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yarsanich

40 karma · joined April 27, 2020

software engineer building digital wellbeing apps in free time contact: yaroslav@mindfulbun.studio
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yarsanich··on The Minimal Phone pairs an E Ink screen with a QWERTY keyboard and Android
IMO, your brain can adapt to "minimal" UI and even with minimal UI it will find its desired source of dopamine distraction.

So either you replace those distractions with other activities or you have to put something more engaging and advanced to protect you from going to rabbit holes.

The second is what I'm experimenting with. I built a quick chat that tries to challenge the necessity or intention of my device usage after I unlock my phone. Unfortunately it's possible on Android only. If you are interested check Intenty app on Google Play.

yarsanich··on Artifact News Is Shutting Down
What deserves recognition is that they have a clear and concise communication about this.
yarsanich··on Ask HN: How AI/ML can be applied to improve our phone usage habits?
Then a proper question is "what metric to select for optimization?"

As for just using plain software, yes it is an option indeed. But when we are using our devices, we produce so many data points and they are mostly used for hooking our attention through models. Don't you think that there is there so little reverse targeted application of the models?

yarsanich··on Ask HN: How AI/ML can be applied to improve our phone usage habits?
Apologies for misleading title of my question, I was curious about "improving" our phone usage habits not using it for the purpose of getting more attention. Something like reducing screen time.
yarsanich··on Ask HN: How AI/ML can be applied to improve our phone usage habits?
I used my personal usage data in the format

timestamp_of_session, duration_in_seconds

Yes, sorry for lack of details I meant root MSE

yarsanich··on Humane AI Pin
Creating this is a very bold move, regardless of success or failure. The noise it generates draws attention to potential alternatives in how we interact with our devices.

Talking about alternatives often leads to mere concern and agreement without action. Presenting an actual alternative, however, deserves respect.

Yet, there's a hint of skepticism in my appreciation. Why the 'AI' pin? The constant mention of 'AI' arouses suspicion about the product, recalling a time when 'AI' was not a part of their lexicon.

Nonetheless, I wish them good luck with "AI" pin.

yarsanich··on Ask HN: Why paid apps are not popular?
Like apps that requires payment up front to be installed. Paid apps in Google Play or App Store
yarsanich··on Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)
Working on a side project. An app that should help to use mobile devices more focused and purposeful. App simply prompts users to type an intention before using the device(Android), certain apps(iOS). I'm making it privacy-focused, no analytics, no sign-ups, with local data storage. At first, I solved my issues with phone usage and now I'm trying to make the app easier to use and I focus on users feedback to improve retention.

https://acture.app

yarsanich··on Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers
Good to know.

Suddenly Apple rejected my last app release because of link to app Patreon page(it was there in all previous releases).

Hope now I will be able to back this link to the app.

yarsanich··on TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app
The only issue I see that it can be quite addictive without proper moderation.

From tech perspective I think that it brings something new to social media world and that creates some movement in industry. Look at YouTube “Shorts”.

yarsanich··on Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you
> If every time I unlocked my phone it had a screen that displayed for 30 seconds that just said "what are you doing right now, and how long do you intend to do it?" I think it would probably have a similar positive effect.

I created and app for that. Called Actuflow.

yarsanich··on Ask HN: Show me your half baked project
Actuflow - app that reminds you to be intentional with your phone usage. https://acture.app Shows you pop up window after phone unlock with intention form on Android, after app opening(using shortcuts) on iOS. Main features were implemented. Redesign and a lot of additional features are arriving. https://twitter.com/actuflow Offline, free, no-ads, considering to open source.
yarsanich··on How to overcome Phone Addiction
The app itself still does not collect any kind of data from user. It works without internet at all.
yarsanich··on How to overcome Phone Addiction
Created an app for myself to have a clear intention before using a phone. https://acture.app Works well for me.
yarsanich··on Show HN: iPhone app that may prevent you from frequent social media checking
Thanks for feedback! I'm glad that you liked it! I hope it will help you to use your phone more mindfully.
yarsanich··on Simple app that may force you to rethink your smartphone usage
I also hope so.
yarsanich··on How to Be Indistractable
Great article.

