Launch HN: Clearspace (YC W23) – Cut back on screen time

[anteloper]

Hey HN, we're Royce and Oliver, the founders of Clearspace (https://www.getclearspace.com). We make an iPhone app that helps you reduce compulsive phone use. It regulates your social media experiences and app usage, saving you from impulse opens and mindless scrolls. Here’s a demo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zXLYvtG1zZ6ZRq01eGc8jlsn70v...

During the pandemic, we found ourselves spending more and more of our lives on digital content. Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, even HN were always right there, and the impulse to open and consume became stronger than ever. We realized how much of our technology use was compulsive rather than intentional. Willpower alone was not enough to solve the problem. Most of these products have been designed to activate dopamine feedback loops and, to be blunt, keep users hooked [1].

Not wanting to be addicted, we started cobbling together "attention protection stacks": iPhone shortcuts, Chrome Extensions, custom /etc/ files, anything to create digital environments that aligned with our own goals rather than the engagement metrics of big tech. We had some surprising successes with that, so we decided to build a comprehensive and approachable solution. We began with our worst pain point: mindless scrolling on our phones.

How it works: you tell us what apps you want to reduce your usage of (edit: and websites! we just rolled out website support this week), and we do the following to train better habits:

(1) App Intercepts: we inject a mandatory 15 second breathing exercise before opening apps you’ve added to Clearspace. This helps to break the dopamine feedback loop that your brain has learned, where tapping an app icon yields an instant reward.

(2) Intentional Sessions: at the end of said breathing exercise, you tell us how long you want to use an app for. Then you enter and we'll pull you out after that amount of time.

(3) Cumulative Progress: each day you stay below your intended time limit adds to your streak of successes. Over time, protecting your streak frequently becomes more important than a "quick scroll" before bed (and if you get a 100 day under-budget streak, we'll send you a hat).

(4) Teammates: you can add “teammates” who will receive automatic texts if you exceed your budget on an app, remove it from Clearspace, or delete Clearspace entirely.

You may notice how this is fighting fire with fire: we use tech to limit your tech use, social features to curtail social media, and so on. The mechanisms built into the big apps have such a conditioning effect on the brain, they’re nearly impossible for most people to resist. We invoke similarly powerful mechanisms on your behalf, to help your life be less dominated by these things.

Some of this only recently became technically possible. The new ScreenTime API from Apple allows users to connect apps on their phone to third party apps (like us). We receive opaque "tokens" for each user app selection and we can perform actions on the tokens, which affects the apps without us knowing what the actual apps are. We can add and remove "shields" to a token, which presents an obstructing interface over an app or website. We can display a user's usage of a token over a time period and display that data to them.

Btw, after 3M "app intercepts" (a 15 second wait), we’ve found that people opt not to continue to the app they tried to open 54% of the time. We think that says something about how much of our social media use as a society is compulsive rather than intentional.

Here are some typical testimonials from users who have been recovering their time by using our app: https://twitter.com/martindaniel4/status/1630175865496584193, https://twitter.com/timzyu/status/1632551744340123650, https://twitter.com/jandralee/status/1650674167174377473

If you're an iPhone user, we'd love for you to try our app and let us know what you think! We have a freemium model: adding one app is free, paid tier gives you unlimited apps. Your feedback on the app would be deeply appreciated and more broadly we’d love to hear about how you’ve navigated this problem in your life.

[1] though maybe not HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77173, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=372593.

[csmeder]

Hi Royce and Oliver, I have a suggestion: look into dimming the screen slowly for the last 30-60 seconds before you pull a person out of the app. This will greatly decrease the annoyance of being pulled out. It gives you time to anticipate being done with your session. I do this with my toddler.

We let him use our phone to look at family videos while we are changing him. If I turn the phone off abruptly, it can be frustrating for him at times. However, if I manually dim the screen more and more (and lower the volume more and more), it feels natural that the phone is getting "tired". He is then okay with leaving the phone.

[anteloper]

This is brilliant, will absolutely hack around with it this weekend. I think it's possible to temporarily modify brightness on iOS as a third party app, thanks very much for the suggestion

[paolomaffei]

Absolutely gold suggestion. This might just be the future for most internet-connected device use, and particularly for children/supervised use like you're describing.

[prionassembly]

Do you have physical brightness buttons? Do you have any more gradual transition hacks?

Our 2-yr old doesn't have access to phones at all -- except perhaps when he grabs one that's lying around; but then he expects it taken from him. But he's so taken with TV that we plan screen time in reverse: start at dinner time and subtract how much time we want him to be there. Our whole approach to tantrums is having something else lined up rather than just shutting things off and leaving a void. I'm fascinated by your methods.

