Show HN: I made a app that uses NFC as a physical switch to block distractions
114 comments
·January 21, 2025oblo_mov
I really love the app and the idea - I am using it on an iPhone 13 Pro. It does work to block everything but there seem to be issues when selecting or deselcting from large categories. E.G. I have 30 Health Apps and I want to enable SleepCycle while keeping the others blocked. That does not work it will always automatically unblock all 30. Therefore it does not let me create any profiles with actual use unless I block everything.
layer8
By the way, you can trigger iOS shortcuts with NFC tags, so in principle you can trigger any functionality exposed as a Shortcut action. However, NFC recognition doesn’t always work as smoothly as one would hope.
_tariky
It depends on the type and manufacturer of the NFC chip. I recommend using SLIX2 chips; they are a bit more expensive, but they work perfectly.
awaseem
Yeah 100% I think I commented this somewhere else as well. Your phone already has this natively built in, you don't need any of these apps at all.
Over the break I wanted to build something that was gonna make this easier for myself. I built it and made it totally free and open source. I don't see a competitive advantage, but just a fun challenge for myself to build and get this type of app reviewed.
Maybe I'll write a blog post about the apple review submission because that was a not fun lol
whycome
To expand here, when using NFC to trigger an iOS shortcut, there's nothing actually written to the NFC. Instead, shortcuts responds when that NFC is present. So you can actually write something like a URL to the chip and have it act simultaneously.
You can even use an airtag because it sees it as an NFC as well.
tigereyeTO
I'm curious why the NFC tags are required at all?
Can't you switch profiles on your phone without scanning an NFC tag already? Couldn't your app allow profile switching without requiring any NFC tags?
It's not clear to me what the NFC tags add to this experience.
enoch_r
It's a commitment device - e.g. leave your "mindless scrolling" NFC tag at home so you don't mindlessly scroll while you're out.
runjake
For those curious, this is called Focus and is pretty highly configurable after a little learning curve. You can use automations to switch modes by calendar, date/time, GPS location, connected Wi-Fi network, etc. No programming required. Programmable via Shortcuts, too!
https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-a-focus-iphd62...
miki123211
Ever since focuses got introduced, I really soured on the idea of a physical mute/ring switch.
Having my phone ring at home and vibrate when away is the most obvious use case for this feature, and yet it can't be implemented because you can't toggle a physical switch in hardware.
I know the latest generation iPhones don't have those, and I think that's the right decision, but it's still disappointing for older-gen users.
Aerbil313
You can associate a location schedule with Focuses, which can include Silent mode as a filter. Also you can set shortcuts to automatically run when you enter a physical location.
hecanjog
It appealed to me since the way I block distractions is easy for me to unblock them, too. (like HN, I unblocked it to look for commentary on the bitbucket outage and now I'm reading random articles)
If unblocking via software is easy too, this doesn't really work, but I could see giving the physical tag to a friend or leaving it somewhere in a different building causing enough friction for me to reconsider if I really want to go to the effort just to look at some news headlines.
yieldcrv
what I want is social screentime approval
on iphone, the built in screentime app is just a face id approval or your pin code, but what if instead you had to request approval and your friends on FindMy were the only people that could approve, by consensus
kojeovo
I think its so that you can't easily toggle them off by using the phone software. for example, you are trying to get work done so you set two up: a focus one by your desk, another somewhere else where you have to get up. so you have to get up and walk over to the 2nd one to turn off the focus mode
PaulHoule
NFC tags cost about 20 cents and they are easy to use, tied to a place, etc.
I've done a lot of thinking about cyberphysical art that used to look like
https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111013706271196029
and now look like
https://bsky.app/profile/up-8.bsky.social/post/3lbqfh7pesc2x
Notably with the QR code on the back I found people didn't understand the branding of the card and had to flip it over to know the affordances it offers which didn't work when the card was stuck to the wall, as in
https://bsky.app/profile/up-8.bsky.social/post/3lbftgz6kok2c
I researched NFC tags as an option here and bought a 100 pack and a Sony FeliCa reader but found the problem of "communicating the affordance is available" was much worse, there's no standard logo (except one that belongs to the banks that they wouldn't give me permission to use) and not much awareness. I was irritated that NFC support is limited in iPads, for instance. So I stuck with QR codes that people understand.
wduquette
I was wondering that myself. At a guess, you put a tag at each focus location for the kind of focus you do at that location. At your desk, you put a tag that enables your working focus. At your bedside, you put a tag that enables your sleep focus.
Sounds cool but unnecessary.
dingnuts
necessary for those of us who forget what they're doing whenever they open their phone. The ability to tell my phone "shut up I'm at my desk" without opening it and being confronted with the home screen & notifications (and then forget what I was doing) is a super cool idea.
I have ADHD though
awaseem
yeah 100% you can totally just use whats built into your phone, there's actually no need for any of these apps.
I found that having this physical deterrent keeps myself accountable, that's kinda the reason I built it and showcased it
barnabee
For a while I stuck NFC tags on the MagSafe charger/stands in various places (at my desk, by my bed, etc.) to swifch profiles (which can be done just using shortcuts, as others have mentioned).
It worked pretty nicely but in the end I found it not to be all that useful and I’d be frustrated by the profile change as often as I was happy with it.
mikodin
This is awesome, yay for an open source https://getbrick.app/
I'm curious if you have an NFC tag that you'd recommend or that you like to use?
awaseem
Yeah there is tags in the app you can buy that just links out to Amazon, just a disclaimer it is an affiliate link.
