I’m building the opposite of Opal, and it started because I kept relapsing.

Here’s my short story.

I kept noticing that every habit app I tried eventually made me feel worse. The goal was to reduce bad habits but the app itself became stressful.

Streaks.
Daily reminders.
“Don’t break the chain.”
Big red resets when you slip.

It started to feel like the tool designed to help me was creating more pressure than the habit itself. Around the same time, I tried apps like Opal to block distractions. And I loved the philosophy reduce friction, remove temptation, make the right choice easier.

But I realized something. Blocking access doesn’t solve the internal loop it just delays it.

When the block ends, the urge is still there. So instead of building another “discipline” app, I decided to build something different.

So i built BanIt.

No perfect streak worship.
No dramatic resets.
No shame screens.

Just simple tracking of wins and slip-ups.

Open it. Log it. Close it.
Less gamified than most habit apps.
Less flexible.
Less flashy.

But that’s the point. I wanted something that makes progress visible without turning self-improvement into a performance. But building the opposite of what stressed me out has been way more interesting than trying to compete feature-for-feature.

Curious if anyone else has built something intentionally less “powerful” but more usable because of it ?