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Motion Project Manager
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Kat Manalac

Motion - Never get distracted on the internet again

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Motion is a Chrome extension that actively prevents you from getting distracted on the web through real-time interventions. We save users over an hour a day by intercepting on distracting sites, sending reminders, and showing reports with actionable insights.

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Jack Louvton
Excellent idea - On execution - Full permissions - on all sites is not acceptable ...
Harry Qi
Maker
@jackishere Thank you Jack! Thanks for raising that concern - In regards to permissions, nearly all Chrome extensions, such as Honey and Grammarly, require that permission. Specifically, Motion needs it to compare a page's url to your list of distracting urls, as well as making components like the popup and the countdown appear. Motion has a very strict privacy policy - we do not sell or disclose user data; in addition, as developers, we cannot see sites or content our users visit.
Meet Chopra
@jackishere @harry_qi hey! if you want to skip the tabs permission or `< all_urls >` permission, you can use activeTab permission. With activeTab permission, you can execute scripts, insert css and do most of the functionalities necessary for you.
Omid Rooholfada
Maker
@jackishere @harry_qi @meetchopra Hi Meet! We actually considered the activeTab permission when we started building Motion. The problem is, the activeTab permission requires the user to invoke the extension on each page where we insert scripts or CSS. So for example, every time you visit a distracting site, you'd have to click on our icon in order for us to show you our on-screen interventions. When making the tradeoff, it was pretty clear to us that using only the activeTab permission would hurt the user experience and remove most of the app's usefulness. Of course, that tradeoff means we have to be much more strict about how we approach privacy, which Harry mentions above. Thanks for the comment, always happy to discuss how we think about these things!
Meet Chopra
@jackishere @harry_qi @omid_rooholfada2 thanks for explaining. Completely agreed. Btw nice work guys, I'm using it and love it till now.
Harry Qi
Maker
@meetchopra That's great to hear Meet! Would love to learn your feedback
Nick Oneill
Firefox planned?
Harry Qi
Maker
@nicholasoneill1 Yes! Coming soon!
Harry Qi
Maker
@althaffe For sure! Working on it!
Owen TM
@althaffe @harry_qi How can I get notified when this is out? :D
Harry Qi
Maker
@althaffe @otajor1 Hmmm great question. I think we'll either create another PH page, or just post the link here. ETA one month.
Harry Qi
Maker
Hello Product Hunt! We started Motion because we noticed that we were spending 2-3 hours a day on a handful of distracting websites: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter. This was a painful realization because we knew that 90% of the time we spent on these sites was ultimately wasted. Time is our most valuable, yet scarce, resource - there's little we wouldn't do to get those hours back. We had previously used website blockers like BlockSite and StayFocusd to try to solve our problem, but they were too prescriptive. Their "hard block" approach ignored the fact that sites like Facebook and Twitter are deeply ingrained in our lives. We didn't need these sites blocked completely. Rather, we wanted to be extremely mindful of the time we spent there so that we avoided unintentional rabbit holes. So we're proud to share Motion, our own take on this problem. Motion is a Chrome extension that actively prevents you from getting distracted on the web through real-time interventions. We built Motion to be proactive, but intelligent, about helping you avoid distractions. Here's how Motion works: ✅Intervenes and lets you set a visible countdown timer each time you visit a distracting site (e.g. Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Youtube) ✅On every page, displays your current task and how long you've been working on it so you don't get sidetracked ✅Shows periodic, non-intrusive reminders when you've spent a long time on any website ✅Gives you a daily report on how you spent time on the previous day with actionable ways to improve productivity ✅Hide distracting UI components like Youtube video recommendations and Facebook newsfeed Lastly, we do not sell or share any user data with anyone. In fact - we (developers) ourselves cannot see any websites or content you visit. We hate companies who do sell data, and we will not be one of them. Our beta users have told us Motion saves them more than an hour each day! You can find some testimonials here: https://twitter.com/mwseibel/sta.... We've had similar results using Motion ourselves. Now, we're focused on sharing this superpower - we hope you'll give Motion a try and let us know what you think!