Otherwise this is what I had around the house: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B075MD13Z7
insane_dreamer
Very cool; wondering if this could work as a parental control. "screen time" on iOS is fundamentally broken, and something like this would require the child to come to the parent for screen time extensions (if the parent has the NFC chip).
_DeadFred_
We talked about something like this for parents on HN not long ago. Definitely monetizable.
puttycat
How is that different from the parent holding the code?
Terr_
One scenario I can think of: When there's an occasion where you want to give them unlimited time, but you don't want to disclose the code and then later have to reset it to something new. Or you want to delegate permission to a babysitter.
You just give them the doohickey and ask for it back later. (Cloning the NFC tag is a much harder job that remembering a PIN.)
HeatrayEnjoyer
Not unlike using a TPM to prevent users from copying copyrighted content while still allowing controlled access.
linkregister
Apple Screen Time will occasionally stop blocking applications, allowing the child account to use them without restrictions.
Other drawbacks include only a single period of "down time" per day. There is also an inability to totally block applications; the closest analogue is to set a maximum of one minute for the website or application.
insane_dreamer
not just occasionally but often, in our experience with multiple phones and iPads. I have 2 kids with devices and have found Screen Time completely useless. It is the right idea in theory but in practice it's broken (I'm guessing no Apple higher ups have young kids that they've tried to use this with.)
Also, besides the resets (and by reset I mean not just time restrictions but content restrictions too), my kid can just bypass it by entering his AppleID password.
r0fl
Screen time blocks are terrible
I use them myself to limit some websites that waste my time
It is way too easy to click on 1 more minute, or 15 mins or ignore for the day
The only way to really block sites is to add them as adult websites and turn on parental controls
But can’t do that with apps
compootr
I was intrigued by brick, now this, and can't use either. is there seriously no android app like these? :(
netsharc
Tasker has NFC reading capabilities and is programmable to do stuff when it detects an NFC ID, I don't know if it can lock the phone though (there's an app called Lock My Phone, and Tasker has the ability to cause apps to take some actions, but I don't know if both can be combined).
E.g. I have 2 NFC tags on my desk, when Tasker detects one of them, it calls a HTTP URL of a PHP script on my NAS, the script tells my Hue Bridge to switch on a Hue-enabled power socket (into which my monitor and speakers are plugged), and then the script sends a Wake-On-LAN packet to my desktop PC. The other one turns off that Hue-enabled power socket (I put my computer into sleep separately).
high_priest
ScreenZen works great. One would have to convince the dev to include NFC support.
awaseem
Yeah I think the reason is the family activity on iOS is so easy to build around. I'm really sorry I don't own an android phone or have time to port it :(
jwineinger
I have occasionally wanted to trigger location-specific behavior on my kid's devices, like turning the wifi off when in their bedroom. This feels broadly in the category to me.
Terr_
Doesn't that mean you'd also need to somehow disable mobile data, and possibly calls as well if you don't want them phoning their friends late at night?
Might be easier to insist that phones charge overnight in some parentally-observable central area... Though I suppose they might use them for alarm clocks.
inerte
Device could be a tablet without cellular.
Anyway, my son has a phone (hand down from me 5 years ago) without cellular.
dylan604
Couldn't you do this with your router/firewall? Of course, this would mean managing devices by MAC instead of DHCP, but one of the wifi routers (maybe a Tomato upgrade) allowed designating blocks of time to allow/deny WAN access
brianmaurer
Very cool! I was about to pay $50 to do this with Brick. What's the best way to support the project?
brianmaurer
Saw there's a "Support Us" option in the app for $2. Will do that!
awaseem
That is so kind! Feel free to share it around. Appreciate the support!
brianmaurer
Ofc. Not sure if this was inspired by the thread on non-distracting products, but you could try plugging over there too [0]. Hope you're enjoying the HackerNews high today
grjj
Love this but it doesn't seem to work as I had hoped. I have 140 apps blocked in the profile but it appears only 15 actually blocked on my phone. Is there an app limit to how many can be blocked?
GOATS-
It would've been nice to see what the apps looks like when they're blocked.
awaseem
Yeah 100% gonna update the demos, thank you for the feedback!
Unearned5161
Neat implementation! Big fan of integrating more NFC into apps. There's something satisfying and reassuring about the physicality of it all.
I'll add a vote to whoever has the time to port it over to android =)
amanda99
I'm finding that scanning NFC tags is pretty slow with iPhone. There's this automatic flow that's pretty cumbersome and slows me down. Then when it fails there's some annoying animation. This is with the Yubikey authenticator app.
Are you finding anything similar? Is it not annoying to be scanning these all the time?
awaseem
Yeah I also find Ghost scans happen, it happens where I try to scan a tag and it says something has been scanned even though I'm no where close to the tag. I think its an issue with NFCReader in iOS
Hi HN!
Super proud to showcase Foqos! I wanted to create a way to physically block apps on my phone, always had a bunch of NFC tags, combined the 2 together over the holiday break and Foqos was born. You can create profiles, write them to NFC tags and track your weekly focus.
Its completely open source and will always be free! There is an affiliate link in the app for nfc tags and donations are completely optional
Link here: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/foqos/id6736793117