Launched this week
Squishy is an app and website blocker with a mascot whose happiness follows your choices. Focus helps it recover. Opening blocked apps or sites drains it. Share one Squishy with a partner, friend, or family member, and both of you contribute to the same happiness bar while browsing details stay private. One subscription covers the owner and one invited partner, with sync across iPhone, iPad, Android, and Chrome.
Squishy
hey product hunt,
i built squishy because i kept telling myself to lock in and stop scrolling ig reels, just to immediately open x on my laptop. squishy is a screen time pet for iphone and chrome. when you hit blocked apps or websites, squishy loses happiness. when you come back and focus, squishy heals.
the part i’m most excited about is the sync: it’s the same squishy across your phone and browser, so you can’t “be good” on one device while doomscrolling on the other.
i’d love feedback on whether this makes screen time feel more personal than a normal blocker.
@austin595 Great app concept with an insanely smooth onboarding flow. I would want a lifetime purchase option (tired of subscription based ones)
Squishy
@hooni_tri Hey Tristan, that definitely could be possible, I am thinking of adding more ways of making Squishy happy that may require AI costs (that's why the subscription). Things such as "Show Squishy Something New" and it's taking a picture of something random outside. But feel free to reach out to me at hello@blankslateapps.com and I'm sure I could send over a discount or enable a lifetime purchase.
sharing the happiness bar with a partner while keeping the actual browsing details private is a smart way to get the accountability benefit without the awkwardness of someone literally seeing what you opened. does the partner get notified in real time when the pet is drained, or just a daily summary?
Squishy
@omri_ben_shoham1 It mainly is a daily summary if Squishy gets too low, because I've realized when testing that I actually do make Squishy sad (and back to happy) a lot when using it with my friend (and that notification might be a bit annoying). Perhaps I can add a toggle for notifications of people who may want that real time status update.
The shared bar only works if both people keep opening the app. If one side drops off, does Squishy just stay unhappy, or is there a way to unpair and start fresh with someone else?
Squishy
@jared_salois Hey Jared, there are ways to increase Squishy's happiness with the focus break (timed session to stay off your phone) and adding more ways in the future as well. The happiness also resets every day so depending on the difficulty could start with hard (50) or start easy (100).
On your other note, it is also simple to start fresh with someone else. Simply unpair on settings then run through a pairing code with someone else.
I've honestly tried every screen time app imaginable and the feature that syncs it across phone and browser might actually be what I was missing before. maybe there can be like a leveling system where you can customize squishy the more you stick to your goals.
Squishy
@ethan_cheng I think I optimized for the social aspect more than levelling. That does make sense though I was considering adding cosmetics to Squishy with a currency that you get after taking better care of Squishy.
The shared pet twist is so smart. Guilt from a normal blocker is easy to ignore but letting down a pet you share with someone is a whole different thing. Can you run more than one Squishy with different people? Congrats on the launch!
Squishy
@terminal_candy Thanks Peter! I was thinking of potentiall making Squishy shared between 2-4 people, but with only 100 Happiness it can be quite difficult to manage with multiple drops at once. In regards to one Squishy but with other people, I haven't thought of that yet, I think the sync might be a bit more difficult to keep up with, but I appreciate the idea :)
@austin595 Makes sense, more people means more ways to let the little guy down. One pet shared with your partner already nails the core idea anyway. Rooting for you the rest of launch day!
Squishy
@terminal_candy Thanks Peter!
Well done on the launch and the virtual "pet?" idea.
Are you planning on adding more personalisations and characters?
Squishy
@pooja_phillips Most likely go down the personalization route first!
@austin595 Thats cool! How did you come up with the character (interested as I come from a design bg)?
The shared pet across phone and browser is the bit that makes this work. Most blockers are easy to game because you just switch devices and carry on. I’d be curious how Squishy handles guilt, though. If the pet gets visibly unhappy every time someone slips, does that motivate people or make them avoid the app altogether? Also I'm not fond of pink, why that color choice? Nice to see home other options. There’s a fine line between accountability and making screen time feel worse. Getting that balance right could be what makes this feel genuinely helpful rather than just another blocker with a cute skin. Nice job!
Squishy
@os_ishmael Thought the colour pallete would work with the idea of not hurting a "cute" character". Thanks!