Brick

Your Phone, Minus The Distractions

111 followers

Your Phone, Minus The Distractions

111 followers

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Time tracking apps

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Activity tracking

A device that temporarily removes distracting apps (and their notifications) from your phone - leaving only the powerful tools you choose. Now you don’t have to take the distractions with you everywhere - leave them behind with the Brick, and engage with more.

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Launch tags:iOS•Productivity•Hardware

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Brick

Maker

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Hey Product Hunt - we are two lifelong friends who just graduated college, and we built a device to help us use our iPhones more intentionally. We realized how much smartphones negatively impact so many of our daily experiences with constant notifications and temptations to scroll. We tried out the existing solutions, but nothing was quite right (software-only solutions were too easy to bypass, and getting a flip phone was a bit too hardcore). We've been spending the last year building a physical "key" for distractions on our iPhones. We taught ourselves Swift to develop the app, and we've purchased 3D printers to create the devices in-house. Let us know what you think!

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3yr ago

Brick

Maker

@shivam_tiwari24 Thanks!

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3yr ago

Product Hunt

Clever idea, @znaz. How exactly does it work? It's not clear if the device needs to be plugged into the phone or how it integrates with ScreenTime.

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3yr ago

PROCESIO

i have the same curiosity like @rrhoover

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3yr ago

Brick

Maker

@rrhoover Thanks for the kind words! The Brick app pairs with the Brick device by tapping your phone (similar to apple pay), so in order to block and unblock apps you have to physically tap your phone to the device. We found that this was the most effective way of blocking apps, because it removes the temptation to unblock apps by simply tapping a button on your phone. The goal was to emulate the experience of leaving your smartphone behind/at home and taking a flip phone without any of the distractions (but still all the useful tools that smartphones provide).

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3yr ago

@znaz @rrhoover I guess that what the App does is to create an automation that runs each time a “distraction app” is launched. The automation then should check if the phone is “bricked” or not. If not it should do nothing, if “bricked” it opens instantly the Brick app that shows that message. I think that you could obtain the same results with an NFC tag and two Shortcuts, but Brick is more convenient for sure.

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3yr ago

Morph

It is the first time for me to see productivity app with extra hardware! It seems more effective as it involves physical interaction to get the distraction back

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3yr ago

@nkennek same! I like the idea of literally giving the key away to someone else (or swapping with them?) so that you only get access back when you see them again (later in the day or even the week!)

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3yr ago

Netlify

Cool to see Brick here, I've been a user for a couple months. The physical device is clever and it's been a positive experience. By making it a physical act to lock and unlock it creates multiple steps to make you more conscious of the choice you're making. I find this makes it much more effective than an app-based approach like Opal or vanilla screen time. What's neat is multiple people in your house or office can all use a single Brick, too.

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3yr ago

Brick

Maker

@gehrigkunz Wow thanks for the support! Really glad to hear you've been having success using it!

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3yr ago

I like the “it’s like taking a flip phone with you” concept and the hardware. Almost habit forming product if gamified a bit 🤔. Daily streak of “bricking your distractions.”

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3yr ago