I built an app that locks TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat until you walk — looking for honest feedback
I'm a 20-year-old university student and my screen time was averaging 7 hours a day. Mostly TikTok and Instagram. I tried Screen Time limits, I tried deleting apps, I tried willpower. Nothing stuck because I'd just bypass everything within 30 seconds.
So I started building an app called StepGate. The concept is simple: you pick the apps you want blocked, then you pick a commitment level:
- 5,000 steps → apps unlock → you earn a Common egg
- 10,000 steps → apps unlock → Rare egg
- 15,000 steps → apps unlock → Epic egg
- 20,000 steps → apps unlock → Legendary egg
Your apps are completely locked until you hit your number. No bypass. No snooze button. You have to physically move.
The egg thing sounds weird but it works like this — every day you earn a collectible egg that matches your commitment level. A Legendary egg means you walked 20,000 steps with your phone locked. Over time you build a collection that's basically a visual record of your discipline. It sounds small but it's genuinely motivating to see your shelf fill up.
I've been working on this for a few weeks. I have a working prototype and 16 people on the waitlist so far. I'm not a developer — I'm a business student who designed the whole thing and I'm looking for a technical co-founder to actually build it.
Before I go further I genuinely want to know:
- Would you actually use this? Not "cool idea" — would you download it and lock your phone tomorrow morning?
- What step count would you realistically set? 5K? 10K? Higher?
- Does the egg collection thing add anything for you or is it unnecessary?
- What would make you delete it after a week?
I'm not trying to sell anything. The app doesn't exist on the App Store yet. I just want honest opinions from people who actually care about discipline and building better habits. If you want to see the prototype, the waitlist is at stepgate.app but I'm genuinely more interested in the feedback than the signups.
Appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond.
It’s called stepgate.app on Google I would’ve put a link but I don’t want to get band lol