Dopamine

Hack user engagement with Dopamine's Reinforcement API

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This is the 2nd launch from Dopamine. View more

Space

Unhook yourself from addictive iOS apps

Space helps you get a moment of peace when you need it. We're not here to make you feel bad because it's not your fault: apps are designed to hook you.

Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Space gallery image
Launch tags:
iOS•Productivity•Tech
Launch Team

What do you think? …

Maddie Bleistern
Bravo! I am all for anything that increases general awareness of the psychologically addictive nature of apps, social media, and games. There's nothing wrong with these apps; it's just important to be mindful when using them.
Ramsay 🐻 Brown
Maker
@bleistern Thanks Matthew! That's our feeling too. Your bartender will cut you off if you've had too much. Your girlfriend will have a headache. But Facebook will never tell you 'Not now', and that's problematic. Our brains - and particularly the parts of them that control habits and addictions - didn't evolve to cope with this kind of instant, non-stop gratification. Facebook *is* a tool: it serves a great purpose and we need it in our lives. But we need it in moderation!
Maddie Bleistern
Apparently the way this works is that it is intended to replace your native app icon(s) with launcher icons that, when tapped, give you a moment to breathe before actually launching the app. Clever. I think an illustration of that here would be helpful. Wasn't clear how it worked until after I installed the shortcut. Anyway, wondering: why not a native app instead of a web app?
Will Dages
@bleistern My best guess is because of 2.5.8 in the iOS App Store Review Guidelines: "Apps that create alternate desktop/home screen environments or simulate multi-app widget experiences will be rejected." https://developer.apple.com/app-... The web app is a clever workaround! It lets you have as many icons on your home screen as you want, one to replace each app.
T. Dalton Combs
Maker
@willdages @bleistern Ya we've been going back and forth with Apple all month trying to find a design they'd be happy with. But about 48 hours ago we decided to rewrite it as a web app and just get it out there. At the moment, it's not 2.5.8 that they're sticking on; it's "3.2.2(i) Creating an interface for displaying third party apps, extensions, or plug-ins similar to the App Store or as a general-interest collection." The rep from Apple World Wide Developer Relations was not optimistic about our core functionality ever being approved, but we're going to keep working through the appeals process.
T. Dalton Combs
Maker
@bleistern Thanks for the feedback Matt. We agree that it's an interaction that most users are not going to be familiar with. We tried to strike a balance between showing/telling the user how Space works, without drowning them in expository. Sounds like we need to do more to make it clear.
Michael Cho
@tdaltonc @willdages @bleistern Great hustle to quickly turn this into a web app to test things out first! Apple is notorious with its App Store guidelines...have my fair share of "fights" with them.
Maddie Bleistern
@michael_cho agree. Commendable hustle guys!
Krishan Gupta
You're solving with Space the problem you're creating with Dopamine? Brilliant! :)
T. Dalton Combs
Maker
@nowimkrishan You caught us! 🚔 We think that habit creation requires a more built out experience then habit blocking/breaking. So we make the habit creation tools available to developers and the habit breaking tools available end user. We think that the net effect is that there are more behavior change tools for the end user to be the person they want to be!
Krishan Gupta
@tdaltonc haha, makes sense. It's very clever. Reminds me of Alex Tew's advice.

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