
Show HN: 100 Million Books for Android – Discover All the Books Ever Published - m52go
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.canonofman.hundredmillionbooks
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TipVFL
I'm not crazy about the idea of artificially limiting your app to prevent "app
addiction". In fact, the idea that I can only load one snippet every 30
minutes, prevented me from even trying it. It sounds needlessly frustrating.

It also, to me, sounds more addictive than just being able to flip through
snippets until you find something interesting. Instead of being able to just
use the app when I want something interesting, you've made it to where I have
to regularly check the app for updates until I find something interesting.

I would give it a try if the rate-limiting was optional.

~~~
m52go
The initial goal was to make a background app that ran on its own with 0 user
input (books would change on their own every few minutes, and the user would
just see what they saw, thus creating a sense of serendipity...that's the
whole point of the project).

But that approach didn't work because of technical limitations on hybrid apps
(Doze and App Standby are very aggressive). The result—30-minute delays until
the user can load another book to prevent app addiction—is essentially
marketing spin to cover up this technical shortcoming.

It's a subtle change, and the practical result would've been similar, but it
would've felt less artificial...perhaps that would've been more acceptable to
you.

So yeah I'm not sold on the approach myself. I half-heartedly released this
for Android and am playing wait-and-see before I release for iOS.

It's totally possible I'll end up going another way with this...likely away
from mobile altogether. Thanks for checking it out.

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m52go
This is an Android version of a Chrome extension that did extraordinarily well
on here back in May of last year.

It occurred to me afterward that I should've titled this post

> _Show HN: 100 Million Books for Android – An Anti-App (Not Addictive, Not
> Social)_

in light of all the attention smartphone addiction, digital privacy, etc. have
been getting recently.

It was built from the ground-up to be unlike most apps...I posted about that
here:

[https://medium.com/@100millionbooks/100-million-books-now-
ha...](https://medium.com/@100millionbooks/100-million-books-now-has-an-
android-app-err-anti-app-8ac814fb1f91)

