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I built Step1st after watching my mom lose hours to short videos on the couch. Screen Time limits were too easy to ignore, but hard blockers felt too harsh. Step1st adds a softer kind of friction: selected apps stay behind a daily step goal, which you can adjust, but not without first making the choice conscious.
Hey Product Hunt,
I built Step1st because “just use less TikTok” did not work for my mom.
Every time I visited home, I saw the same scene: she would be lying on the couch, lost in short videos. One clip became ten. Ten became hours. The problem was not just screen time. It was that scrolling quietly replaced movement.
I tried Screen Time limits, turning off apps, and reminders to take breaks. None of them really changed the pattern.
But I also did not want to build a harsh blocker. My mom did not need another cold “no.” She needed a simple moment of friction before the habit took over.
That became Step1st.
You choose the apps that pull you into scrolling, set a daily step goal, and those apps stay behind that goal. If the goal no longer fits your day, you can adjust it. But that moment matters: instead of opening the app on autopilot, you have to stop and make a conscious choice.
I also created Olo, the small mascot inside Step1st, to make the experience feel warmer than a typical app blocker.
Olo is a little orange-yellow character, somewhere between a water drop, a grain of rice, and a tiny flame. No arms, just two little legs. It is there to feel less like a lock and more like a walking buddy.
When you are short on steps, Olo does not shame you.
When you move, Olo celebrates with you.
The first version was for my mom. At first, she did not love it. But then she started walking around the house to unlock her favorite shows. Then around the garden. One day she hit 3,000 steps before lunch because she wanted her screen time later.
It was not perfect, but it changed the loop without making her feel punished.
Step1st is now live on the App Store. It works with Apple Screen Time and Apple Health, requires no account, and is designed for real families, not just productivity nerds.
Free to use. Pro subscription optional — monthly (3-day trial) & annual (7-day trial).
I would love your feedback:
How do you think an app can create helpful friction without feeling restrictive?
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About Step1st on Product Hunt
“Put doomscrolling behind a step goal”
Step1st was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #57 on the daily leaderboard. I built Step1st after watching my mom lose hours to short videos on the couch. Screen Time limits were too easy to ignore, but hard blockers felt too harsh. Step1st adds a softer kind of friction: selected apps stay behind a daily step goal, which you can adjust, but not without first making the choice conscious.
Step1st was featured in iOS (110.2k followers), Health & Fitness (82.6k followers) and Productivity (650.7k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 191k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Step1st?
Step1st was hunted by Louis Chen. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Step1st stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Louis Chen