Launched this week
Olivia
Become aware of how often you check your phone
11 followers
Become aware of how often you check your phone
11 followers
Most digital wellbeing apps focus on screen time. Olivia focuses on awareness. It helps you notice how often you reach for your phone through mindful pauses before each unlock and simple insights about your checking behavior, so you can build healthier habits without restrictions or distractions.
Hi everyone! 👋 I’m Omar, the creator of Olivia.
The idea didn’t come from a business opportunity. It came from watching something happen over and over again.
I noticed family, friends, coworkers—and honestly, myself—reaching for our phones almost automatically. Sometimes only a few seconds after putting them down. Waiting impatiently to unlock them again, often without a clear reason.
That made me wonder: what if the most important moment isn’t while we’re using our phones, but the moment right before we decide to pick them up?
Most digital wellbeing apps focus on screen time. Olivia focuses on that decision.
Instead of blocking apps or making you feel guilty, Olivia adds a gentle pause before each unlock and helps you understand your checking patterns over time. The goal isn’t to use your phone less—it’s to help you use it more intentionally.
I decided to make Olivia free because I want as many people as possible to use it. I truly believe that awareness is the first step toward building a healthier relationship with technology. If this small app helps someone pause, reflect, or simply notice a habit they hadn’t noticed before, then it has already achieved its purpose.
This is the first public release, and I’d genuinely love your feedback. I invite you to try it for a few days and tell me what you think.
Would a pause before unlocking make you think differently?
What insights would you find most useful?
What would make Olivia part of your daily routine?
Thanks for taking a look. I’m excited to hear what you think.
Curious how the mindful pause actually plays out in practice, does it just slow down the unlock or does it log something each time you reach for your phone?
Hi Poyraz!
Great question! It does both, but in a lightweight way.
Before each unlock, Olivia adds a brief mindful pause with a short reflection. Once you choose to dismiss the reflection and check your phone, Olivia records that interaction. Over time, those moments help you better understand when and how often you instinctively reach for your phone.
The goal is to create a small moment of awareness before each unlock, helping you become more intentional about when you reach for your phone.
how does it actually deliver the mindful pause though, like is it a notification or something baked into the lock screen on android?
Hi Savaş Tekinay ! Great question! It’s built directly into the unlock flow on Android. When you wake your phone, Olivia shows how much time has passed since you last put it down, along with a short reflection before you unlock it.
Once you choose to dismiss it and continue, that interaction is recorded so you can better understand your phone-checking habits over time.
The goal is to create a small moment of awareness before each unlock, especially when you realize you picked up your phone again just a few seconds or minutes after putting it down.
Curious how you actually surface the insight without just becoming another overlay to dismiss, like you said no distractions but still nudging me every unlock feels like one. Does Olivia run completely in the background or does it need an Accessibility permission to catch the unlock events?
Hi Yeter! Thanks for bringing this up. Olivia runs in the background and uses Android’s Accessibility Service to detect the unlock flow and present the mindful pause.
When your phone wakes up, Olivia shows how much time has passed since you last put it down, together with a short reflection. That brief pause gives you a chance to notice something that’s usually automatic before continuing.
Over time, that small moment becomes the insight itself. Realizing "I just picked up my phone again after 20 seconds" is often more meaningful than looking at a screen time report at the end of the day. That’s the experience we’re aiming to create, and we’ll keep refining it based on feedback like yours.
the mindful pause before unlocking is such a thoughtful touch, way more useful than just blocking apps.
Hi Döndü! That was exactly the intention behind Olivia. We wanted to create a small moment of awareness before each unlock. It means a lot to know that’s how you experienced it. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.