Unpluq
Off Your Screen, Into Your Life.
Start new thread
Ben Lang

Unpluq - Get another hour & 20 minutes in your day, everyday

by
Cursor
•
Get back 1 hour and 20 minutes of your time each day to work out, cook, read or see people you love. Unpluq helps you to take control of your time with a physical gesture to control access to your phone. Improve your mood, sleep, and productivity.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Gijs Spierings
I have been using the app of Unpluq for a long time now and I have to say I would not like to live without it. In the beginning of my usage it was very clear how my behaviour on my phone became automated, and without thinking I would open up certain apps (mostly social media). This "confrontation" with my own behaviour helped a lot to reflect on my phone usage and eventually my screen time reduced a lot (between 1-2 hours a day). I did not expect my usage to change so drastically, and sometimes I still get distracted (even for longer periods). However, I feel these distraction breaks are taken more consciously and I think "Okay now you just distract yourself for a while, and then you put your Unpluq key away...". Eventually I put it away, knowing that I just increased the boundary to take it again, because it is physically moved away. What I like about the app is the constant development, finding new functionalities or barriers on the application. What helped me to break the distraction faster is to put a timer on the unlocking of your phone. After 10 minutes of using a distracting app Unpluq automatically blocks the interface and I have to tap the tag on my phone to open it up again. Because it breaks your flow of distraction it becomes easier to continue what you actually wanted to do. Keep the good work coming!
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@gijs Thank you so much for sharing how Unpluq has impacted your life and how you're using it. This is great inspo for others thinking about making a change to their relationship with their phone! IT IS possible!
Clay Raterman
This is the first time in a while I've truly been like wow I LOVE this idea. I use a yubikey already for security purposes so I'm used to the keyfob to device relationship and I've never found apps to work well for blocking my screentime (too easy to just get around them). This would create an extra layer of consciousness before doomscrolling. Excited to watch you guys grow! Is there any times you find this particularly annoying to deal with regarding not being able to access something important?
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@clay_raterman Clay, love this phrase "layer of consciousness" you coined it! Thanks for your support. The only time I've found it annoying to access something important is when I find a bug, I record my screen and want to share it on Slack but it's at night and I have to unblock to share it with my cofounders because I block work apps at night!!! But it's quick to unblock when I really want to, I hop up and get my keys, or I decide hey, it's not that urgent, and I make a note instead to upload it in the morning. Overall, it really does make you do that judgement call of, "is this actually urgent?"
Clay Raterman
@killclick That's great, yeah I have the same thing with my yubikey and it's rarely an issue. Bringing things back to the physical is what excites me a lot about this so keep up the awesome work and I'll champion you guys whenever I can :D
Adam Baker
I've been an avid user of Unpluq for a few months and started reading way more frequently again :) I personally like the tag, as it adds friction. Simply blocking an app from my phone doesn't cut it for me as I can just quickly unblock it. It's also a pain in the a*se to keep unblocking apps. Unpluq seem to have solved a problem I didn't even knew I had! Great to see this on Product Hunt.
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@adam_dealpad Thank you Adam, for sharing your experience, trying Unpluq, and supporting our launch!
M.H. Lines
Congrats Unpluq team on the epic launch! I love the software and don't think I can make it through a weekend with out it now.
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@m_h_lines Thank you MH! I'm both happy and sad to hear about your weekends <3
Shantanu Bhosale
Like your concept, the Physical Tag is a great addon. But how do you differentiate your app from others in a similar space?
Jorn Rigter
Maker
@shantanu96 Thanks for your support and for your question - this is a great question! Unpluq differs from other apps in the space right now by giving you the _right_ amount of friction to empower you to make the right choice for yourself. It's a solution for the every-person who is simply human, who is dealing with addictive technologies that are built to keep our attention on-screen in an unfair way that hacks at our core biology. Introducing a physical gesture brings you back offline, interrupts that mindless habit loop, and gives you a fighting chance against it. Software-only solutions simply don't touch this, and in a study we did with Tilburg University, we showed really significant impacts on procrastination, distraction, and sleep quality vs software only solutions (here's that study might it be of interest: http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=...) We also see this in the results the Tag is delivering for the people that use Unpluq, and consistently hear feedback that the fob + app combo has helped people achieve results they previously simply weren't able to achieve with software-only solutions. Hope this is helpful! Thanks again for your support :)
Nikita Kalra
Congrats on the launch!
Jorn Rigter
Maker
@nikita_kalra1 Thank you Nikita!
Sandra Djajic
Congratulations on the launch, great work 😊😊
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@sandradjajic many thanks Sandra, can't wait to hear what you think!
Boyang Pan
Congrats on the launch, @unpluq team!
Tim Smits
Maker
@boyangpan Thanks for your support Boyang!
Liesbeth den Toom
💎 Pixel perfection
I’ve been using Unpluq for about 6 weeks and am really pleased at how well it works. Much better than the purely software solutions I’ve tried in the past. Having the hardware element adds a very effective extra layer of friction. The fact that I need to go get my keys (which I’ve attached the fob to) is enough of a hurdle to make me think “never mind, I’ll check [insert time-sucking app] later”. And when I _do_ unblock apps using the fob, it’s just for 10 minutes, or whatever you set your time limit for. Love it!! (And fwiw, I’m in no way affiliated with Unpluq — just a grateful user)
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@billa Liesbeth thank you for sharing your experience and how you use your Unpluq Tag. This is so helpful for others to understand that physical friction and how it impacts decision making. Appreciate you sharing!
Jorn Rigter
Maker
@billa This is so amazing to hear, since this is exactly the reason we started Unpluq and why we see the Tag being so effective. Thanks for sharing this, and glad to hear that the fob is such a game changer for you!
Nuno Reis
😹 LOL
This seems quite interesting. If I can get a whole group to use it we may very well get a friend's dinner unspoiled by texts and cat videos (even though I do love cat videos 😺)
Caroline Cadwell
Maker
@nuno_ms_reis Nuno what a DREAM!
Nuno Reis
@killclick let's make it reality 😉
First
Previous
•••
345
•••
Next
Last