Complex Apps for Simple Tasks: Where Developers Go Astray
Modern apps strut into the App Store with bold promises, only to falter when it comes to delivering on them. They claim to be simple, intuitive, life-changing—buzzwords that often lead straight to frustration. The marketing is a ten, but the app itself? A one or two. Instead of under-promising and over-delivering, they over-promise and hand you a Rubik’s Cube disguised as a productivity tool.
The Case of Habit Trackers
Take a simple app like habit trackers, for example. The concept is simple: build a habit, track it, and improve over time. But simplicity seems too boring for some developers. Instead of letting you set a habit, mark it done, and see your progress, they pile on unnecessary extras.
Features That Miss the Mark
There’s the “skip a day” option, for instance, that you can or could enable. While skipping a day makes sense, why does it come with habit bonuses that are vaguely explained and often arbitrary, or something called “flex days” that seem designed to confuse rather than assist? Are these features meant to encourage me or just remind me of what I’m not accomplishing? Then there are the charts: bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts. Do I need a fancy graph to tell me I didn’t exercise on Wednesday? No. I was there.
Penalty Scores and Their Unnecessary Complexity
And let’s not forget penalty scores. Say you set a goal to work out seven days a week for 30 minutes a day (I did that, and it clearly was too lofty a goal.) Life happens; you skip the weekend along with a few weekdays. The app will show you in multiple ways how you’ve failed: a plunging chart, a dismal progress score. But one message would suffice: “You missed your goal by more than 50%. Consider starting with three days a week.” Simple. Honest. Encouraging.
The Real Key to Habit Building
The key to habit building is momentum, not overly complicated features or guilt-tripping graphs. Start small, get a win, and build on it. Apps don’t need features like unnecessary reminders, overcomplicated graphs, or penalty points to be effective.
A Plea to App Developers
So, to app developers: keep it simple. We’re not launching rockets; we’re just trying to drink more water or walk 10,000 steps. Let the app do what it promises and be the quiet, reliable tool that helps us succeed. Because when a habit tracker becomes a habit in itself, it’s missed the point entirely.