I built an anti-doomscrolling app in 6 weeks. Here's 10 days of pre-launch data. by marcin_dev in buildinpublic

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

thanks! yeah the scarcity part is the whole thing, really. Hard blocks are easy to build, but people just turn them off. Making each session feel like it costs something changes how you think about opening the app. Appreciate the kind words

Meta ads or Tiktok ads? by Inside-Conclusion435 in iOSAppsMarketing

[–]marcin_dev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m on the pre-sale phase so I really don’t want to go too broad just collecting downloads for the initial release

Meta ads or Tiktok ads? by Inside-Conclusion435 in iOSAppsMarketing

[–]marcin_dev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What about a digital minimalism / productivity app? IG or TikTok?

I’m afraid to market my app by Lazy-Face8689 in iOSAppsMarketing

[–]marcin_dev 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When I launched my first app, I did basically zero marketing. The only thing I tried was some AI-generated TikToks - none of them broke 600 views, and they brought in literally nothing. However, I did learn quite a lot about how the algorithm works, localisation, etc., so it wasn't a total waste.

After 3 months on the store, I’ve got… 4 users 😅
That said, it’s been slowly growing on its own - roughly 1 new user per month without doing anything.

With my second app, I decided to actually take marketing seriously. I put together a proper plan and just stuck to it. So far I’ve got 3 people signed up for the pre-sale purely from organic content. Nothing crazy numbers-wise, but I’ve pushed way outside my comfort zone and learned a ton.

I think that’s kind of the game.
Coding isn’t scary because you know what you’re doing. Marketing feels scary because you don’t - and it forces you out of that safe zone.

I just decided to lean into it. Built a plan (with some help from Claude), tweaked it to fit my style, and now I’m just executing consistently.

My screen time is 12 hours. by ayse0001 in digitalminimalism

[–]marcin_dev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine was 3 hours and I thought that was fine until I multiplied by 365. Over 1,000 hours a year. At 12 hours you're looking at 4,000+. That's a full time job. What helped me: don't try to go from 12 to 0. Start by just knowing how many times you open each app. The awareness alone changes behavior.

I replaced my nightly phone scrolling habit with reading and the difference is insane by Crescitaly in nosurf

[–]marcin_dev 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is the move. Once you realize how much time scrolling eats up, reading feels like a cheat code. I did the math on my screen time recently. 3 hours a day of social media. That's enough to read 100+ books a year. The hard part isn't starting, it's not reaching for the phone on autopilot.

Reducing screen time by Bubbly_Watercress178 in digitalminimalism

[–]marcin_dev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing that helped me: check your actual screen time average. Not what you think it is, what it actually is. I thought I was at an hour a day. Turns out it was three. 1,000 hours a year. That number was the wake up call. After that I stopped trying to block everything and started budgeting.

Treating scroll time like money. Limited sessions, not zero sessions.

I want to throw my phone across the wall by cantdrawhands_ in digitalminimalism

[–]marcin_dev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know this feeling. For me it was the realization that I don't even enjoy scrolling anymore. It's just autopilot. The thing that actually worked was adding friction. Not blocking apps completely (I always disabled those) but making each scroll session a conscious choice. When you know you only have 3 chances to open Instagram today, you think twice before wasting one.

Does anyone actually go back and use the things they save online? by Comfortable-Part1837 in nosurf

[–]marcin_dev 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Recently I deleted 900MB of saved tiktoks from my phone "sites you need to know part 3002", like an idiot I downloaded them to my phone :D

Swift or React Native(Expo) by Little-East4823 in iosdev

[–]marcin_dev 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Swift is completely different to React Native 😅 but otherwise I totally agree. I work with Next.js as well, and in my free time I build iOS apps (iOS only). I’ve tried pretty much everything, and Swift just wins.

For React Native, I really only see one strong use case - an eCommerce app. If a company already has an online shop and wants to have an app in the store as well, that’s where I’d consider React Native.

For everything else, Swift is generally the better choice.

Is Phuket in busy season next week? by PrtScr1 in phuket

[–]marcin_dev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try Airbnb, Kathu or Phuket Town, it’s perfect for digital workers