Leash: A low-dopamine browser replacement

A couple of years ago, I discovered that I spent too much time on my phone. I'm a super curious person, almost everything interest me. Alas, my brain would always be willing to scroll on, read more and more. As I lost focus on the things that I really *wanted| to do, I thought it might be a good idea to uninstall social media, email and my browser. Grayscale mode, voila: my all-new, low-dopamine iPhone! Over the years, I found a good replacement for many things you'd do in a browser, such as news news (a RSS reader) and spending waiting times (ideas journaling). But then life came along! As it turns out, life in the mid-2020s requires a browser at certain points, not only an RSS reader and a text editor. "Pay for this parking lot by scanning this QR code." "Hey, check out this interesting cool website I found: www.interestingcoolwebsite.com" "To continue signing in to this app, please follow this link to our website" "Hmm, where were the Olympic games in 2004?" In these situations, I simply re-enabled Safari (Settings – Parental Controls – Allowed Apps – PIN Code – Safari – On...). It was effortful (perhaps in a good way in general – but not what you want when trying to pay for a parking lot) and I often forgot to disable it after doing what I wanted to do. Then, I happily went back to doomscrolling, now that Safari was back on my phone. As a designer interested in what we do with technology and what technology does with us, I wondered if I could create something in between: A useful browser for links that come in from the outside world (ticketing QR codes, friends, apps) but unattractive to open for a doomscrolling binge session. Plus, would Apple certify it as a 'browser', a valid replacement for Safari (not all apps get that, it's some paperwork and a criteria checklist with Apple)? Turns out, it did! Both Android and iOS phones will recognize Leash as a browser, and after installing it, you can disable (or even delete, as for Safari!) your system browser. Opening Leash will bring you to a boring screen, "no entry here". You simply open it from other apps: your camera (QR codes), your messenger and apps (links) or even your home screen by typing a search phrase into the regular "search" field (prominent on Android, pull down for Spotlight search on iOS) on your home screen. It will suggest a web search, and there you go. I've been dogfooding this for weeks now, with one or the other tweaks made in the last days – now it's ready to launch. I hope you like it, let me know! (Business-model-wise, I'm sticking to an ancient principle here, which used to be called 'Buy once'. I know subscriptions are all the hype, but this is about peace of mind, after all. Sorry, no subscription!)