Alternatives
Products that do what I built a smart blocker after destroying my dopamine baseline does
I'm a solo dev. A few years ago, I got addicted to Reddit. Spent months in that loop. Being a programmer, I thought I'd be clever. Redirected Reddit's domain to nowhere in my DNS file. Worked great until I'd just... open the file and undo it 20 minutes later. So I made it irreversible. Locked the DNS file so it can't be edited unless I boot my Mac in safe mode. And if I do that, there's a script that instantly locks it again. Haven't used Reddit since last year. Problem solved, right? Wrong. I just replaced Reddit with Twitch and YouTube. Started keeping streams running in the background…
- 1ZA
I built this last year but never posted it anywhere, but now with Reddit hiatus it seems like the right time to give it a shot. The main goal of zsync is to foster high quality content and discussion. That's it. If it can't accomplish that, then to me it is a failure. I watched Reddit go from having high quality discussion in 2008-9 to devolving into the PC meme dumpster it is today [1]. HN still has the highest discussion quality of any "forum" I know of, but (1) it can sometimes randomly be very hostile/toxic to new tech, the most glaring example being crypto. (2) HN is basically a…
2023 · zsync.xyz
- 2
- 3BP
Inspired by the nytimes post "Luddites don't want your upvotes", and presumably being a Luddite myself, I have used uBlock to block my Karma score at the top of the page. I found myself (on old account) reflexively checking my Karma score and found myself responding emotionally to it. I do not like this. Positive reinforcement can be a dangerous thing! And negative reinforcement make me feel a bit crap. I'm going to post what I think is the right thing, votes be damned! However I do see the use of downvotes for getting rid of stupid comments and spam as a good thing. I see the use of…
2023
- 41F
I built Recode because I realized I was spending 8-10 hours a day on my phone pretty consistently. I tried other screen time apps but I found them too easy to bypass and end my blocks whenever I wanted to use an app. My solution was to build an app blocker app that makes users have to scan a physical QR/barcode to take a break from their app blocks. This helped me be able to get my screen time down to just a few hours everyday since I didn't want to physically get up and go across the house to get my barcode. Anyways, since it worked for me I felt like sharing it. App store link:…
Oct 2025 · apps.apple.com
- 5DN
I've been trying to minimize my compulsive browsing of social media for a while, and tried a bunch of extensions and apps to block websites and such, but always ended up disabling them even if they were supposed to be "hard to disable". The fact is that sometimes you need to visit reddit for some info, but you don't want to get caught in an addictive loop. Disabling entire hostnames or trying to configure intricate block lists is annoying, and the end result is annoying. Parental controls don't work on me, and I resent them. I remembered what Tristan Harris once said on ways to prevent…
2023
- 6AA
2012 · flipmeme.com
- 7AH
2012 · nodemesh.net
- 8
Find out if the internet would destroy it in 14 seconds.
Jun 2026 · vnta.agency
- 9IB
Hey HN, I'm a solo developer from Nigeria. I built Quran Unlock - an app that blocks distracting apps (TikTok, Instagram, etc.) until you complete your daily Quran reading. The idea came from my own struggle with phone addiction. I wanted to read Quran daily but kept getting distracted. So I built this for myself, then shared it. Some stats after 2 months: - 123K+ users - 64.9% returning user rate - 31M events tracked Tech stack: - React Native - Firebase (Auth, Firestore, Analytics, Cloud Messaging) - RevenueCat for subscriptions - iOS Screen Time API + Android UsageStats App Store:…
Jan 2026
- 10IM
Hey Hacker News, I'm the maker of Kopage, a free & self-hosted Website Builder. While working on new, cool features (AI, of course), it would be great to hear some HN feedback :) Thanks, Simon
2024 · kopage.com
- 11
- 12GO
I built an app where you LITERALLY have to do push-ups to use Reddit (or whatever app). My guy, this is the summer you get SWOLE! Build a massive chest instead of doomscrolling on Hackernews. Also, it's FREE. You can set it on a schedule. You can set it on a time limit. You can set it after X opens. Or even after you come home from work. The apps will remain blocked until you do your push-ups! The app is built natively on SwiftUI. I use Apple's native Vision API to detect body parts and joints. I use Apple's Screen Time API for app blocking. I don't know what else to say so go on now and get…
2025 · timm.so
- 13PK
based on the idea from ctrl_freak's comment :) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4159644
2012 · paywall-killer.blogspot.com
- 14IB
I built this as a Garage Project over the weekend. https://x402.backpac.xyz/ Still working on refining things, but let me know your thoughts. Cheers.
Sep 2025
- 15AB
i made an ai blocker blocks ai relate content. if want download it from chrome or safari extension store, consider donate :)
Feb 2026 · kiddokraft.org
- 161R
I wanted to find a product idea to build. "Build things people want," right? So I thought, why not literally find people saying what they want? I wrote a script to collect thousands of Reddit posts where people are looking for a solution or complaining about a problem. Then I used GPT to filter out the noise and score each one based on how viable the idea seemed. Threw together a simple search interface so anyone can explore them. I was planning to build a more advanced paid version of this, but figured I'd share the raw version first to see if it's actually useful to anyone.
Nov 2025 · search.reddit-business-ideas.workers.dev
- 17RA
My attempt to create a decentralised reddit using a merkle-dag and webrtc. Advice would be much appreciated. https://memesfortheparanoid.com
2015
- 18AH
So this question https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35198563 prompted me to revisit the framework demo'ed here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35033368 Just like reddit lets you go to what might be a 404 page /r/anything-you-want and you can then create that subreddit, I added this feature to remoterenters so you can make /rr/anything-you-want and be the mod of that sub. To get the ball rolling with some content I made these two AI based subs: https://remoterenters.com/rr/amazing-ai-understanding/…
2023
- 19CW
2015 · itunes.apple.com
- 20MW
From inception Thursday night to near-feature-complete on Sunday morning, I consider it one of my better weekend hacking projects. http://leftright.me/ I built it with node and Redis which was particularly fun. Redis truly is the AK-47 of databases. This project has deeply engrained my longtime hate of Internet Explorer. Everything should be kosher in Chrome and FF but I had to make some compromises for IE. I sent the link to a few friends and the userbase grew from there. It's not much but it's definitely something for having it live for a day. I'm really looking forward to any constructive…
2011
- 21IB
Hey there HN ! I'm so excited to show you the platform I built! It's a product review website that's all about community and video reviews. I wanted to create a space where people could share their personal experiences and opinions on products, so others could make informed decisions based on real-life experiences. I noticed that there were a lot of fake reviews on other platforms, and I knew that people wanted a more reliable and trustworthy source for product reviews. That's why I decided to create a website that would prioritize genuine, honest curated reviews from real people. Our…
2023 · styrate.co
- 22SB
2015 · itunes.apple.com
- 23
- 24
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →