Opal Team Updates šŸ“°

2022-07-31T22:00:00Z

Hi all,
This is where we are this week.

July goal:
Our goal was to release Opal iOS16 to Testflight with onboarding, setup, settings, a new feature called MileStones. Finish brand assets, website, launch organic growth and SEO processes.

Aug 1 Status

  • Opal iOS16 is TestFlight but c. 50% functional, without focus score, onboarding and MileStones. We are hitting a few roadblocks due iOS 16 Beta bugs (we filed a total of 19 Radars - Appleā€™s version of a bug report), and may need to work around them by changing features.
  • Brand assets are finalized (we released a preview), but the website is not done yet (delayed).
  • SEO process has been kicked off both from us writing our own content Opal | Blog and kicking off work with an agency this week (on Slack: #SEO )
  • Organic content: we have 2 winners, first-person Tips Instagram Reels (like the urge surfing one) and joint posting with relevant partners (like with log off movement). We still need to figure out how to produce this content at scale 3-4X weekly.

Aug Goal
In August, we are working to get Opal iOS16 from 50 to 90%, which means solving a lot of iOS16 bugs together with Apple, releasing MileStones, expanding our testflight to 200 people, build our new Focus Score and Screen Time stats features (we call it Focus Report and Daily Focus). We will also release this community board, improve our Instagram organic process to post 3-4x winners per week, grow our SEO process, secure 2 partnerships with leading Screen Time organizations, and get everything polished for public launch (iOS16 is set to launch mid-Sept).

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

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2022-08-07T22:00:00Z

Hey everyone,
Here is where we are at the end of the first week of August. As a reminder here are our goals for the month of August.

Feeling
Need to go faster! Weā€™re behind schedule on testing (due to iOS16 beta issues), canā€™t wait to be able to get in the hands of more people because the New Opal will be a game changer.

Updates

  • iOS16 Testflight: we are testing with a small group of people but this is held back by 2 critical Apple bugs. Currently, we canā€™t test most of the product. We are working with Apple to get them resolved ASAP.
  • iOS16 features: we made some progress on MileStones (a feature to reward gems), Stats screen, invite friends to unlock PRO.
  • Agreed on a set of goals with Antoine Choussat our brand designer to expand our brand in the next 6 months.
  • Instagram: we created a brief to hire a video editor to help with the production of our reels (goals is 3-4X per week) and expect to select and start work this week
  • Launch prep: we reviewed our launch timeline, weā€™re working on website design and launch video, but also worked with our brand designer about ways of making the new home view of our app more ā€œtelegraphicā€. We canā€™t wait to share the new design with the community.

2022-08-14T22:00:00Z

Hi All
Here is where we are this week.

  • iOS16 Opal: We have now added focus score, stats screen and MileStones to the iOS16 app, which we should release to Testflight by end of week. If you are not on the list donā€™t forget to register on opal.so/waitlist.
  • Bugs. We are still waiting for answers from Apple on iOS 16 Beta bugs (we filed a total of 19 Radars - Appleā€™s version of a bug report), and may need to work around them by changing features.
  • New Home has been designed with more emphasis on the feedback we give gems, to answer the question how focused am I?. We spent a lot of time on this screen. Our goal is to make this screen ā€œtelegraphicā€, so that at a glance anyone can understand what Opal is and how itā€™s useful. Teaser below.
  • Onboarding and Focus Report: New Home took precedence on these two other roadmap items. We are set to finish the design on these by end of this week, for implementation next week.
  • SEO process: work with an agency is slow to pick up, we need to reevaluate the process and deadlines.
  • Organic content: we have hired an editor and started posting Reels 3X weekly on instragram.com/withopal. We are finetuning for format and delivery.
  • Community Board: we have been working on posting on this board, and next we expect to (a) import feature requests from ideas.opal.so and (b) share community.opal.so to the community by email!

image

Looking forward,
Kenneth

Aug Goal
In August, we are working to get Opal iOS16 from 50 to 90%, which means solving a lot of iOS16 bugs together with Apple, releasing MileStones, expanding our testflight to 200 people, build our new Focus Score and Screen Time stats features (we call it Focus Report and Daily Focus). We will also release this community board , improve our Instagram organic process to post 3-4x winners per week, grow our SEO process, secure 2 partnerships with leading Screen Time organizations, and get everything polished for public launch (iOS16 is set to launch mid-Sept).

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

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2022-08-21T22:00:00Z

Hi All
Here is where we are this week.

