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Ratio 4 — Welcome to your new home screen
Ratio is an Android home screen designed to turn mindless distraction into mindful productivity.
3 screens with everything you need on unlock. No more endless switching between apps, use social media less and supercharge your productivity.
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@juanpablosarmi thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! Indeed, sometimes we can feel that apps are better because they offer more options, when in fact those extra options end up costing your time and attention (which we should all value much more). We made some conscious choices design wise that enable you to more easily make the "right" choices, the ones you really want to make. This is why we have grayscale icons by default, or why we use drawers, so you dont feel tempted to click an app just because its there on the homescreen.
@juanpablosarmi it always makes us proud to hear that our product affects user behaviors in a positive way!
Hey Product Hunters, we are really excited to launch and share Ratio with you!
We have been working hard the past couple of months with our outstanding community and beta testers (you guys are amazing) to finally deliver it to you as well!
Ratio is a minimal and distraction free Android launcher that is aiming to boost your productivity and clear up cluttered mobile screens. The same screen that is seeking your attention and time 5 hours a day. Imagine if Superhuman and WeChat had a baby :)
My cofounder @mladen_hoyss1 and I started tinkering with Android home screens with one mission, to help people use their phone less without compromises. We see smartphone hazing / excessive use of social media as one of the most severe problems in our social lives. Consumer apps incentivised by eyeball economics have mastered the art of indulging us on their screens beyond whats useful or healthy. We find measures to block, ration or shame usage as extreme and unfruitful. We believe there could be an alternative; social media and smartphones can offer amazing connectivity and social life if used and accessed well. We at Blloc believe in merging mindful UX and minimal UI design into our product so you can get to be the best version of yourself. And this is why we created Ratio.
As long-standing iOS users we saw an opportunity in the flexibility of Android to build the perfect mobile experience: a clean UI, no distraction, no time wasted and getting stuff done fast.
Ratio consists of 3 essential screens designed to give you what you need at a glance: Information, Apps and Messaging.
- Access core functionalities on unlock - The Root
🌥 Weather 📝 Notes 🗓 Calendar 📰 News 📹 Youtube 🎧 Spotify and more...
- Your app drawers - The Tiles
A new and calmer way to organise your apps and find them easier. Every app shows usage time under the title to give you quick awareness of time spent and help you build positive habits.
- A messaging hub - The Tree
65% of phone usage is messaging. A lot of Social networks utilise messages to get you back on their endless feeds. We extract and aggregate messages from all platforms into one screen, giving you control and connectivity without dependancy.
The tree will save you the tedious time you spend switching between apps to check and reply to messages.
We fully integrated with our API independent solution sending and receiving text and media on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram DM and Facebook Messenger. We have SMS (launching soon), Twitter, discord and Slack in the pipeline.
@mladen_hoyss1 @adhambad @saalex Thanks Samuel, let us know how it goes, and some onboarding tips : http://howto.blloc.com/
@mladen_hoyss1 @adhambad Reads like a dream, but it doesn't seem to be compatible with my mobile -- a Huawei P20 Lite. Any idea why?
@mladen_hoyss1 @adhambad @hasan_diwan Hi Hasan we have a lot P20 users, does it have PlayServices ? shoot an email to bugs@blloc.com preferrebly with screenshots and we'll look into it.
@justcharlie What a coincidence, Ratio is also the first launcher that got me to switch away from Nova :D
Not only switch from Nova but also move to a different country in order to work on it with an amazing group of people ❤ @adhambad @mladen_hoyss1 @ismael_dm @olivier_f @singyu_lam @yuhao_zhong
I love the spirit of the Blloc launcher, and its active and supportive community. Ratio 4 is an impressive iteration of their launcher (been using it since the beta days), and I'm happy it works on my device. If you're looking for something minimalist-ish and DIFFERENT, try Blloc.
It's on the Play Store, so no sideloading required!
