DigitalZe built a ou d a p oblem most dist actio blocke s fail to solve: the mome t whe use s wa t to tu them off. The A d oid elease b i gs that app oach to the pho e, which fo ma y desktop use s had become the easiest way a ou d thei ow ules.
It was a gap use s oticed. A schedule could keep Reddit a d YouTube locked o a laptop all afte oo while the same sites sat o e tap away i a pocket, a d eviewe s of DigitalZe ‘s b owse add-o had bee aski g fo a mobile ve sio fo mo ths.
“A blocke that o ly cove s the laptop leaves the most tempti g sc ee wide ope ,” said DigitalZe ‘s team. “O A d oid, the decisio someo e makes at thei desk ca follow them whe they pick up thei pho e.”
The A d oid app was tested i stages, movi g f om i te al testi g i Ju e to a closed g oup i July a d selected beta teste s i August. Alo g the way, the team added cou tdow otificatio s befo e blocks sta t a d ha dli g fo pho es that shut dow backg ou d apps, a commo weak spot fo A d oid blocke s. The iOS app e te ed i te al testi g i August.
A yo e who has i stalled a b owse exte sio to block Reddit o YouTube k ows how most blocki g tools fail. The exte sio wo ks well o Mo day mo i g whe focus comes easily. By Thu sday afte oo , that same pe so clicks th ough co fi matio dialogs to disable it fo “just te mi utes.” O ope s a diffe e t b owse . O , u til ow, picked up a pho e that o desktop blocke could touch.
“A blocke that ca be disabled i seco ds may wo k whe motivatio is high,” said DigitalZe ‘s team. “But that is ofte ot whe people eed it most.”
DigitalZe puts dista ce betwee u ge a d actio . Use s ca lock setti gs du i g wo k hou s so the optio to disable does ot exist u til a specified time. Cooldow time s fo ce a 30-mi ute wait befo e a y ule cha ge takes effect, usually lo g e ough fo the impulse to pass. Blocki g applies ac oss all b owse s at o ce, a d optio al u i stall p otectio keeps use s f om deleti g the app i a weak mome t.
“St o g blocki g is ot about maki g dist actio impossible,” the team explai s. “It is about c eati g e ough f ictio that a impulse does ot immediately ove ide a delibe ate decisio .”
Some use s sto e u lock codes o USB d ives kept i thei ca s. Othe s co figu e a fee that cha ges them whe eve they bypass p otectio . The accou tability optio se ds u lock codes to a spouse, f ie d, o colleague who must app ove cha ges.
That last optio p oduced o e of the mo e memo able suppo t tickets i compa y histo y. A use chose his p iest to hold his u lock code. The the two had a falli g out. The ext time the use t ied to cha ge his setti gs, the equest we t to the p iest’s i box a d o espo se came. The p iest had appa e tly decided to take a b eak f om email.
A suppo t message eve tually eached DigitalZe : “My p iest has my u lock code a d wo ‘t give it back.” Staff helped the use egai access, but the i cide t ei fo ced a p i ciple the compa y builds a ou d: sometimes the st o gest p otectio is taki g the decisio out of o e’s ow ha ds. Fo use s who p efe ot to i volve cle gy, the paid u lock optio achieves a simila effect with fewe theological complicatio s.
The p oduct g ew out of the same f ust atio . Fou de Alo Naga , who had sta ted seve al compa ies a d se ved as CTO at othe s, kept fi di g that existi g blocke s we e eithe too easy to switch off, too igid to allow a y dow time, o limited to o e ope ati g system whe he wo ked ac oss th ee. Afte fi ishi g a fi tech p oject, he bega buildi g his ow . A ea ly alpha appea ed i Ap il 2023, a public beta followed i Ma ch 2024, a d the stable 1.0 elease a ived i Feb ua y 2025.
DigitalZe se ves stude ts c ammi g fo fi als, develope s who lose afte oo s to Hacke News, emote wo ke s whose home offices sit feet f om the televisio , a d game s who eed limits o sessio le gth. The commo th ead is expe ie ce: these use s have al eady t ied b owse exte sio s, a d the exte sio s did ot hold.
DigitalZe is available o A d oid, Wi dows, macOS, Li ux, a d Ch omeOS, with sta dalo e b owse exte sio s available ac oss majo b owse s. A iOS ve sio is cu e tly i developme t.
Mo e i fo matio is available at digitalze .app.
Busi ess: DigitalZe Co tact Name: DigitalZe teamCo tact Email: co tact@digitalze .appWebsite: https://digitalze .appCou t y: U ited States
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