John Ling
Interesting concept. What do you guys do with all my data?
Harry Qi
Maker
@johnl Thanks John! Thank you for asking that. Unlike many other extensions, we do not store or sell any of your data; in fact, we (developers) ourselves cannot even see things like which websites you visit - that's all local on your computer.
Mandeep
@johnl @harry_qi I was going to mention that there's some privacy concerns here, then I saw this response. Your privacy policy (https://static.inmotion.app/priv...) says this: > Motion records information about the currently active application or website on your computer. We record for processing the following information: 1) for time analysis: application name, web site URL, window title, start time of use, end time of use and 2) for distinguishing you and your device: device login name (your system user name), device name, and device operating system version. For some inputs, the public internet address you are operating from is saved, for your security (and ours), and for troubleshooting. Is that all done client-side, and none of that data sent to your servers? If so, you might want to word that clearer in the privacy policy (you're not really processing the data at all in that case). The way it's worded in the privacy policy makes it seem much more problematic.
Harry Qi
Maker
@johnl @mandeep Thanks for bringing this up! All sensitive data (url, content, task name...etc) are done client-side; we do store some information on the server side - such as installs, login, uninstalls and errors. Yes we'll update the privacy policy this week - it's a bit confusing.
Daniel Roger Casanova
We need an early adopter deal for this :)!
Harry Qi
Maker
@danirogerc For sure! When we launch a paid tier, we'll definitely remember all the early adopters :)
Ardy Naghshineh
Congratulations on the launch! Very interesting product. I used to use RescueTime for this purpose, but it was only effective for a couple of weeks. It also felt creepy, probably because it was a free plan and I knew they're most likely using and selling my browsing data. How are you planning to monetize your product? I don't see any info on that here or on your website.
Harry Qi
Maker
@ardalanme Thanks for asking Ardy! As mentioned above, we don't sell or share any user data (we don't even see them ourselves). For monetization, we are likely to roll out a premium tier some time in the future. For now, we are focused on building a baseline product users love.
Harry Qi
Maker
@ardalanme @cindybisv Definitely agreed! Selling to businesses is on the roadmap, especially given the current environment. Really excited!
John Sillings
This product is straight fire. I've messed around with a few of these time-saving extensions before (RescueTime was probably the second best one I used), but none of them ever really worked. I also tried various other things to help improve focus like pomodoro and time tracking. Of the software tools i've tried AND other things i've tried, this blows them all out of the water. I absolutely love how you get enough control to take a 1, 5, or 15 minute break, but 9/10 times I'll just get back to work. (I usually do take 15 minutes to watch a youtube video over lunch.) Also, the onboarding is so great. Works right out of the box with minimal setup. Can't say enough positive stuff about Motion - this thing is really awesome.
Harry Qi
Maker
@johnsillings Thank you so much John! That's really great to hear
Roland Horváth
Love it! Looking forward for the Safari port :)
Harry Qi
Maker
@hroland_ Thank you! Safari on the todo list!
Subramanya Chakravarthy
Any plans on porting to Firefox
Harry Qi
Maker
@chakrihacker Definitely! Firefox coming soon :)
Louis Barclay
Hey @ethan_yu @omid_rooholfada2 @harry_qi ! Really nice work. I just managed the classic blunder of releasing a competitor product to yours on PH on exactly the same day. Any interest in working together? https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Harry Qi
Maker
@louis_barclay Hey Louis! Your product looks cool! Just upvoted Nudge :) Yea for sure! I'll reach out.
Dorukhan Sergin
This is too good to be true. I just want to know if/how will you be monetizing this. The reason why I want to know is obviously how will I justify my privacy concerns.
