Hello HN! It's been a while and I'm excited to release Session—a pomodoro timer app (work in 25-minutes chunk) with analytics.
Here's my thought process on why I made Session:
* I used pomodoro technique for over the past 5 years
* the offerings on the market are solid, but missing one thing: a way for me to reflect back and analyze where my time went by
Based on that, I decided to made Session. Here are some "features" that I decided to implement:
* Every session has to have an intent. User have to write what they're working on before timer could start.
* Before timer starts, user will be prompted to breathe in and out once.
* Timer starts. Time to focus!
* Timer ends. Session will ask you what you have learned on this Session and whether you're distracted. It's optional. User can skip it.
* Later at the end of the day, you can analyze your progress.
Here's some benefit that I found while using Session:
* With providing intent, I worked with less distraction.
* If I ended up distracted, the reflection prompt at the end of Session gives me time to reflect. Instead of wasting hours meandering around, it'll be limited to 25 minutes max.
* I realize I didn't work as much as I expected to be. About 2-3 hours in, I'm exhausted. With that knowledge, I plan a long break after about 2 hours to re-energize my work Session later.
The app works fully on freemium. Pro features are sync between devices, dark mode, custom interval, and full analytics access.
It syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Creating an account for now gives you 7 days free of Pro feature. Would love to know your honest thoughts!
$4/month seems a bit steep, especially when compared to other similar apps. I'm mostly interested in changing the time chunk, which I can't justify paying $4/month continuously for...especially when there are other options.
Maybe a one-time cost for some features and monthly cost for more involved features?
Hmmm. Interesting. I'll think about it. Pricing is hard—I'm still looking at the market right now and will adjust as needed. In fact I've dropped it from $5/m and $40/y to $4/m and $30/y before posting to HN.
The reason I made Session is for the analytics and syncing between devices. I want to start and review my progress on any devices I currently on.
If what you need is only changing the time chunk—I think Session is not for you. There's a lot of excellent product on the market that's cheaper or even free for that functionality.
My question: have you tried Session? If so, what do you like about it?
As context, I dislike subscription and prefer one time purchase as any of us. But that business model is proven to be not sustainable—lots of great products that I use died in matter of years because of lack of update. iOS update means breaking change to the API and could introduce new bug. Ideally I would love to sell the product as one time payment with free update for a year. But that's currently not possible on iOS...
Yes, I've been trying out Session for the last couple of days. I love the "take a breath" at the start, and I'm intrigued by the analytics (but don't have enough history yet)
I think you're that I'm probably not your target user: I don't pomodoro everyday, mostly when I start stressing out, get anxious, or can't focus. Before using Session I was just setting a timer on my Apple Watch.
I'm in favor of paying (or donating in the case of FOSS) for software that I use, but I know and appreciate pricing can be tricky to figure out.
May I know what device are you using it on? I used to not using Pomodoro everyday too—just like you, I only used it when I was overwhelmed with my situation. Maybe I'm biased, but after using Session for the past 5 months, the analytics makes me more honest to myself. The days when I thought I was working hard, The data said I only spent 1 hours with many distractions in between. With that data, I can reflect back what went wrong and plan how to fix it.
When you said using a timer of Apple watch, it gave me an idea. Maybe Siri integration like "Start a Session 'working on X project'" (if it's possible) would make it easier for people to start a task.
Maybe you can try making an account and see if Session might be the right fit for you? It gave you 7 days of pro feature for free—no question asked.
Anyway, if you're still overwhelmed in some point of your life, feel free to still use Session. It'll always be free for the basic timer. :)
Based on Apple analytics, macOS version is significantly has less churn rate compared to iOS version.
Based on talking to user I also find that people tend to avoid using their phone while working. So the iOS version might be perfect for reviewing analytics, and one of timer (like schedule time for thinking, research, etc)
I’m excited to try this. Are there plans for notification snooze/focus assist (windows) activation and deactivation management via Session? For me, the biggest pain point when focusing are externalities, not so much me personally drifting into web browsing.
* Can you elaborate more on notification snooze? Are you referring to automatically enabling DnD when focus started, and release it when focus has ended?
* And what do you mean by focus assist activation / deactivation?
Long story short, I tried to apply for apple developer account for the past 3 months with 30 different credit cards (from Twitter friends all over the world).
All failed.
Apple seems to have enrollment problem that affect developers outside US and EU. It's frustrating. I lost more time handling this issue, calling support, etc compared to developing the product.
As a compromise, I ended up borrowed friend's account to upload the app for the time being.
Here's my thought process on why I made Session:
* I used pomodoro technique for over the past 5 years
* the offerings on the market are solid, but missing one thing: a way for me to reflect back and analyze where my time went by
Based on that, I decided to made Session. Here are some "features" that I decided to implement:
* Every session has to have an intent. User have to write what they're working on before timer could start.
* Before timer starts, user will be prompted to breathe in and out once.
* Timer starts. Time to focus!
* Timer ends. Session will ask you what you have learned on this Session and whether you're distracted. It's optional. User can skip it.
* Later at the end of the day, you can analyze your progress.
Here's some benefit that I found while using Session:
* With providing intent, I worked with less distraction.
* If I ended up distracted, the reflection prompt at the end of Session gives me time to reflect. Instead of wasting hours meandering around, it'll be limited to 25 minutes max.
* I realize I didn't work as much as I expected to be. About 2-3 hours in, I'm exhausted. With that knowledge, I plan a long break after about 2 hours to re-energize my work Session later.
The app works fully on freemium. Pro features are sync between devices, dark mode, custom interval, and full analytics access.
It syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Creating an account for now gives you 7 days free of Pro feature. Would love to know your honest thoughts!