About "Self-explore" part.

I agree that the identification of internal distractions is important for somebody who wants to be less distracted.

It was easy for me to get distracted to my smartphone, even without notification until I started tracking and thinking about every interaction with it. And I can confirm that when you know the root cause you can prevent it or handle it somehow.

It may sound self-promotional but nevertheless. I created an app(https://acture.app) for tracking smartphone usage intentions for myself. And it really helped me to deal with smartphone overuse(I still overuse on my laptop but that's another history). Every time when I would like to use my phone I make a pause and think about the intention and validating it before using. I was writing this intention right into the app which popup with input form after every unlock(pop up is only on Android, on iOS user have to manually go to the app). I found several usage patterns in my usages and then I created plans for every pattern "How to deal with it". And I don't need to delete all apps from my phone to use my smartphone less, instead, it's a chance to investigate how do I use it and then adapt and get best from these apps. In other words, I created a habit to think and validate my every phone usage intention. E.G it's morning and I picked up my smartphone and I would like to check some tweets and then I got a pop-up window that reminded me to think about my intention and write intention and then I realized that it's morning better to prepare some coffee and go through my morning routine.

Then I shared this app and looks like for some people it works. There is no magic app or one concrete approach on how to identify these triggers. I think it's more about self-monitoring and your desire to change it.

Thanks for post

yarsanich··on App Review process updates
Hmm...I have huge delays in reviewing my app to TestFlight from yesterday (previously it was maximum half day). Maybe that's the reason?
yarsanich··on Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
Creating one-file pdf from large pdf file with simple page drag to the home screen using Preview.
yarsanich··on Show HN: MeetingBar – A menu bar macOS app for calendar meetings
I already using it.(from Product Hunt launch) Perfect fit for work-day routine especially on WFH.
yarsanich··on Show HN: Actuflow – stop procrastinating using a smartphone
It's not possible to overlay apps after unlocking on iOS. But I found a way how to change UX to fulfil that. All intentions should be marked as failed or successful after finishing, so the user should back to the app before phone lock. So by locking your phone in the app, you will not forget about filling intention next time. That's the only allowed way I found for iOS. There is a way how to show your app immediately after unlock, but it requires using private API that is not allowed by the App Store.
yarsanich··on Show HN: Actuflow – stop procrastinating using a smartphone
I thought about such reminders, but I have a concern that it will be too much notifications. But anyway, it can be optional.
yarsanich··on Show HN: Actuflow – stop procrastinating using a smartphone
Thanks. Waiting for your feedback :)
yarsanich··on Show HN: Actuflow – stop procrastinating using a smartphone
Thanks for a try. It sounds like a great idea. I will take it into account. Are you on iOS or Android?
yarsanich··on Show HN: Actuflow – stop procrastinating using a smartphone
Hi! Thanks for trying.

Yes, you are right that's a side project.

I spent a lot of hours after work playing with Swift on iOS and Kotlin on Android. But thanks to good Google and Apple documentation it wasn't a bad journey.

But about the release process, it was much harder with iOS than Android.

yarsanich··on Ask HN: Do you think that your smartphone is main source of distraction
A good way to change your context from tech!
yarsanich··on Ask HN: Do you think that your smartphone is main source of distraction
Interesting. Thanks for your answer. Does app removal help you? There is a lot of hype near 'Digital detox'. Did you try it?
yarsanich··on Show HN: Acture - app that reduces mindless smartphone usage
I see. The same was for me with app blockers.
yarsanich··on Show HN: Acture - app that reduces mindless smartphone usage
No, at the moment. But it's possible in the future if such an approach to phone usage will help someone and will be useful at all.
yarsanich··on Show HN: App that asks you to type a valuable reason before phone unlock
Clickable links. [0] https://acture.app/ [0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actureunlo... [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/acture/id1507694725?ls=1