
Show HN: Session–a pomodoro timer app with beautiful analytics - philipyoungg
https://www.stayinsession.com
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philipyoungg
Hello HN! It's been a while and I'm excited to release Session—a pomodoro
timer app (work in 25-minutes chunk) with analytics.

Here's my thought process on why I made Session:

* I used pomodoro technique for over the past 5 years

* the offerings on the market are solid, but missing one thing: a way for me to reflect back and analyze where my time went by

Based on that, I decided to made Session. Here are some "features" that I
decided to implement:

* Every session has to have an intent. User have to write what they're working on before timer could start.

* Before timer starts, user will be prompted to breathe in and out once.

* Timer starts. Time to focus!

* Timer ends. Session will ask you what you have learned on this Session and whether you're distracted. It's optional. User can skip it.

* Later at the end of the day, you can analyze your progress.

Here's some benefit that I found while using Session:

* With providing intent, I worked with less distraction.

* If I ended up distracted, the reflection prompt at the end of Session gives me time to reflect. Instead of wasting hours meandering around, it'll be limited to 25 minutes max.

* I realize I didn't work as much as I expected to be. About 2-3 hours in, I'm exhausted. With that knowledge, I plan a long break after about 2 hours to re-energize my work Session later.

The app works fully on freemium. Pro features are sync between devices, dark
mode, custom interval, and full analytics access.

It syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Creating an account for now gives you 7 days free of Pro feature. Would love
to know your honest thoughts!

~~~
fergbrain
$4/month seems a bit steep, especially when compared to other similar apps.
I'm mostly interested in changing the time chunk, which I can't justify paying
$4/month continuously for...especially when there are other options.

Maybe a one-time cost for some features and monthly cost for more involved
features?

~~~
philipyoungg
Hmmm. Interesting. I'll think about it. Pricing is hard—I'm still looking at
the market right now and will adjust as needed. In fact I've dropped it from
$5/m and $40/y to $4/m and $30/y before posting to HN.

The reason I made Session is for the analytics and syncing between devices. I
want to start and review my progress on any devices I currently on.

If what you need is _only_ changing the time chunk—I think Session is not for
you. There's a lot of excellent product on the market that's cheaper or even
free for that functionality.

My question: have you tried Session? If so, what do you like about it?

As context, I dislike subscription and prefer one time purchase as any of us.
But that business model is proven to be not sustainable—lots of great products
that I use died in matter of years because of lack of update. iOS update means
breaking change to the API and could introduce new bug. Ideally I would love
to sell the product as one time payment with free update for a year. But
that's currently not possible on iOS...

~~~
fergbrain
Yes, I've been trying out Session for the last couple of days. I love the
"take a breath" at the start, and I'm intrigued by the analytics (but don't
have enough history yet)

I think you're that I'm probably not your target user: I don't pomodoro
everyday, mostly when I start stressing out, get anxious, or can't focus.
Before using Session I was just setting a timer on my Apple Watch.

I'm in favor of paying (or donating in the case of FOSS) for software that I
use, but I know and appreciate pricing can be tricky to figure out.

~~~
philipyoungg
May I know what device are you using it on? I used to not using Pomodoro
everyday too—just like you, I only used it when I was overwhelmed with my
situation. Maybe I'm biased, but after using Session for the past 5 months,
the analytics makes me more honest to myself. The days when I thought I was
working hard, The data said I only spent 1 hours with many distractions in
between. With that data, I can reflect back what went wrong and plan how to
fix it.

When you said using a timer of Apple watch, it gave me an idea. Maybe Siri
integration like "Start a Session 'working on X project'" (if it's possible)
would make it easier for people to start a task.

Maybe you can try making an account and see if Session might be the right fit
for you? It gave you 7 days of pro feature for free—no question asked.

Anyway, if you're still overwhelmed in some point of your life, feel free to
still use Session. It'll always be free for the basic timer. :)

------
fergbrain
Random question: why is the publisher listed as "Fatih Kalifa"?

~~~
philipyoungg
Long story short, I tried to apply for apple developer account for the past 3
months with 30 different credit cards (from Twitter friends all over the
world).

All failed.

Apple seems to have enrollment problem that affect developers outside US and
EU. It's frustrating. I lost more time handling this issue, calling support,
etc compared to developing the product.

As a compromise, I ended up borrowed friend's account to upload the app for
the time being.

:(

------
d-32
Beautiful design, I'm excited to try it out!

