I fixed my biggest issue with Apple Watch’s rings using tech from Westworld
A few years ago, I bought my first Apple Watch and it literally changed my life. By closing the watch’s activity rings, I began to form healthy habits and eventually achieved a really long daily streak. It’s rewarding and it provides a sense of accomplishment. In short time, it becomes an addition. While it’s healthy to stand, exercise, and burn calories, it’s still an addiction. What happens when you need to take a sick day but you also want to close your rings? It all comes crashing down.
Almost every app out there that promotes forming good habits using streaks faces this dilemma. Integrating sick days could be a solution, but deep down you know that the streak ended and your charts will forever reflect that.
A glimpse into the future
In season 3 of Westworld we are introduced to a data collection company known as Incite. Their algorithm, known as Rehoboam, predicts patterns in human behaviour. In one scene, Serac, the owner of Incite is shown wearing a simplistic smart watch that has an eclipse on it.
The idea is that if Incite’s algorithm is working as expected, then the eclipse is full. If there are divergences between its predictions and reality, however, the sun and the moon are no longer aligned and action needs to be taken to restore the harmony.
Porting the concept to present day
I found the concept of Rehoboam’s eclipse to be fascinating. There’s no need to show numbers or any details, just the sun and the moon – it’s so pure, simple, and zen. What if this concept was applied to a daily tracker, and instead of charts and streaks, we were presented with our very own eclipse?
Enter Apoklis for iPhone and Apple Watch.
How it works
Like any other daily habit tracker, you start by establishing a few measurable s.m.a.r.t goals. Set each goal’s target (e.g 30 minutes a day, 5 times a day) and on which days you want to practice that goal. The only thing you need to do from there is to track your progress. After that, the algorithm takes over. Apoklisi will tabulate your progress over time and present you with your very own eclipse, a snapshot of how well you’re doing. The moon’s deviation and size is determined by the goals that were missed.
Solving the streak problem
By introducing this novel interface, Apoklisi is helping solve the streak problem. You don’t need to feel guilty for skipping a day if you’re sick, tired, or otherwise incapable of achieving your goal. Like Rehoboam, your eclipse will correct itself as you get back into the grove. Furthermore, if you’ve been exceeding your goals, you will be rewarded, and might not even see any divergences in your eclipse.
Minimalistic in every aspect
In building Apoklisi, I decided to strip out almost everything that you normally see in an app. The app is entirely monochromatic which makes for a great dark mode. You’re presented with the eclipse and that’s it. Everything happens on one screen. By default, the goals are hidden until you need to see them. By tapping on the eclipse, you can see which goals are causing deviations. If you tap further, you will see the details of your goals, including a chart that shows your progress over time.
Both the Apple Watch and the iPhone apps share the same eclipse interface and everything is kept in sync via the iCloud. Despite having all the features you’d except from a habit tracker, Apoklisi is less than 3MB in size.
Apoklisi is now available in the AppStore for both iPhone and Apple Watch.
