Why did I rebuild an app that prompts for intention after phone unlock?

DISCLAIMER: Maybe I’m trying to cover more things than I should in the post, but I think it is important to provide context to people who might be interested in the story behind the Intenty app. And the story might be useful for folks who have side projects and thinking about their projects’ fate.

Download Intenty: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actureunlock

Attempt #1

From idea to first movements

One post-work evening in 2019, I was late to see friends because I got lost in my Instagram feed. Frustrated, I wished there was an app that could have prevented me from even picking up the phone. I was aware of apps that worked as time limiters for certain apps or for your phone in general, but I tried them previously several times and they just didn’t work for me.

I was asking myself “What can prevent me from picking up the phone and jumping in the social media rabbit hole?”

By carrying the question in my head for a few days. I had an AHA moment. I realized that it can be the prompt for intention.

After failing to find an existing app that would do that, I carried the idea of creating an app for weeks. Initially, my lack of Android development knowledge stopped me, so I started simply with a pen-and-paper approach, just to understand whether it works. I recorded the purpose and necessity of each phone use in the notebook during my working hours. Surprisingly, this significantly reduced my screen time and improved my mood overall. It was only then I felt compelled to try and create the app.

I recognize that period as the beginning of the Intenty project (back then the project was called Actuflow).

Prototyping

With a background in non-mobile software engineering (I had experience in web applications mostly), I began learning Android development. After work, I experimented with tutorials, and in weeks, I had an admittedly rough, but functioning prototype. It was awful.

But it did one thing well, it showed me an app after the phone unlock, so I could write my intention. And it was the second AHA moment because I haven’t tried something as effective as this ugly prototype. I reduced my screen time almost by 50% with this thing 🙂

Spreading the word

Originally, I built this app for my own use, but seeing the positive results, I decided it could help others as well. With my girlfriend Nastya, a UI/UX designer, we made the app look more appealing, despite my limited knowledge of Android layouts.

Next, I shared the app on Reddit, ProductHunt, and Twitter. Despite the app lacking in certain areas, like user onboarding, it was well received on Reddit. Posts on social media led to roughly 10,000 downloads and mentions in several "Best Android Apps of the Month" YouTube videos.

This response brought in a lot of feedback, which I started to process.

Until this point, everything was going well. But I believe this is when I started making a series of mistakes.

Learning from Missteps

Misstep #1: Unquestioningly Implementing Feature Requests

Feature requests can be a blessing and a curse. While many seem logical and beneficial to both you and your users, blindly implementing them can distract from your app's core mission.

I followed a "popularity first" approach to feature requests, which I now consider a major misstep. Focusing on these requests caused me to lose sight of the original concept and direction of the app.

For instance, many users requested a stats feature, which took months to develop. However, this took away time and energy from making important updates to the key feature of the app—the screen that shows up right after unlocking the phone—and from enhancing the app's learning components. A link to the Digital Wellbeing app might have been a simpler solution.

Instead of investing in-depth, I spent time broadening the app's features, which created several elements that needed ongoing attention.

Lesson #1: Stay true to your original concept and learn to say no to feature requests when necessary.

Misstep #2: Biting Off More Than I Could Chew

The most frequent feature request was for an iOS version of the app. So, what did I do? I bought an iPhone and started replicating my Android approach: Tutorials → Prototype → Polishing → Promotion.

However, during the prototype stage, I discovered that my original concept couldn't be implemented on iOS. It's impossible to show the app immediately after unlocking.

I spent time redesigning the iOS concept, trying various solutions like directing users to open the app after unlocking, using widgets, and creating shortcuts for app launching. These efforts were short-lived; the app was often deleted or forgotten.

Promoting the iOS version on social media also didn't go as planned. Instead of returning to the Android app, I continued tinkering with the iOS version while keeping the Android app updated, without new features.

Lesson #2: Stay focused. Work on one thing at a time and know when to call it quits.

Apathy limbo

Here's what I had at that moment:

• An outdated Android app that didn't work on new Android versions

• iOS app that wasn’t really doing the thing that it supposed to do

Technically iOS and Android were completely different apps. And during a significant period of time, I’ve kept being focused on iOS as there was a chance to make the original idea there.

Then I had an attempt to involve other people in the project. It wasn't successful and after some period of time of trying to build something we had to split our paths. After the split, I had:

• An outdated Android app that didn't work on new Android versions

• A problem with mindless phone use, especially as I had an iOS device and was unhappy with my screen time

The project essentially came to a standstill, because of several big events that happened in my life, including the Russian invasion of my home country.

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Why attempt #2?

As time went by, I tried several new apps to help with phone usage, but none were as effective as my original Android app.

I was so frustrated that these apps often asked for my email immediately after installation. I didn't like that. I needed a tool that work without needing my personal information. Why doesn’t such a tool exist?

So, I decided to revive my old Android app. Inspired by the rise of GPT-4, I chose to redesign it with a chat-style interface, which feels more natural to us.

This led to the creation of the "Intenty" app.

Building Intenty meant a complete overhaul of the old app, both technically and in design. With lots of feedback and Nastya's help, we started the makeover.

After four months of working during weekends and spare time, Intenty was released. This time, I wanted to learn from past mistakes and apply those lessons.

To sum up, I made a second attempt because there were no existing tools that worked as I wanted, I believed in the importance of mindful phone use, and I yearned for an app that worked independently without asking for personal details.

How do I see attempt #2?

Let’s break down it into 3 categories Features, Experiments, Other

Features:

1. I’m planning to work on features that will allow scheduling and time bounded controls for Intenty mode. For instance, you will be able to schedule Intenty for working hours only.

2. During the implementation of the new version, I realized that it is possible to implement “hard mode”. In “hard mode” you won’t be able to skip the chat.

3. More chats. I’m thinking about building ready-to-use chats (for instance I thought about having “Posture chat”, the chat that will remind you about your posture) or building a tool that will allow you to design your own chats. There is no decision here, yet.

Experiments

1. As you all probably thought, it would be cool if ChatGPT was available as an in-app chat. It’s a good idea, but it is unacceptable from a privacy perspective, and having such heavy dependency on another service may lead to unexpected consequences, take for instance Twitter and Reddit clients. So I’m thinking about our own LLMs and other models that can enhance our chats.

2. I’m thinking about app suggestions in the app based on your input.

Other:

1. I will try to document the journey of building Intenty, here at this Substack

Thanks for reading.

Please let me know what you think about the new version.