  • iOS16 Opal: We added New Home, Stats Screen and MileStones (congrats @matt @randy @lilpit ). We released the app to a small group of Testers! If you are not on the list donā€™t forget to register on opal.so/waitlist.
  • Bugs. We are still waiting for answers from Apple on iOS 16 Beta bugs (we filed a total of 19 Radars - Appleā€™s version of a bug report), and may need to work around them by changing features.
  • Onboarding and Focus Report: We finished the design last week and are implementing this in the app this week. We took a lot of time to think about the right tone for this. It will be a much more comprehensive onboarding with a personal Focus Report based on historical screen time data (although there is currently an iOS16 bug for this) and set up.
  • Brand: we have been working on App Store assets to prepare for the launch in September. @Anton also built a gant chart with deadlines for all projects for our upcoming launch.
  • SEO process: no progress this week.
  • Organic content: posted some cool reels instragram.com/withopal . We are finetuning for format and delivery.
  • Community Board: @ramy imported 234 feature requests from ideas.opal.so! now on #feedback:feature-requests . Check it out!
  • Team Meeting: we had a full team standup Meeting last Friday which was a lot of fun, and allowed us to review our progress on all projects.

Interesting new posts from this week:

Letā€™s go!
Kenneth

Aug Goal
In August, we are working to get Opal iOS16 from 50 to 90%, which means solving a lot of iOS16 bugs together with Apple, releasing MileStones, expanding our testflight to 200 people, build our new Focus Score and Screen Time stats features (we call it Focus Report and Daily Focus). We will also release this community board , improve our Instagram organic process to post 3-4x winners per week, grow our SEO process, secure 2 partnerships with leading Screen Time organizations, and get everything polished for public launch (iOS16 is set to launch mid-Sept).

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

1 Like

2022-08-28T22:00:00Z

Hi All!
Here is where we are this week.

  • iOS16 Opal: We made progress on New Home, we released the app to more Testers! If you are not on the list donā€™t forget to register on opal.so/waitlist.
  • Onboarding and Focus Report: We implemented this in the app, it should be live this week.
  • Brand: Finetuning MileStones assets and working on our new Website.
  • SEO process: new articles live on our blog, how to block X app is an interesting direction for us.
  • Organic content: trending reel about Atomic Habits, itā€™s one of the most mentioned books by our community, so it makes sense. Shoutout: Ramy for Reel
  • Community Board: we posted about this board on welcomed new gems here (welcome @Romney_Manassa @YT_Berlin :slight_smile: )

Interesting new posts from this week:

Letā€™s go!
Kenneth

Aug Goal
In August, we are working to get Opal iOS16 from 50 to 90%, which means solving a lot of iOS16 bugs together with Apple, releasing MileStones, expanding our testflight to 200 people, build our new Focus Score and Screen Time stats features (we call it Focus Report and Daily Focus). We will also release this community board , improve our Instagram organic process to post 3-4x winners per week, grow our SEO process, secure 2 partnerships with leading Screen Time organizations, and get everything polished for public launch (iOS16 is set to launch mid-Sept).

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

1 Like

2022-09-04T22:00:00Z

Hi All!
Here is where we are this week.

  • iOS16 Opal: we are now moving to bug fixing and polishing. Thanks to everyone for their feedback! A testflight will come very soon.
  • Brand: We finished building incredible MileStone assets (preview below) and designing our new website, which we are now implementing. We are also working on a launch video. You heard it here first: we are going to launch the New Opal on September 15 at 12PM EST.
  • SEO process: new articles live on [our blog ](Opal | Blog
  • Team: we were sad last week to say goodbye to our Founder Associate interns @ramy @gretaopal9 , but excited about the amazing contributions they did over the last 4 months! Blog posts coming soon to summarize their work.
  • Community Board:

Overall looking back at our goal for the month (below), we were able to get Opal iOS16 to 80% I would say - weā€™ve been help back by some Apple bugs, especially the fact that we couldnā€™t release on Testflight for testing. The next 10 days ahead of launch will be intense, as we need to get over a list of 50+ fixes on the app, and prepare launch assets. Weā€™re very excited though!

Aug Goal
In August, we are working to get Opal iOS16 from 50 to 90%, which means solving a lot of iOS16 bugs together with Apple, releasing MileStones, expanding our testflight to 200 people, build our new Focus Score and Screen Time stats features (we call it Focus Report and Daily Focus). We will also release this community board , improve our Instagram organic process to post 3-4x winners per week, grow our SEO process, secure 2 partnerships with leading Screen Time organizations, and get everything polished for public launch (iOS16 is set to launch mid-Sept).

Interesting new posts from this week:

And now for September goals:

Sep Goal
On September 15, we will release the New Opal on the app store and announce it publicly. In order to do this, we need to go over a list of fixes and improvement, expand a testflight to collect feedback and prepare and release launch assets (including a video, a streaming event and press release). The second half of September we will be iterating and reading data to improve conversion and retention on the first iOS16 cohorts.

Finally, interesting posts from last week:

Letā€™s go!
Kenneth

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

2 Likes

2022-09-11T22:00:00Z

Hi All!
Here is where we are at this week.

Sep Goal
On September 15, we will release the New Opal on the app store and announce it publicly. In order to do this, we need to go over a list of fixes and improvement, expand a testflight to collect feedback and prepare and release launch assets (including a video, a streaming event and press release). The second half of September we will be iterating and reading data to improve conversion and retention on the first iOS16 cohorts.

