Apptisan #003 — Mindr
Mindr is your silent productivity partner. It’s a completely new approach to reminders. Instead of reminding you with annoying notifications, its great looking widget reminds you about your reminders.
Name: Mindr
Developer / Team: Florian Vates
Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, Android is in the making
Read this newsletter issue in Chinese (中文) .
Please describe your app.
Ever found yourself endlessly snoozing notifications for your reminders? Mindr offers an innovative new approach. Its intuitive UI integrates the progress of your reminders right on your home screen, reminding you subtly and at a glance about due dates, just like apples battery widget.
Give it a try, you’ll be surprised how well it works!
Was there a pivotal moment that inspired your app’s creation?
My Aha moment was, when I noticed that the reminders I set myself for tasks that don’t have critical consequences, I always just snooze to infinity and lose track how long they are actually overdue. I noticed, Notifications just don’t work for tasks like that, so I built something that does work.
What makes your app unique compared to others in the market?
All reminders rely on notifying you that the task is due and then you should do it right now in this moment. This is rarely a good time to do it though. So instead, it uses visual progress that makes it possible to see if something is already overdue and for how long, creating a sense of urgency.
How have you marketed your app, and what key lessons have you learned?
Marketing for now was mostly done by building in public and collaborating with various news magazines that picked it up because they loved the innovative new approach to a crowded space.
What has been some memorable feedback since your app’s release?
Something that really put a smile on my face was that lots of people with ADHD contacted me, that the app helps them a lot to focus on their tasks better because they see it all the time and also see the urgency. It’s so great to see that it helps with the issue they struggle most with.
How do you find your inspiration, validate its feasibility, and approach the design and development process?
Because I have a full time job + a young family + volunteer at church quite a lot, not to mention hobbies, my time is fairly limited.
Nonetheless, I try to spend at least one hour per day to work on some of my side projects.
Due to the limited time, I have to be super effective. My experience with app development definitely helps to not waste too much time coding so the biggest variable is prioritization. I use Sorted 3 to jot down my tasks and thoughts quickly while they pop up and then later prioritize.
However, often I’m not too strict with it. After all I still want to enjoy what I’m doing and if I don’t feel like working on something right now, I’ll just shift as I see fit. Working at an agency for more than 9 years definitely helped learning how to prioritize and be efficient.
I kind of only work on apps that scratch my only itch, that’s why I’m not too critical about validation because I want to build the apps for myself anyways. That also results in me being super motivated to finish and improve those apps though so it has a nice side effect.
Regarding Design, I usually have sort of a style i stick to and try to make work for other apps but I also usually get some inspiration from Dribbble every once in a while. I’m an iOS dev since around 10 years so I'm really used to starting new projects.
Are there any products out there that you feel deserve more recognition?
In addition to the Sorted 3 mentioned above, another app that might not be known too much is Rotato which I use for animated device mocks. And one other mention could be Wishkit to get user feature requests. That helps a lot to prioritize. I personally built my own system for it but if you don’t want that you could use an service like Wishkit.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you envision for the future.
I’m a full time dad, full time software developer at an agency and love creating side projects that improve people’s lives in a fun and beautiful way.
Other projects I created include a money tracking app (MonAi) that uses AI to convert voice input into a transaction to keep track of your expenses in the easiest way possible.
In the future I plan to build a lot more apps and services and hopefully someday make this my primary source of income.
About Apptisan
Apptisan is a portmanteau of “application” and “artisan”, signifying “a weekly exploration into the world of apps and the passionate artisans who create them.” Each issue is a conversation with global creators, aiming to uncover and present intriguing products to a wider audience.
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