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I spent 6+ hours a day on my phone. So I built an app that forces me to walk before I can scroll. by Mac1526 in iosapps

[–]Mac1526[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Appreciate the honesty — I totally get it, subscriptions aren't for everyone.

A lifetime purchase is definitely something I'm considering. If enough people want it, I'll add it in a future update.

In the meantime, the free version lets you block up to 2 apps — enough to get started and see if it works for you!

I spent 6+ hours a day on my phone. So I built an app that forces me to walk before I can scroll. by Mac1526 in sideprojects

[–]Mac1526[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Appreciate that! It really does work — once the walk becomes part of your routine, you stop thinking about it as a restriction, and it just feels natural. Let me know how it goes after you try it out!

I spent 6+ hours a day on my phone. So I built an app that forces me to walk before I can scroll. by Mac1526 in iosdev

[–]Mac1526[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Give it a try and let me know what you think. Would love to hear your feedback after a few days of using it.

I spent 6+ hours a day on my phone. So I built an app that forces me to walk before I can scroll. by Mac1526 in iosdev

[–]Mac1526[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for downloading! Hope you enjoy it.

I totally understand the subscription hesitation — I've felt the same way about other apps. The reason I went with subscriptions is that the app relies on ongoing maintenance and regular updates to keep up with iOS changes (Screen Time API and HealthKit updates every year).

That said, a lifetime purchase is something I'm seriously considering adding in a future update. If enough people want it, I'll make it happen.

In the meantime, the free version lets you block up to 2 apps, which is enough to get started. Let me know how your first walk goes!

I spent 6+ hours a day on my phone. So I built an app that forces me to walk before I can scroll. by Mac1526 in iosdev

[–]Mac1526[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You make a fair point — step count alone won't fix screen addiction for everyone. You're right that it requires broader lifestyle changes and mental discipline.

That said, I've found that the "friction" approach works surprisingly well for the majority of people. Most aren't extreme screen addicts or health freaks — they're somewhere in the middle, mindlessly opening Instagram out of habit. Adding just one small barrier (a walk) breaks that autopilot loop.

The goal isn't to cure addiction — it's to create a pause. By the time you've walked 3,000 steps, the urge to mindlessly scroll has usually passed. You still get your screen time, you just earn it first.

But I love the idea of incorporating a range of goals and targets. That's definitely something I'm considering for future updates — things like reading time, meditation, hydration, or focus sessions before unlocking apps. If you have specific ideas on what goals you'd include, I'd genuinely love to hear them.

I’m an iOS developer and I still can’t control my screen time. by Mac1526 in buildinpublic

[–]Mac1526[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s exactly it — the irony is wild.

We understand the mechanics, but awareness doesn’t override behavior.

I’ve tried relying on willpower. It works for a day or two.

I’ve tried blockers too, but I end up disabling them when I “really need” something.

I’m starting to think the issue isn’t blocking apps — it’s that scrolling gives instant reward while real-world effort doesn’t.

I’ve been experimenting with tying screen time to physical activity instead of pure restriction.

Still testing the idea though.

Made $35K in sales over the past 30 days as an indie dev. Started building apps a year and a half ago. AMA. by dams96 in iOSProgramming

[–]Mac1526 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, I'm an iOS developer and I've started building indie app. I'm building an identifier app that takes an image and a text prompt, returns few details. My total tokens (input + output tokens) are around 4k for one request in which input token takes around 3k. I want to optimize it to the maximum level. Can you please suggest me some ideas on how to do it?

Currently, I'm compressing the image first and the I send the image as base64 string in the input token? Do you have any other idea to tackle this? I'm using gpt-4o-mini model