Apps that respect your attention

There are two kinds of apps. One wants your time. The other wants to give you something and get out of your way. For anything tied to your wellbeing, you want the second kind.

Signs an app is farming your attention

• A feed you can scroll forever.
• Notifications that manufacture urgency.
• Streaks and badges that punish you for leaving.
• Numbers that go up the more time you spend, not the more you are helped.

Signs an app respects you

• You can do the main thing in under a minute.
• It has a natural ending, a point where you are done.
• Reminders are gentle and easy to turn off.
• Success is measured by how little you had to think.

The quiet test

After using it, do you feel calmer or more wound up? A good tool leaves you a little lighter and hands your attention back. That is the whole job. An app about your mood should never cost you your peace to use.