[lifeisstillgood]

It's this and a thousand other "hacks to handle human failings" that will allow us to have the promise of technology while minimising the downsides - just as we did for weavers looms, coal power and so on

[vmatsiiako]

Really love this idea!

[jh00ker]

Wow! Brilliant idea!

[fastball]

I've been using the app for a few months to gatekeep Twitter and Instagram, and my only real issue is that sometimes when those apps are linked to from other places, I just want to be able to quickly see it and then stop my doomscrolling. e.g. if my friend sends me a tweet, I want to be able to click the link, read the tweet, and then be immediately locked out of the app. With the current system, I click the link, have to do the whole 10s breathing exercise + quote, then read the tweet, and I still have a bit of time to mess around in the app before I'm locked out. So I actually end up spending more time distracted in those situations than I otherwise would.

[anteloper]

love this callout, this is definitely on our roadmap. we refer to it internally as "one-tweet." basically - we'd love to be able to either

1. render that single tweet on the shield so you don't even have to enter the app to see it

or

2. let you passively stack up all the links you get sent socially, like a reading list, so you can work through them all at once.

will keep you posted on which way we go but definitely going to address this because it's a pain-point of mine as well.

[jxramos]

ha, that's the first time I ever heard that term "doomscrolling", definitely feels that way in many places. Makes me think of what the opposite would look like. Something in the direction of https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/glow-up/ but for websites.

[Aea]

Love the idea of interrupting the "dopamine loop" with a delay vs. simply tracking or restricting usage. I worked on creating a Chrome Extension several years ago for myself and I can't believe I didn't have this (in retrospect) obvious idea. I have a few concerns:

* The UI feels somewhat unpolished for asking me to purchase an annual plan on signup.

* I would prefer a free version that is fully featured for a short trial period that later reverts to a limited (one app) version. I have more than one problem app and it's hard to get a feel right now.

* Can I overlap schedules (i.e. open during lunch and any time during the weekend)?

* How do I set this up for something like YouTube? I have several modes of using this app: 1) mindlessly watching 5-10 minute videos looking for the next one, or 2) setting up a long playlist while I'm working out and treating it as a podcast app. I only want to prevent the former.

[anilshanbhag]

I can relate to this. I created SuperFocus (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/superfocus-stop-sc...) with a similar idea. Dopamine loop is a big problem. I have tried site blockers / SuperFocus which is a feed blocker but there was something missing and have been looking for the magic solution. Just signed up for Clearspace and immediately felt this is it.

Planning to rewrite SuperFocus later this week to do the same on desktop as most of my time spent is on the desktop browser.

[anteloper]

- fair enough, for some users they reach us at a point of "I'm wholesale re-arranging my digital life RIGHT NOW" so they'd prefer to subscribe annually at signup and remove all barriers to better digital habits while they're in the mindset of habit change. will give this some thought.

- we've been thinking about experimenting with this model. I personally find it annoying forgetting to unsubscribe to things I only wanted to trial but I understand your use case.

- yes you can do this - quick demo here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7gU6ZhlA-fiLx0T2j5h9A14rdc...

- hmm, you could alter your youtube session options so that your only options are 45 minutes or longer? this wouldn't explicitly prevent you from shorter sessions, but might cause you to think "wait I don't have 45 minutes right now - forget it". would be curious to hear if that works for you.

[akshithg]

I’ve been using onesec[1] for a year now it’s been working great for me. Additionally works great on the browser I use.

Onesec uses the shortcut/automation on iOS to intercept app open and not the screen time api you mentioned. So it does take a little time for the initial setup, that’s the only friction I remember from a long time.

Just putting it out there.

I do like the additional social feature here. Would give it a try.

1. https://one-sec.app/

[mustacheemperor]

I'm a Clearspace user who found this app via a post on HN, and I can't thank the creators enough. I have not fully extracted myself from use of Reddit yet, but it's remarkable how effective this app was at breaking my cycle of opening, scrolling, closing, and reopening less than an hour later. I've tried other screentime management apps, but it seems like something about Clearspace's approach with the centering exercises and the intentional choice to spend X minutes browsing changes your mental relationship with the feed.

I genuinely feel as though I am more present during idle moments and have reclaimed time to myself - truly to myself - during my weekends.

I am very grateful for Clearspace. Now, I just wish you'd release a Firefox extension so I can lock down Reddit from my computer too.

[jeznag]

If you want a desktop solution now, Focus Bear (focusbear.io) can do it. Our iOS app will have a similar UX to Clearspace (just waiting for apple to approve our Screentime permissions).

[anteloper]

thanks so much for this. desktop solution coming as fast as we can build it!

