Show HN: iOS Screen Time from a REST API
We get all kinds of requests from users for ways they'd like to use their screen time data.
- “Auto-donate $x to charity every time I exceed a limit or try to bypass it”
- “My 75 Hard group has a screen time requirement, can we set up group visibility?”
- “Let my personal agent know if it’s a good time to tackle things on my todo list”
- “Auto-report large deviations in my screen time to my therapist “
We aren't able to build for all of them, so we're releasing this API.
This is the first time iOS Screen Time is accessible on the web. Apple doesn’t expose it, but since we measure it ourselves, we can - via UI or API. We're launching this API so developers can build all these tools and more. Our goal is to enable more solutions to what we believe is the biggest problem in the world - the misalignment of human attention and intention in the digital world.
Here's a quick demo of setting up and using the API: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QahETj3xaaIsn0JiNbuqvTaSLdx...
P.S. "bricks" meaning a very strict screentime set up, only basically phone + text is available M-F
We don't sell your usage data.
I can see both sides. I want them to not require it but as a developer used to creating lean projects I can understand why they do.
It doesn't really feel like "forcing users into adtech surveillance platforms" if they're using Android - they already have a Google account it's literally built into the operating system.
The goal was and is to minimize friction and maximize security. For all the flaws of consumer subscription as a business model, it's beauty is that we don't have perverse incentives. Users pay us to protect their attention so we make money by being good at that. We don't have to or want to sell their data.
Remember 95%+ of potential users of this app have not spent a minute concerned about Googles data harvesting.
Would recommend creating an account in the API docs first because that way when you log into Clearspace you'll get an onboarding for API setup rather than general setup of the app
Maybe other apps in future will report data to the API as well
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/run-for-fun-screen-time-focus/...
- lock/unlock apps
- exclude some apps from total screen time calculation
- get data about specific app usage
In any Apple device, In settings -> Screen Time there's an option for "share across devices". If that is turned on, all devices will report your cumulative totals. So if you're interested in retrieving your screen time from all your devices, you can turn that on and then your iPhone will report everything, which you could retrieve with this API. But you wouldn't be able to differentiate where the screen time came from.
No comments yet
thescreentimenetwork.com is effectively a list of people doing just that. Does that answer your question?
it says 'access denied' for me
2. Log in with that account to the Clearspace app which uses on-device permission to report your data to the API
3. Use API key associated with that account to fetch your data or be notified about changes to it
Does that answer?
No
> Does it require using clearspace
Yes in the sense that it needs to downloaded and logged in on your phone. No in the sense that you don't have to open it or use it after setup