🤩 Hello again Product Hunt fam! I’m Caroline Cadwell, the CEO and one of three co-founders of Unpluq. Today we share with you a physical-meets-digital solution that I use every day in my own life: the Unpluq Tag & iOS App (don’t worry, it’s on Android, too!). ❓Have you ever had a meal ruined because someone was looking at their 📱 phone? It doesn’t have to be that way anymore. (Check out the poll below and let us know about your approach to this problem!) Some people call Unpluq the Tile of time–your time goes, well, somewhere, into the ether, and we help you get it back. With Unpluq, we’re empowering people like you to take control of your time in an always connected world–one where billions of dollars have been poured into making sure we keep our eyes on our screens. It’s an extremely difficult task to simply stop picking up your phone to check, and that’s why we made Unpluq. We use a physical gesture in the real world to give you the opportunity to make better decisions for yourself. We’re giving ourselves and you the ability to make good on the intentions you have, to not stumble into a doom scroll, but to go in boldly instead–on your terms. We’re helping you change your habits around how you interact with your phone and the technology in your lives. And we need your feedback in order to reach our next milestone and continue on our venture seed round path. We’re growing 42% month over month right now in users and sales, but we know to reach a bigger audience, we need to iterate. I invite you try Unpluq today and tell us what could be better, and what’s working well for you. We’re just three people in the company, so thanks for being part of our extended team. Did you know feeling that you don’t have control of your time is a leading cause of burnout? So far customers have told us they started using Unpluq because they: - Felt their phone controlled their behavior - Had strained relationships because of phone usage over dinner, on dates, at family time - Were late to a work meeting because of scrolling on something unimportant to them - Feel bad when they spend more than 1-2 hours a day on their phone - Wanted to feel better about their self image, and felt avoiding social media was important - Were losing out on sleep because of watching videos in bed at night What we’re really excited about is that the majority of times Unpluq customers go to open a blocked app, they choose not to open it–it’s a real, sustainable change that allows you to be intentional. And, you’ll stick with this habit: 3 months later, more than 60% of the folks who try Unpluq are still using it every day. It’s not for everyone, but it works for a lot of people. With your feedback, we can help more folks. 🧑‍💻 How It Works With Unpluq, you choose which apps you want to block, and when. If you need to access a blocked app when your schedule has kept you from it, you can–with a layer of intentionality. Unpluq has free and premium versions, and you can use these barriers to unblock apps depending on the type you have: - The Unpluq Tag (physically get your keyfob and hold it to your phone to open apps) - Connect to a charger - Shake your phone for a period of time - Tap a random pattern of buttons - Scan a QR code - Scroll a screen of nothing - Walk to Unpluq (Android only) - Set it as random! 👪 My co-founders Tim Smits @smiiits (Product) & Jorn Rigter @jorn_rigter1 (Engineering/Dev) will cover how we built Unpluq and more in their comments here too. ➕Give Unpluq a try today, and take advantage of the 20% off for Product Hunt on our website when you purchase the Unpluq Tag which comes with a subscription to Unpluq Premium. 👇 Anonymously share how you manage your relationship with your phone below!

Hey Product Hunt 👋, I’m so excited to be launching Unpluq and the Unpluq Tag on Product Hunt. We’re the world's only physical barrier to distraction that works with an app on your phone. And we’re already helping thousands of people use their phones more intentionally. One of the reasons that I started Unpluq is that on the one hand, I love tech and smartphones, but on the other hand they got me distracted constantly. I was not focused during studying and didn’t sleep enough. With the original Unpluq Key (launched in 2020 on Producthunt) we pioneered a new way to interact with your phone. A physical gesture that gives you access to your distracting apps. With this action, you make accessing distracting apps a conscious choice instead of a mindless habit. Because we wanted to increase the impact we could have on the world, we also decided to create several software barriers (intentional actions that take time), like shaking your phone, scanning a QR code, or tapping buttons to access your digital distractions. At Unpluq we’re still most excited about our physical product, the Unpluq Tag. Which works as the best barrier to distraction. We now let you choose, do you want a little bit of friction or do you need a bit more and use the Tag. 🤓Let's get into the science behind the Tag: It’s based on the rational override theory (link). Basically, it says that if you create a big enough barrier to interrupt your automatic behaviour, your brain goes, "Wait, Do I really want to open this app right now?" It's like your brain does a double-take and forces you to make a conscious choice. Pretty cool, huh? 😎 Unpluqqers are getting creative with their Unpluq Tags—they stash them in all sorts of places! Some keep it in their car, others leave it in another room, and a few even give it to their significant other. 😄 It's like a secret key to block your digital distractions! We're absolutely stoked to hear what you all think of Unpluq! Your feedback and questions are more than welcome—bring 'em on! We can't wait to chat with you. 😊💬