Harry Qi
Maker
@dorukhan_sergin Hey Dorukhan! Very valid concern! We will not sell or share any user data - we (as developers) cannot see websites or content you visit. We are likely to monetize through freemium tiers. We want our free version, the current product, to be accessible to all and be on every person's computer to save them time from the addicting parts of Facebook, Twitter...etc
Thom Malone
This is awesome. I currently use Cold Turkey to block all distractions, but sometimes I need to go on Twitter or Reddit for a couple minutes but can't because of the way I have it set up because of the limitations of the software. This allows you to have access to the site when you need it, but the countdown and placement of the Reminder/Task List are annoying enough to prevent you from getting sucked in to the distraction.
Harry Qi
Maker
@thomasmalone Hey Thom! It's great to hear you say that - that's exactly our intention. Existing solutions like Cold Turkey and BlockSite take a too simplistic view in that they entirely dismiss the value of a website, when in reality Twitter and Reddit can deliver a lot of good value too. Our goal is ensuring when you visit a distracting site, you don't spend any more time on there than you need to, but also allow you to do what you need on them.
Hazel Song
I feel really distracted by anything during work (remote worker) I really need this! I will give it a try today
Harry Qi
Maker
@hazelsong2 sorry =( we decided to build a Chrome extension first because it's the fastest way to solve a lot of productivity problems. We definitely recognize that a desktop app is needed, and it's definitely on our todo list!
Simeon Kostadinov
Literally one of the best chrome extension I have right now! Amazing product.
Harry Qi
Maker
@simonnoff Thank you Simeon! Would love to hear your feedback!
Luke Harries
Motion is fantastic! I often have to use "distracting" sites for work and Motion does an awesome job at keeping me focused on the task. The "1 more minute" feature is genius
Harry Qi
Maker
@luke_harries That's awesome to hear Luke! Thanks so much for helping us building and iterating on this product.
Daniel Ro
I tried to set my productivity time from 11 am to 3 am, the hours during which I am usually awake, but I get an error message that my start time needs to be before my end time... I think this is a bug?
Harry Qi
Maker
@daniel_ro14 Hey Daniel! Sorry - that doesn't work yet, the end time has to be before "midnight" right now. You are definitely correct that this seems wrong, and we've added this onto our todo list - should be available in the next week. Thanks for letting us know!
Juan Sarmiento
Like a lot that twist: "We built Motion to be proactive, but intelligent". Motion seems like a real game-changer in personal productivity improvement, good work @harry_qi @ethan_yu @omid_rooholfada2
Harry Qi
Maker
@juanpablosarmi Thank you Juan! Glad you like it; we put a lot of emphasis on the intelligent part. Love to hear your feedback!
David Tran
I see that you are using the same approach as iOS screen time this is exactly what I need right now on a browser. I am used to have StayFocused but unfortunately, they are not effective because I still have to visit Facebook frequently. This tool gives me to fine gain control to analyze and review what I need to do when I visit a distracting website. Great work! 👏🏻
Harry Qi
Maker
@namtran_wd Thanks David! That was the reason we stopped using StayFocused and made this :)
David Tran
@harry_qi Thanks, I am using this tool everyday. It does a great job of limiting my time of Facebook. Thank you very much!
Harry Qi
Maker
@namtran_wd That's great to hear David! Would love to learn your feedback :)
Ellis LaMay
I'm incredibly frustrated with this product, and have experienced usability issues with it that prevent me from even trying it effectively. The calendar integration with Microsoft doesn't work, after authenticating nothing happens. Then while trying to troubleshoot, I've ended up having to endure the product onboarding video like 30 times because you can't skip it. Then on other occasions the hot keys ctrl + space don't work so you can't add tasks and just get stuck. I spent 3 hours today trying to get a time-saving product to work. That's not cool. I think you guys have an awesome idea, and honestly a lot of my major disappointment is because I live a daily nightmare of meetings and when I learned about Motion it was one of those "I have to have it" type feelings because it looked so cool. I really hope you guys get this working properly because I would love to be a paying customer.