Finally, interesting posts from last week:

Letā€™s go!
Kenneth

Weā€™re more excited than ever to help 1Bn people focus day to day (and accomplish their dreams).

2022-09-18T22:00:00Z

Hi All!
We launched the New Opal for iOS16 last Thursday! TechCrunch Article for Opal!

Here are our main learnings since launch:

  1. Brand refresh: our community is aware of the brand and mission of Opal, we have a statement article on TechCrunch that covered us as the ā€œFirst Screen Time API appā€. Lots of positive reviews via DMs and on social media.
  2. Conversion/retention: Very promising early conversion and retention data. This is to be confirmed in the coming week with cohorts post-launch. Our main goal is to increase retention over the VPN version of the app, which is a measure of Product Market Fit.`

[video-to-gif output image]

  1. Feedback: The ā€˜apps not returning to foldersā€™ bug #1 blocker to adoption: it caused negative reviews and surprised some gems. People LOVE the onboarding experience and focus report, especially projection years of your life starting at a screen.
  2. Low new download volumes for launch, the biggest opportunity is to improve web funnel

Next steps
1. Improve web funnel
2. Fix folder bug education: better onboarding
3. Kick-off ads for steady flow on DLs
4. Reorder roadmap priorities based on product data and feedback

Sep Goal
On September 15, we will release the New Opal on the app store and announce it publicly. In order to do this, we need to go over a list of fixes and improvement, expand a testflight to collect feedback and prepare and release launch assets (including a video, a streaming event and press release). The second half of September we will be iterating and reading data to improve conversion and retention on the first iOS16 cohorts.

Finally, interesting posts from last week:

2022-09-25T22:00:00Z

Hi there!

Here are a few updates from our team!

When you update to the latest app version, you will see the following changes:

  • In Focus Score, Pickups are now correct, they were previously over counted by 2-3x
  • Fixed a potential issue that could cause blocking not to work between overlapping schedules / sessions
  • Lockscreen widgets will now update more frequently in sessions
  • Added browser category
  • Better Focus Score explanation in the Score tab: you will now see how different apps are rated and affect your score.
  • Minor fixes across the board

Please share any thoughts you have or questions, letā€™s do this!
Kenneth

2022-10-02T22:00:00Z

Hi there!

Here are a few updates from our team this Monday.

When you update to the latest app version (3.1), you will see the following changes:

  • Shielding instead of blocking: Blocked Apps will now be ā€œshieldedā€ instead of removed.
  • Attempted to fix a Paywall issue
  • Changes to help center

Please share any thoughts you have or questions, letā€™s do this!
Kenneth

2022-10-13T22:00:00Z

Hi there!

Here are a few updates from our team this week:

When you update to the latest app version (3.2), you will see the following changes:

  • Introduced Opal Focus Filter
  • Improved onboarding: sign up screen, and dedicated onboarding when you paid on opal.so
  • Better way of viewing which apps are being blocking while in a session
  • Changed shielding phone image in onboarding
  • Fix for loading spinners not displaying sometimes
  • Fixed duplicate calendar issue
  • Fixed an issue where home screen would show your profile photo while settings would show as logged out
  • Prevent focus session from being ended via shortcuts
  • Added visibility for when friends you invite have opened Opal but not yet set up an account
  • Added google and apple maps to Focus Score (shouldnā€™t show as distracting anymore)
  • Improved handling of Score on home + Score screen when day changes
  • Improved blocking to allow sessions & schedules less than 15 minutes
  • Improved Focus Report
  • New feedback input on Score screen to allow you to rate accurate of Focus Score

Thank you for sharing your requests/report. Some standouts this week:

We fixed this thanks to your report:
https://community.opal.so/t/deep-focus-can-be-broken-with-shortcuts/401/3

We are working on this:

Please share any thoughts you have or questions, letā€™s do this!
Kenneth

2022-10-27T22:00:00Z

Hi there!

Here are a few updates from our team this week:

When you update to the latest app version (3.3), you will see the following changes:

  • New onboarding setup hints push notifications, paywalls, and age-based onboarding. Updated screentime permissions screen for iOS 16.1
  • Sessions: fixes icons design not showing correctly
  • Improved Leaderboard to remove the way that overlapping sessions can count double towards screentime
  • Changed ā€œCreate Accountā€ to ā€œSign In / Sign Upā€ in Settings

Thank you for sharing your requests/report. Some standouts this week:

https://community.opal.so/t/improve-focus-score-app-ratings/438/3

Great question:

Please share any thoughts you have or questions, letā€™s do this!
Kenneth

2023-01-01T23:00:00Z

Happy new year! What a year 2022 has been. In short, we built and launched the New Opal in September. Since then our community has been growing faster than ever!
We wish everyone a beautiful year ahead. This year we will push Opal forward to another dimension, and get closer to our goal to help 1Bn people focus better each day so they can accomplish their dreams. Iā€™m beyond excited about the impact weā€™re about to have on so many peopleā€™s lives.

Here are a few updates from our team this week:

Looking forward!
Team Opal

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