[cocab17]

^new favorite username

[martingalex2]

It is wholly interesting that such a tool is needed. We need a new generation motivated by self-control and at an early age be critical of how technology triggers dopamine responses. I would be interested in seeing clinical classification of app addictions as a real health issue that deserves treatment. The real answer is to put down the phone. We (in this industry) are all complicit in the creation and promulgation of this problem.

[542354234235]

I would disagree. I don’t think it is on people to just be more “motivated by self-control”. I think it is an industry making a highly addictive product that needs to be properly regulated. Similar to regulating the tobacco industry in how much nicotine could be in cigarettes, the marketing to children, the restriction of the most addictive flavors, etc. The answer cannot just be “to put down the phone” the same as it wasn’t/isn’t just to put down the cigarette.

I think that digital devices/apps/etc. need left and right limits on addictive mechanisms like variable reinforcement schedules. Or maybe it is too late for that and the genie is out of the bottle. Maybe it is impossible to regulate, and big data and deep learning will allow apps to exploit deeper and deeper psychological mechanisms in our minds to highjack our attention until it is impossible to break out of it. The digital equivalent of fentanyl in a world were we evolved to handle opium poppy plants.

[diehunde]

Wouldn't it be easier not to give kids phones or tables until they are a certain age? I feel like the only reason my friends and I aren't addicted to apps is because we didn't grow up having a smartphone available all day. I got my first smartphone when I was about 20, so I never developed the compulsion of having it around me all the time

[jahewson]

Why build an app when you can just replace humanity with something different and not reflective of actual humans?

[tedmiston]

There are a couple other similar popular screen time apps, such as Opal [1] and one sec [2]. They both also operate on a similar freemium / IAP model. For comparison, ClearSpace falls in the middle price-wise:

- Opal: $20/mo, $100/yr, $300–400/lifetime (4.7/5 stars with 6.1k ratings)

- one sec: $4/mo, $15/yr, $40/lifetime (4.9/5 stars with 6.2k ratings)

- ClearSpace: $7/mo, $45/yr, (n/a?)/lifetime (4.7/5 stars with 404 ratings)

In the thread you've addressed some current features differences already (progress / streaks tracking, and pulling one out of an app after a set time limit).

Are there specific things you want to do differently in the future than what those apps do today? [They appear to be going in two very different directions.]

[1]: https://www.opal.so/

[2]: https://one-sec.app/

[anteloper]

Definitely. Generally, we're moving towards being

1. more flexible: if you want to change the type of friction for unlocking your apps we can enable that. instead of a 15 second breath to unlock app, you could activate "walk 100 steps to unlock" (as measured by healthkit). or "leave your house in the morning to unlock" (as measured by your location.)

2. cross-platform: compulsive tech usage follows us many of us to our laptops. we're building consistent experiences cross-platform for those who want it. (our chrome extension is the first example of this)

3. more robust: right now we're providing a moderating force that's ultimately avoidable if you're motivated enough to delete the app. we're building to allow users to opt-in to systems they literally can't get around, should they want this level of restriction. (clearspace "teammates" are the first example of this)

[jeznag]

Another one to add to the list is Focus Bear: $5/month for cross device distraction blocking (desktop and mobile) and it also has habit stacking features. We've been building it for the last 12 months and it works pretty well.

[ryanisnan]

How does one-sec compare in your mind? That price point seems more reasonable, based on what the app does.

[paolomaffei]

Great work! I think apps like this will be seen as pioneers in the age of getting back our attention. From somebody else very interested in the topic, with a pending HN application for a startup app in the same space

[siquick]

My partner and I have been using this for a couple of months to curb phone addiction and happy to say it has worked wonders for both of us. I was spending more than an hour scrolling Reddit before but now I look at I for maybe 5 minutes a week.

You’ve changed our lives - thank you

[awwstn]

i found this a few weeks ago and have been really enjoying it. i’m on the paid plan. my screen time on twitter and instagram has gone down significantly as a result of the slight inconvenience every time i open them. and doing the breathing exercise before plunging into hellish social media is also surprisingly refreshing.

the app is a little bit buggy, which sometimes makes it impossible to “pause” it. but one could argue that’s a feature not a bug!

overall impressed with Clearspace’s clever approach to this issue.

[postcynical]

Same here. Managed to wean off twitter. No longer feeling the urge or need to check it.

[anteloper]

appreciate that! definitely working through the bugs one by one - both bugs in our code and frankly bugs in the ScreenTime API itself. but we're starting to converge on a stable state, and to their credit Apple has been fairly responsive in moving the API along and responding to developer requests.

[endisneigh]

though I do like this app. this app, along with onesec really illustrate what's annoying about modern tech development. why pay monthly for something whose feature set rarely changes? something like this ideally should be $10 once.

