This is a great app and can be especially helpful for people who struggle to maintain focus in their daily lives. It’s an app that I that think that everyone should be using. I struggle with ADHD and often find that my phone will draw me away from the tasks that I am working on. This app helps to remove any temptations that you might have surrounding your phone. With the Pro subscription, I love that you can remove your own control to gain access to apps as I struggle with self control when it comes to these types of things. However, the actual cost of the Pro subscription is far too expensive for the services that you are receiving. If the app had ads on the side and/or implemented into the app to cover the cost, I would be way more likely to use it. This is such a useful application for people who struggle regulating their phone use, which is a huge problem in our current generation. It should be something that is free or at least cheaper for to the public to use. Especially since the same, or at least similar results can be achieved using the built in screen time app in your iPhone settings. However, I think that the way that Opal is organized and some of the features that are available separate from the built in options such as waiting to gain access to break times, the ability to easily have different groups of apps you want to block and my favorite feature, to fully remove your control to end the blocking sessions make this app the more favorable option.
There is already a wait time if you’d like to request a break or edit your blocking session, I think it would be a great idea if instead of having an arbitrary wait time, you could have the user watch an ad or answer a questionnaire to gain access to the break time or editing. Similarly, the app could have ads on the page that opens while an app is being blocked. Instead of it just telling you the app is being blocked by opal, it could show ads. Then users could pay the extra fee if they wanted to avoid these ads, as well having access to the extra features such as, extra scheduled limits, blocking more apps, unlocking data, etc… I just think that the main feature to completely lock yourself out of your apps without the option of regaining access until after your session should be available to everyone. If I wasn’t a broke university student, I’d consider paying for the Pro subscription, however, I can’t justify paying the discounted price of $134.99 a year (CAD) just to lock myself out of my phone when apple has a built in program that does the same. This is something that I think would be a great asset for university students. It think partnering up with universities to work out a deal to give students access to this app for free or at a heavily discounted price would greatly increase your number of downloads. These are all just suggestions and it may just be me that feels this way, but I thought I’d share my ideas and see what the community thinks.
Sincerely,
A Broke University Student : )