Hi everyone! Being the CTO at Unpluq, I’d love to dive a little deeper into the Screen Time API we used for iPhones, which was released with iOS 16. But first, I’d like to tell you about my personal connection to the problem Unpluq solves. At Unpluq, we’re on a mission to give you control over technology, so that it doesn’t control you. I love technology and the benefits it brings, but started noticing the negative effects my smartphone had on my productivity during my studies. I would pick up my phone to check the weather (yes, I’m from the Netherlands 🌧️), and 20 minutes later I would realize I’d been mindlessly scrolling on Facebook again. Solutions like Screen Time didn’t work because they were dismissed with one click. There had to be a decent solution to this problem! That’s when Unpluq was born 👶 In the meantime, our baby startup has grown, and I’m very proud and excited to announce the release of Unpluq for both iOS and Android today! For our iOS app we’re making use of Apple’s Screen Time API (the same stuff the Screen Time app is using), already available for parental control apps from iOS 15 and released for personal use in iOS 16. This new technology makes the experience of using Unpluq a breeze; previously, apps had to use a local VPN to block other distracting apps (an insanely bad experience, because you could still open Instagram, it would just mention you were not connected to the internet. And, notifications would still come through!). We’ll be here all day, so feel free to drop a comment with your feedback and questions. I personally can’t wait to hear what y’all think about Unpluq!

Congrats on the launch Unpluq team!

Hello, dear hunters! Philipp here, an intern at Unpluq, and I'm happy to introduce you to the Unpluq app today. 🙌 During my time as an iOS developer at Unpluq, I had the incredible opportunity to learn and be part of the team that brought this app to life. My role was to develop the app using Apple's innovative Screen Time API, and I can tell you that it was both a challenging and exciting experience for me. Contributing to a project that addresses a real-world problem that many of us face really means a lot. What I personally like about Unpluq is its unique approach to creating a physical barrier to accessing your applications. This approach strikes the right balance between the ability to access your applications and the difficulty of doing so. By creating a point of friction, Unpluq allows you to pause, reflect, and consciously decide if you really need to dive into the digital world at that moment. It's about taking back control of our digital lives without completely cutting off access. I invite you all to follow us on Product Hunt and discover Unpluq for iOS. Let's take control of our screen time and make a positive impact on our daily lives. 😍📵

"Get back 1 hour and 20 minutes of your time each day" is a very attractive promise! I guess what I didn't understand immediately (or fully) is the need for a physical tag. What's wrong (or not good enough) with simply blocking the apps on my phone at certain hours? What about simply putting my phone away at certain hours? I think you could benefit from explaining the advantages of your system over the other methods. Good luck!

Congrats on the launch! Love the thinking behind this and how you have to go through a few hoops if you want to unlock an app, really forces you to rethink if you should. Good luck with the product and the launch!

I use Unpluq to keep myself from checking my work email after hours. That extra step helps me be more conscious about my habits. It's a game changer! Highly recommend.

I am the type of person that vows to sleep at a certain time but can never manage to deliver. I have big hopes for this tool to help people like me who sometimes can not resist the urge to go back to browsing on my phone instead of taking a snooze. Kudos to the team!

Love the physical nature of this - would really make me think about why I need to doomscroll!

I love how you're helping us imagine the value this extra time would bring into our lives. Thank you for doing this!

Wow, sounds like a really cool idea, i like the concept and the design you choosed overall is very good, clean and simple, keep it up, congrats on your launch

Congratulations on the launch! Really interesting and non-standard solution 🔥Especially it's great that all makers shared their experience about Unpluq in comments. In what directions do you plan to develop your product further?

Congratulations on the launch, looks really cool. Downloading now.

Instant upvote, you did a great Job @smiiits @jorn_rigter. Still, I am a bit sad to see that we're addicted to phones to the point where we need physical barriers :(. No wonder your product market fit is amazing :)

Very special idea! Great!!

Congrats on the launch! As someone who’s looking to improve screen time and digital wellness in general, the physical key really stands out. Looking forward to giving it a try!

I think I have found a perfect solution to my frequent distractions. Especially for those of us who work in front of a computer, it is very easy to get distracted from time to time by looking at things on the mobile phone that are unnecessary at the time. Social networks, videos on youtube... these are temptations that perhaps we could limit, focusing on more important issues. Whether it's work, or spending time on other things like sports or socialising in a physical way.

Unpluq is a game-changer when it comes to the management of my technology use and helps me to be more productive with my day-to-day work. Highly recommended!

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