Scroll Streaks

Do you spend hours scrolling through reels instead of doing your assignments? So do I! Break free from endless scrolling and reclaim your time with this app! Track streaks and make every minute count.

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Inspiration

Scrolling for hours and hours on endless scroll apps like TikTok, X and Instagram is a huge problem for many people. We literally spend huge chunks of our lives scrolling on these apps and most of the time cannot even remember what we saw.

I don't think there's a good solution out there to stop doing this, no apps that actually incentivize users to stop.

Snapchat streaks are incredibly simply yet have been wildly popular for years. I thought that using a streak solution would help incentivize people to stop spending so much time on these apps and take back control of their time.

People will protect their streak when it starts building up and it will be a sense of pride to have all social medias with bright blue fames for 30+ day streaks.

What it does

The app tracks users usageStats in the background (after user grants permission upon opening for the first time). Consecutive days where you use an app for less than an hour count towards a streak for that. Your streaks are then displayed in a simple interface, with progressively cooler flame animations as your streak improves. If you spend more than an hour on that app, say TikTok, your streak breaks, and the flame goes out into smoke.

How we built it

I made it using Android Studio, Kotlin, Material.io / Compose for UI and then Room for a lightweight database to store streak data. I found an online guide to accessing usage data which was very helpful and also a YouTube tutorial for Room databasing which I followed.

Challenges we ran into

When I changed the format of the database a few times it was difficult to migrate stuff. I ended up just working with a set of sample data rather than tracked data as it was becoming a bit of a nightmare. Getting GIFs to play in the UI for streak flames was surprisingly difficult. Took a good 2 hours to get working. I have never used Kotlin or Android Studio!!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I managed to complete the minimum viable product of the app, despite being solo and a beginner to my tech stack. I also watched a football game and managed to sleep! I think my app, once improved post hackathon, could genuinely be a helpful tool for people. That makes me proud.

What we learned

I learnt a LOT about Kotlin or Android Studio that I didn't know before. I feel a lot more comfortable with the stack now.

What's next for Scroll Streaks

I will develop a usage insights screen with a graph showing your daily scroll time, so you can see how you improve (or not) over time. The app will notify you when you are approaching your scroll limit, and prompt you to do something else. I will hire a graphic designer on Fiverr or Upwork to make more aesthetically pleasing flames that also match each other, this will make the app look better and act as a bigger incentive to build your streak. The original idea was to have a cryptocurrency which is paid to the user for each day they stop doom scrolling to incentivize them further. I still plan to explore this, but it wont be part of the V1.0 release. Even further in the future, a potential V2.0 is make it more social, so you can see how your friends are doing as well. This would provide more of an incentive, as its a bit embarrassing if everyone can see you scrolled through Reels for 12 hours. Release on Google Play! Aiming for end of December.

Built With

  • compose
  • kotlin
  • materials.io
  • room
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