the app your phone hates
the app your phone hates
We know how the game is rigged.
OUR STORY
We were there when it started.
Now we're building the way out.
We know every trick in the book. We wrote a few of the chapters.
Guilt doesn't work. Neither does willpower. Winning does.
Everyone else sells guilt. The life-in-dots crowd does the math: 20 of your next 25 years on your phone. Cool, thanks. So you delete your apps, feel terrible, relapse by Thursday.
The grown-up apps aren't working either. Blockers and screen-time dashboards have had a decade, and yet screen time keeps rising. They're the gym: well-meaning, joyless, quit by February.
Back when a phone was a phone, we put Tetris on it. Bejeweled too. Two minutes in line at the post office, and the phone was recess from your day.
Then the internet moved in, the attention cartel got to your brainstem, and the little break became the whole day. The apps are built so you can't leave. We know. We watched it happen from the inside. Some of it we built.
The first time, the phone was new and boring, and we found a way to sneak some joy into it. It worked. This time the phone isn't boring. It's everything. You reach for it every spare second, get a little less back each time, and can't put it down.
No bell. No door.
So we drew one. Getting out is the game. Putting the phone down is how you win.
They're the gym. We're recess.
Consider this the bell.
THE RÉSUMÉ, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
CHAPTER 1
JAMDAT Mobile
We put games on phones before phones were smart. By the time EA bought us, we were the biggest mobile game publisher in the world.
IPO. Acquired by EA for $680M
CHAPTER 2
textPlus
150M+ downloads
Free texting and calling, paid for by
ads. Which means paid for by your
attention. We built the pings, the
loops, the "just one more check." It
worked. A little too well.
MOQA
CHAPTER 3
Same tricks. Now on your side.
Streaks, rewards, a little friendly
competition. Everything that kept
you scrolling, rewired to get you off
your phone. The app your phone
hates.
What's behind the door.
HOW IT WORKS
MQ
Your Mindful
Quotient
One simple score that tells you who's winning: you or your phone. Think IQ, but for how you use your phone. Screen, Move and Offline time all count. Every night at 10PM, you start at 200. Up from there is you. Down from there is your phone.
Your Buddy
The conscience your phone should have come with
The only thing on your phone that's on your side.
Pick your Buddy: Coffee, Tea, Boba or Iced. Nudges that actually help. No lectures, no finger-wagging, no guilt trips.
Beans
Phone down, Beans up
Get paid when you don't scroll. Every hour your phone doesn't get is Beans in your pocket. Buddy upgrades, digital goodies, whatever you want. You earned them the hard way: by doing nothing.
Get the Bag
Do the work. Coffee's on us.
Guarding your attention is a daily battle, so the Perk Plan adds some extra motivation. Crush four challenges in a month and you earn the Bag: a real reward, like a coffee-sized gift card or a charity donation.
THE TEAM
The recovering culprits.
CEO - FOUNDER
AUSTIN
Founded JAMDAT Mobile.
Founded textPlus and took it to 150M+ downloads.
Now using his powers for good.
COO - FOUNDER
JOY
Led the deployment of mobile games & apps people couldn’t put down at JAMDAT, EA, Bandai Namco & textPlus.
Now driven to raise everyone’s MQ.
CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER
MONICA
Designed for tech, healthcare & education, bringing bold ideas to life with a bright palette. Now making digital balance feel natural & inviting.
