you before you open tiktok saying you haven't done any of your habits today and shows you e.g. a picture that you took for two days ago of you journaling (every time you do your daily habit based on the habits you chose it asks you to take a picture of yourself doing it and sends it to your friend group)

basically a social network built entirely around becoming better - you share photos of your daily progress with a small group of friends and those photos appear at the exact moment your friends are about to waste time

no streaks, no points, no gamification. just your actual friends showing you what's possible and motivating you so you too can change your life (almost like a social media but just with your friends and just trying to build better habits)

What do you think? I’m a developer who has experienced social media addiction personally so this is more a reflection of what would motivate me. Would love to hear your thoughts on whether the concept is good and how it could be improved.

you open instagram to mindlessly scroll and instead you get a a full screen pop up saying Sara (your friend) just went for a run - here's her photo and to stop using instagram and do one of your pre-selected habits.

or it intercepts you before you open tiktok saying you haven't done any of your habits today and shows you e.g. a picture that you took for two days ago of you journaling (every time you do your daily habit based on the habits you chose it asks you to take a picture of yourself doing it and sends it to your friend group)

basically a social network built entirely around becoming better - you share photos of your daily progress with a small group of friends and those photos appear at the exact moment your friends are about to waste time

no streaks, no points, no gamification. just your actual friends showing you what's possible and motivating you so you too can change your life (almost like a social media but just with your friends and just trying to build better habits)

would you use/pay for this

i'll start:

stackmap.com - watches your SaaS integrations 24/7 and tells you in plain english what broke and how to fix it. ChatGPT can't monitor your live stack or know when a webhook goes silent for 9 days. free demo up while i figure out what to actually build based on feedback

In my experienced there are quite a few problems with the existing screen time/habit tracking apps:

1. Setting up/customisation takes forever

2. Streaks are overrated - they take forever to be long enough that they are effective and aren’t forgiving at all

3. With most apps - the tend to sell the final result and the feeling but ultimately are just making the chore more gamified without giving you any real incentive that can come anywhere near as close to overcoming addiction for social media.

 

So I had a simpler idea:

You pay £10/month into the app.
Every day you stay under your screen time goal, you earn 25p back (these numbers could change)
Miss the goal, you lose that day’s amount.

This is because the only few I could think of that people addicted to social media care about more than scrolling is money.

What do you think - constructive criticism would be appreciated.

In my experienced there are quite a few problems with the existing screen time/habit tracking apps:

1. Setting up/customisation takes forever

2. Streaks are overrated - they take forever to be long enough that they are effective and aren’t forgiving at all

3. With most apps - the tend to sell the final result and the feeling but ultimately are just making the chore more gamified without giving you any real incentive that can come anywhere near as close to overcoming addiction for social media.

 

So I had a simpler idea:

You pay £10/month into the app.
Every day you stay under your screen time goal, you earn 25p back (these numbers could change)
Miss the goal, you lose that day’s amount.

This is because the only few I could think of that people addicted to social media care about more than scrolling is money.

What do you think - constructive criticism would be appreciated.

In my experienced there are quite a few problems with the existing screen time/habit tracking apps:

1. Setting up/customisation takes forever

2. Streaks are overrated - they take forever to be long enough that they are effective and aren’t forgiving at all

3. With most apps - the tend to sell the final result and the feeling but ultimately are just making the chore more gamified without giving you any real incentive that can come anywhere near as close to overcoming addiction for social media.

 

So I had a simpler idea:

You pay £10/month into the app.
Every day you stay under your screen time goal, you earn 25p back (these numbers could change)
Miss the goal, you lose that day’s amount.

This is because the only few I could think of that people addicted to social media care about more than scrolling is money.

What do you think - constructive criticism would be appreciated.

In my experienced there are quite a few problems with the existing screen time/habit tracking apps:

1. Setting up/customisation takes forever

2. Streaks are overrated - they take forever to be long enough that they are effective and aren’t forgiving at all

3. With most apps - the tend to sell the final result and the feeling but ultimately are just making the chore more gamified without giving you any real incentive that can come anywhere near as close to overcoming addiction for social media.

So I had a simpler idea:

You pay £10/month into the app.
Every day you stay under your screen time goal, you earn 25p back (these numbers could change)
Miss the goal, you lose that day’s amount.

This is because the only few I could think of that people addicted to social media care about more than scrolling is money.

What do you think - constructive criticism would be appreciated.

I have personal experience with habit apps that I eventually stop using - mostly because they require too much effort, or it takes too long before a streak feels worth maintaining etc.

I’m an (aspiring😁) solo developer and I want to solve a genuine gap in the market rather than just make a copy of an existing app.

What features or ideas do you think current habit tracker apps are missing? What makes a good/bad habit tracker app?