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Space — Unhook yourself from addictive iOS apps
Space helps you get a moment of peace when you need it. We're not here to make you feel bad because it's not your fault: apps are designed to hook you.
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Chris Messina
Top Hunter
I'm very curious what @tristanharris would think of this, given his profile in The Atlantic taking on the very forces that Space attempts to fight...
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Thanks @chrismessina! @tristanharris : my team and I loved the video you made with Time Well Spent. What really gets to us is the power inequality. Apps have 💰💰 to spend on behavioral analytics and machine learning - budgets for innovation on new ways to keep us hooked. But the average person is unaware, underfunded, and underpowered to fight back. If not the control, at least the insanely leveraged asymmetry of power is dystopic.
You're solving with Space the problem you're creating with Dopamine? Brilliant! :)
@nowimkrishan You caught us! 🚔
We think that habit creation requires a more built out experience then habit blocking/breaking. So we make the habit creation tools available to developers and the habit breaking tools available end user. We think that the net effect is that there are more behavior change tools for the end user to be the person they want to be!
Great work @ramsay_brown Definitely liking this for my distraction apps - gets me thinking *before* I waste time, which makes it more effective than Forest, which I also love. Chrome will be 🔥
thanks @zachsekar!! We're stoked to get it out the door and give everyone a chance to get some Space from their addictive apps. We'll let you know when the Chrome extension is ready! 🚀
Hey @paulparsons1981 ! Houston, we have a problem. I'd love to help you fix this! What's your email address?
Man thanks @orishnal ! We think everyone deserves to be in charge of their brains and in charge of their habits! Hit us up at space.support@usedopamine.com with anything we can help with. Enjoy! 🚀
Awesome guys, congrats! Was just about to check into rehab after my friends held an intervention for my Gram addiction (doge memes, mostly), but this sounds way better!
OMG! This is genius. I frist thought the app shouldn't launch automatically after a few seconds. But you're right, habit blocking would be the wrong way. The time to breath and think is awesome to reflect, and may change my habit. So simple, so great, good job! 🙌
Bravo! I am all for anything that increases general awareness of the psychologically addictive nature of apps, social media, and games. There's nothing wrong with these apps; it's just important to be mindful when using them.
@bleistern Thanks Matthew! That's our feeling too. Your bartender will cut you off if you've had too much. Your girlfriend will have a headache. But Facebook will never tell you 'Not now', and that's problematic. Our brains - and particularly the parts of them that control habits and addictions - didn't evolve to cope with this kind of instant, non-stop gratification. Facebook *is* a tool: it serves a great purpose and we need it in our lives. But we need it in moderation!
Apparently the way this works is that it is intended to replace your native app icon(s) with launcher icons that, when tapped, give you a moment to breathe before actually launching the app.
Clever. I think an illustration of that here would be helpful. Wasn't clear how it worked until after I installed the shortcut.
Anyway, wondering: why not a native app instead of a web app?
@bleistern My best guess is because of 2.5.8 in the iOS App Store Review Guidelines: "Apps that create alternate desktop/home screen environments or simulate multi-app widget experiences will be rejected." https://developer.apple.com/app-...
The web app is a clever workaround! It lets you have as many icons on your home screen as you want, one to replace each app.
@willdages @bleistern Ya we've been going back and forth with Apple all month trying to find a design they'd be happy with. But about 48 hours ago we decided to rewrite it as a web app and just get it out there. At the moment, it's not 2.5.8 that they're sticking on; it's "3.2.2(i) Creating an interface for displaying third party apps, extensions, or plug-ins similar to the App Store or as a general-interest collection."
The rep from Apple World Wide Developer Relations was not optimistic about our core functionality ever being approved, but we're going to keep working through the appeals process.
@bleistern Thanks for the feedback Matt. We agree that it's an interaction that most users are not going to be familiar with. We tried to strike a balance between showing/telling the user how Space works, without drowning them in expository. Sounds like we need to do more to make it clear.
@tdaltonc @willdages @bleistern Great hustle to quickly turn this into a web app to test things out first! Apple is notorious with its App Store guidelines...have my fair share of "fights" with them.
@tdaltonc @bleistern Perhaps just have a video of it in action to show people the end result and the way in which you provide "space."
Am replacing my FB icon with the Space (for FB) icon just cos it looks soooo cool and spacey!
I wonder if Space can be pitched as a "productivity tool" as a way to limit myself to all the apps distraction while I'm trying to focus on work (somewhat similar to the reason why I use RescueTime).
@michael_cho We definitely use it that way! It makes me more mindful about how I use my time.
@ddrckdesign I so desperately want to be able to do that! Our android app with be able to do that, but it's not possible on iOS.
Hi PH. The "Get It" link will take you to the iOS web app.
You can learn more about space at http://YouJustNeedSpace.com
Space for Android and Space for Chrome are on their way!
Be the first to hear when they're ready:
https://goo.gl/forms/nhmATMCLInR...
If you're having any trouble the website. Try opening it in Safari, not the product hunt in-app browser.
I first I thought "great idea, great branding" but the onboarding is a tad messy... Would have been interesting to go all in Android on this one.
@wilhempujar Thanks for the love on the idea and branding😘 ! I agree that our on-boarding is not how it would be in an ideal world. Our flow was better in our native iOS app, but Apple refused to let us release it. I'm proud of what we were able to create with all of these edge case tools.
We are working on an Android🤖 version! And that one is going to be a lot more powerful because of the flexibility of that platform. Keep an eye on our PH handles if you want to check it out when it lands.
@tdaltonc @wilhempujar I find the onboarding pretty straightforward although UI can be better, though completely understandable since this was done just 48 hrs ago!
The only issue I faced was that I actually opened the weblink from within my ProductHunt iOS app, and when I get to the point where I'm supposed to "Add to Home", I couldn't find it since it's not in regular Safari. And when I tried going to my mobile Safari and used my original email, it asked me for a password, which I never gave in the process on signing up. So I ended up registering under a new email account.
Hi @irshadpc111 ! Make sure that you're going to the https address. We just found that the http address isn't redirecting for everyone. We're trying to solve that now.
EDIT: Should be working on HTTP now.
@tdaltonc @irshadpc111 when I go to the site on my iPhone + safari, all I see is a spinning astronaut - it won't load.
@arilitan Thanks for the bug report! Can you let me know (1)Device (2)Browser (3)Privacy mode?