Are you sure you need a specific feature of Android 11 / API_LEVEL_30?
Would it be totally impossible technically to target API_LEVEL_28 (Android 9)?
Many people in your users "niche" deliberately use an older device (such as Android 9) to limit the phone addiction: newer device => richer experience => even more addiction => for this reason some people in your niche use an older phone.
Well, you are right about the audience, many people might prefer to downgrade to older versions. However, support of older versions will significantly complicate the development.
The app uses several APIs that are not available on older versions. In one moment in time when I had the support of lower versions the app consisted of many wrappers for OS API versions. It was a challenge to support and add new features to such a codebase.
I just checked all APIs/Libs that the app uses had declared support of API_LEVEL_28, but have recommended a higher target (above 30). My bad. I assumed this modern Material 3 Compose had hard API-level requirements.
Making it work in the long term is going to be a challenge. I agree.
I'm planning to implement as much tooling as possible so you can deal with annoyances that appear over time. While incentives can be outside of the app. For instance, there is an initiative called OfflineDay. https://www.reddit.com/r/OfflineDay/
And even now in-app, you can create a nudge for OfflineDay
I can relate to this. I conducted UX experiment during my Master's in Human Computer Interaction which was testing an impact of various interventions to screen time and user perception. I observed very similar pattern, if it clicks it stays with the people. Of course the experiment was with small group, but still.
A good comparison I think are "self help" books. People are still reading them and those books are really helpful during certain times. While same ideas and concepts are circulating across those books.
I believe such kind of apps and software deserve to exist. Whatever helps people to make their lives better.
The original app was released ~ 4 years ago, but it survived several rounds of overhauls from scratch while keeping the original idea - "showing nudges after phone unlock". It can be considered a launch because it's almost a remade app.
But as soon as I think about implementation I realize how complicated it is to make such an intelligent system that would understand intent and based on intent adapt the action. In theory, it all can be manually connected, but then it would require a complicated setup.
Of course, it's only from an implementation perspective. From the UX it can be trivial.
Idk, my impression always was and is that Android app development is complex, especially when you got Java in the mix....maybe now it's easier when Kotlin is around.
Your idea is very good and you can even monetize your app by selling ad space when users choose "boredom" then you can recommend them sponsored apps and games.
This idea would be also interesting on PC, when users lock their screens and then come back to do something. Maybe it can even be part of some diary/note taking app where when you unlock your screen note window pops up and asks you "What are you planning to do now?".