Will Tree offer any other messaging platforms other than what's currently available? I don't use any of the platforms full-time that are currently offered, I mainly use Google's Messages and would like that be an option there instead of just Internet based options like WhatsApp and Telegram.
Hi @arthurgd3 ! Thanks for letting us know. We have big plans for the tree in the coming months. There are more messaging platforms in the pipeline like sms/mms, slack, twitter and discord.
@arthurgd3 hey Arthur! Yeah, right now SMS support is in the works and will be coming soon. We plan to add more apps in the future, such as Twitter DMs
@internet_johnny Great! I do love the aesthetic and overall it's fast and easy to use but the biggest hurdle for me (the SMS option is Tree is a small issue) is how much of a departure it is from the traditional launcher layout like Nova that I've been using since it's inception. I'm not typically a minimalist style user, I work in IT and I'm on my phone pretty much all day in some capacity so being able to quickly access what I need is a matter of time savings and while I appreciate the auto categorization feature, for users like myself it's a bit less practical, as much as I understand the value of it for other types of users but I support what you guys are doing and am willing to keep trying to make it work for me.
This is really cool, played around with it for about an hour but unfortunately has some resizing issues on the front screen on the Z Fold 2. I know it's a niche phone but figured you'd want to know.
Absolutely awesome - *awesome* - to see this. As an avid watcher of the launcher space (with my current fave being Posidon [spelled/stylized as such] for a number of reasons) - a space heavily congested with spamware, fluff, and lookalikes - Ratio is something to get hype about...
Between an aesthetic appeal that will tickle even the most ardent of iFans in tandem with features/an ethos that champions productivity, usability, and - honestly - *sensibility* - in equal measure, Ratio’s the 2020 glow-up that your Android device (and, maybe - just maybe! - your very relationship with your tech/screen time...) needs.
(And, no - disclaimer unnecessary, haha - despite my glowing praise, here, I’m not employed by or affiliated with the #bllocgang ... but, I mean... hit me up, guys. ;) )
@seymourgroup hahaha that disclaimer is totally necessary :D. 🥰 Blushing, thanks a lot for the love Graham 💕
All the messaging services in one feed, that's what I had been waiting for so long. Will try it.
@jukkez Hi Jules, glad you're giving it a try :) Feel free to check howto.blloc.com for a smoother onboarding experience and also our community forum community.blloc.com where a bunch of experienced Ratio users can help you get up and running with Ratio as a daily driver 😁
Hey Team Ratio,
I love the product but just one question I was wondering if there is any way to shut the vibrate while doing actions?
Also, there were some glitches but I have taken screenshots and would love to share them.
Thanks for making this public without need of the original hardware. After few months with Ratio I can’t imagine going back to stock Android look again! This is far far away from classic launchers.
@martin_fujak thanks a lot Martin! yeah the transition back can hurt the eyes :D
Hi, I think I've got lost since I installed and changed to Ratio. Would you tell me how to go back to the old screen I'd used before? I tried to find a clue in Settings but it's hard to find.
@new_user_4d93c34de7 hey Cheol, can you tell us what you mean by old screen? We've recently added more themes to Ratio if that's what you are referring to, you can change between them by holding the quickaction button (bottom right) and selecting between focus/sun/light/dark
@new_user_4d93c34de7 @internet_johnny Thank you for the quick reply and sorry for the unclear request. I meant that I wanted to go back to the previous theme that I was using before I changed to Radio. But I figured it out, so I have no problem at all now. I think if Radio can offer a feature that we may change each menu to our own language, that would be much better. Thank you.
@new_user_4d93c34de7 @internet_johnny multi language support is something we've been hearing a lot from our users, so we'll add it soon enough. What language do you want to have in Ratio?
@new_user_4d93c34de7 @internet_johnny Hi Cheol totally fair we underestimated localisation's importance and learned relatively quick how important that is on a home screen, we're working on it in an upcoming update.
@internet_johnny I'm Korean. So if I can change all the language into it, I'd be happier than ever. Thank you!
