Intentional phone use is a tricky habit to develop. Operating systems like iOS and Android, along with social media networks like Instagram and TikTok, have built in timers, nudges, and controls over the use of apps or platforms.
However, sometimes you unconsciously unlock your phone just out of habit to do nothing or scroll through your timeline. To break this habit, Ukrainian developer Yaroslav Neznaradko created an Android app called Intenty. Intenty gives you a reason every time you unlock your phone or prompts you to do something like breathing or stretching.
Neznaradko started thinking about this issue in 2019, when he started spending a lot of time on his phone.
“I was checking my phone too much (email, social media, news). I tried limiting screen time, focus mode, and blocking apps, but it was more frustrating than helpful. And I got an idea. What if I had to state and evaluate my intentions before using the phone? That’s where it all started. As a prototype, I tried to write down my intentions in a notebook every time I needed the phone, and it worked,” he told TechCrunch via email.
He released an early version in 2020, but its use was limited to one time: asking users why they were unlocking their devices. He also developed an iOS version, but realized that the platform had many limitations. Ultimately, the project was halted until 2023.
Last year, he rebranded the app to Intenty and focused on the Android version. Since ChatGPT was new at the time, he decided to ask people to chat with the bot about their intention to use their devices when unlocking their phones. But that didn’t stick with users.
After studying human-computer interaction, Neznaradko launched a redesigned version this summer that allows users to customize their nudges. You can choose nudges from several categories, including intention, necessity, grounding, posture, and minimalism. All these categories have different number of prompts and you can also add new categories or prompts.
You can avoid entering a reason by swiping out of the nudge screen, but that defeats the purpose of using the app. You can set a cooldown time, so you won’t see a nudge right after you lock your phone, in case you’re waiting for someone to respond. You can also set the intensity of the nudge pop-up by setting it to appear every 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 10th unlock.
The app also displays response log history and the number of phone unlocks over time.
Intenty is free, but paying $1.99 per month unlocks a nudge schedule, a hard mode that requires you to enter a reason, and a lock button that locks your phone from the nudge screen.
There are other apps that can help you reduce screen time. There’s One Sec, which shows your workout or movement when you open a social media app, and Minimalist Screen Time, which turns your phone into a device with limited functionality.
After Neznaradko posted about the new version of Intenty on Hacker News on Wednesday, many people provided feedback about how they would like the app to work and not every time. Neznaradko said it’s a challenge to understand unlock patterns and not nudge users when they want to do something quick, like take a photo.
He is working on creating notifications or pop-ups during long phone sessions. He is also exploring ways to deal with nudge fatigue and automatically refresh the content of those messages. In the long run, he might want to add image or video nudges as well.