[pantojax45]

Why/how is your app better than setting native screen time limits in iOS? Doesn’t that accomplish the same thing (except tapping numbers rather than seeing a quote).

(All that said, glad you’re poking at this issue!)

[anteloper]

a few ways! but the most succinct answer is that with clearspace, no learned behavior path can become a compulsive habit for quickly getting more scrolling.

every configuration of screen time limits we've tried has ended with us learning the quickest behavioral path to more scrolling (ie: quickly tapping "5 more minutes", entering passcode, etc).

[jtlicardo]

This is great. When do you plan to release the Android version?

[anteloper]

Optimistically targeting end of this year, drop your email here and you'll be the first to know when we're live :) https://www.getclearspace.com/#newsletter

[Kareem71]

Freedom.to has been working pretty effectively for me on Android. You guys care to comment on why your approach may be better? Definitely willing to try you guys out

[TobyTheDog123]

Wow. I didn't know Apple let apps have that level of restriction on other installed apps. Perhaps I'm behind on my iOS APIs. I'd be eager to learn more on what kind of parental-control/screen-time magic goes into this.

This is really cool, like incredibly cool.

Screen Time reminders just did not work for me, it was a no-brainer to just hit "Get more time" and put in my passcode, but this adds a lot more friction.

Still, I think it's a bandaid on a larger problem, and if I was truly addicted (which I very well could be), I would just change the settings or uninstall the app. Not a problem you can solve, of course, but this is still a great leap forward.

[tedmiston]

The biggest problem I experienced with Screen Time is that when an app is outside of its limits, push notifications from it do not get delivered. So enabling the feature caused me to end up missing out on timely push notifications. Sometimes the notifications during the downtime got delivered later and sometimes they just never appeared at all.

This seems like a bug to me, or at best a very unintuitive side effect. I wish there were a way to still have push notifications delivered normally and only have Screen Time effect actual app usage.

[anteloper]

We might be able to get there at some point. Yes you can uninstall us, but if you have a support network that automatically gets notified if you uninstall us, you might think twice about it.

[tedmiston]

> ... if I was truly addicted ... I would just ... uninstall the app. Not a problem you can solve, of course, but this is still a great leap forward.

Their feature of triggering a text to a trusted friend for accountability if you do this was really clever.

[joewhatkins]

The nag/friction that happens every time I try to open the app when I'm under buddget on this has cut down my doomscrolling so much. Really a fan of this approach - Twitter usage is down probably 95%. General stoke on this is really high!

[mauz]

Been using this for the past couple of weeks; reduced my instagram usage time by over 80%. Loving the approach you took for this!

[anteloper]

thank you! these anecdotes are literally what get us out of bed in the morning

[lukko]

Really cool! I did try One Sec, but actually setting up the shortcut to divert is quite tedious, and it only works at the point of opening the restricted app.

I like the UI, just wondering if the 'Breathe' prompt will get old quite quickly. I created an app (https://www.lungy.app) that tries to make each breathing session feel very different, hopefully making it feel fresh each time - I wonder if more variation would work in this case too.

[keenmaster]

Do the usage limitation controls also apply to Safari and other mobile browsers?

I.e. if I add the Facebook app to clearspace, can I also add friction to using Facebook.com? This looks great by the way

[joewhatkins]

When I had it block the Twitter mobile app, it also blocked twitter.com - I assume the same thing will happen if you block Facebook. The founders have mentioned they're adding support for blocking specific websites soon.

[anteloper]

yes - you can. this works "out of the box" for safari (ie - if you add facebook, you'll have to go through friction to reach facebook.com on safari without doing anything else.)

we just added support for chrome and other browsers by allowing you to associate domains with apps you've added. so associating facebok.com with your facebook app applies that same friction regardless of browser now.

[ianstormtaylor]

Congrats on the launch! This is a great product idea.

I'd advise redesigning the way your website blocking works though. For myself—and I'd assume a lot of folks—the idea that a website has to be attached to an app doesn't make sense. I've already deleted the Twitter app for example, but would still like to block Twitter's website. Or there's Mastodon which has never been an app on my phone. The current flow around this is very confusing/broken. (Apple's built-in Screen Time app actually has a solution for this already, with "Websites…" as a category to block by, where you just enter the website of your choice.)

I'd also recommend working with a designer because the app feels sort of janky at the moment. It's not just the main flow, but the interface and copy everywhere feel haphazard and doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. The idea for the app is so simple, and I think the execution could be equally simple in a really satisfying way.

I signed up for the subscription, but had already cancelled by the next day because of these faults. With a few fixes I think this could be very successful.