This is 100% what I've been looking for.
I'm struggling between the fact that I want to use my phone as an agenda and to manage personal stuff, but I want to increase my productivity and stay focused.
Ratio is helping me get the best of both worlds with great design and a customizable interface. And since it's not a launcher, it doesn't ask for a lot of memory.
Thank you for building that! :)
@bujold19 Hey Gabriel, I think we've all been there MANY times. You *want* to remain productive, but you have all these apps trying their best to pull you in and engage with them (especially if their business depends on ad revenue), using everything from notifications, bright colors, dark patterns (look at Instagram replacing the Activity button with the Shop button).
We believe people shouldn't have to jump through a million hoops just to be able to use their time how they truly want to (and not how their impuses make them), and this is why we've created Ratio. The great design is the cherry on top 😊
Thank you for your support!
@bujold19 Technically it is a launcher :) Really glad to hear that you‘re enjoying Ratio!
One of the true game-changing ways to use an Android. Slick, simple and efficient. With the launching of Tree, it offers a very unique selling proposition other launchers don't – and more.
@hadi_mahmud1 thank you so much for these words! We've been working very hard the past months to be able to share the ratio experience with everyone. We really believe it's changing our relationship with our phones allowing us to to have a more intentional use of them. We're looking forward to hearing more feedback to keep improving it 💪
I've been using Ratio for a few months and I've been using Ratio 4 for about a week. It's a great launcher and I recommend it. I'm excited to see what they add in the future.
@danteventu Hi Dante, thanks for the support! I hope you're stay satisfied with Ratio in the future! Stay tuned ;)
Love it. Doesn't necessarily keep me off my phone, but it's a great launcher for daily use and works so well. Having the usage times per App shown each time you look at the icon gives you a feeling for how much time you really waste on Instagram and Twitter...
@leonardoyup Hi Lennart! Thanks for the kind words :) Hopefully the Tree messaging hub will help you reduce your time on these apps (support for Twitter DMs will be added soon), at least when it comes to messaging!
@leonardoyup @olivier_f Hey Oliver, I've been using the Tree for my Telegram chats since it launched. Love the feature.
The tools to normalize my phone usage are there (Ratio), now it's up to me to use them, haha. You have come a long way since the early versions of Ratio. Congrats man and thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's a joy to use.
@leonardoyup thank you so much, it's a great motivation for us to read this kind of feedback 🙏
Great UI and almost everything is great. Especially the marker! Loving it. Only thing I miss so much or I think I miss is PWA home shortcuts. Am I doing something wrong??
Great UI and almost everything is great. Especially the marker! Loving it. Only thing I miss so much or I think I miss is PWA home shortcuts. Am I doing something wrong??
I've started using Blloc Ratio in May & downloaded the APK & right away it was visible that the product shows immense promise.
I've played with it for a bit & sadly deleted it after a couple of weeks but just downloaded it again today and it's the bomb! The progress is incredible, Root & Tree are much improved since my last visit, the auto-categorizing is amazing & don't get me started on all the customization options.
I would like to see the BllocDesk app return in the future & maybe add support for multiple search engines (I'm a DDG user in general) but for now all good - continue with the great work guys! 💪
@blendorwhat wow that is such a heartwarming thing to read, thanks a lot on behalf of the entire team 🙏
For now we are 100% focused on Ratio itself, making the Root richer, the Tiles more productive friendly and the Tree as functional as possible, on top of improving the overall app's performance.
If you want to catch up with everything that changes in each update, everything is listed in Ratio Settings if you press the version number, as well as here: www.blloc.com/updates
@blendorwhat we actually really believe in BllocDesk and closing the full circle on a productive experience on the laptop as well. We have all the mechanics in place to re-launch pretty quickly, but as we went for Electron on building it, it was a but of a struggle to have it work stable and consistent that we decided to focus our resources on Ratio 4. This will change soon and integrating the Tree upwards to a desktop is super trivial compared to the other way around ;)
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