I need to be honest with you: I’m a chronic procrastinator, and my phone is the biggest culprit.
Not the “I’ll do it later” kind, the kind where you unlock your phone to check one thing, and suddenly 45 minutes have disappeared. One minute you’re checking a notification, the next you’re watching a documentary about how massive excavators are built.
I tried every app blocker I could find, and they all had the same problem:
- They intervene at the wrong time after you’ve already started using your phone and you already deep in distraction
- They’re so easy to bypass that you ignore them entirely
There was no middle ground. No intervention after you pick up that phone to unlock it and before you even start using the phone. No pause button for your brain.
The App Idea: A Pause Before the Scroll
The idea came to me right after meditating, which is ironic, because meditation is supposed to clear your mind, not fill it with startup ideas.
What if, every time you unlocked your phone, something gently interrupted the habit?
Not a block. Not a warning. Just a moment.
A calm breath. A message to your self. A custom media reminder (photo, video, audio). A short pause. A chance to ask yourself:
“Do I actually need to be on my phone right now?”
Turning the Idea Into Reality (Immediately)
The moment I finished meditating, I did the most important thing you can do with an idea:
I opened my code editor.
No waiting. No overthinking. Because we all know what happens when you wait — distractions, self-doubt, and “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
Project Planning (As a Web Developer)
I started laying out the requirements in prompt mode.
Here’s the catch: I had never built an Android app before. Ever.
I’m a web developer. My instinct was obvious:
- Use React Native
- Reuse what I already know and the experience that I have with React Framework
That plan lasted about an hour.
The Android Permission Problem
React Native hit a wall fast: permissions.
To detect phone unlock events the way I needed, React Native would require root access.
That’s a deal-breaker. If an app asks for that level of access, most users uninstall it immediately.
So I pivoted.
The Hybrid Solution (Native Android + React Native)
The final architecture looked like this:
- Native Android code to detect unlock events properly
- React Native for the UI and customization
Best of both worlds.
Learning Android Development With AI
This is where AI completely changed the game.
I had an AI assistant open the entire time, asking questions like:
- What does this Android permission do?
- Why isn’t this service running in the background?
- How does this lifecycle method work?
It felt like having a patient senior developer sitting next to me all day.
I even used AI to walk me through setting up Android Studio, Java, emulators, and build tools step by step.
The First Run (And the First Failure)
The app ran… but the overlay didn’t appear when unlocking the phone.
Which, unfortunately, was the entire point of the app.
Android background services are far more complex than they look. But once again, AI helped debug the issue and get it working.
From “Breath Unlock” to “Pause Unlock”
The original name was Breath Unlock, but the idea evolved quickly.
Not everyone wants a breathing exercise. Some people want:
- Motivational quotes
- Photos of family
- Short videos
- Audio Message
- Personal reminders
That’s how Pause Unlock was born.
What Pause Unlock Actually Does
You unlock your phone, something you probably do over 100 times a day and probably it is automatic habit now.
You see a short pause, instead of instantly opening a social app :
- A breathing meditation
- A personal message
- An image, audio or video you chose
Just enough friction to break the automatic habit.
Key Features
- Animated breathing guide
- Custom images, audio, videos, or text
- Adjustable pause duration
- Optional skip button
- Runs fully in the background
No feeds. No streaks. No productivity guilt.
Why This App Matters
We live in a world of endless notifications and unconscious scrolling.
Pause Unlock doesn’t block you or shame you. It simply asks a question at the right moment:
“Is this really what I want to be doing right now?”
Final Thoughts: Building Apps With AI in 2026
I built a fully working Android app in one day, with zero prior Android experience.
This is what building with AI looks like in 2026: ideas move fast, learning happens in real time, and the barriers are almost gone.
If you want to try Pause Unlock, Here is the direct link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pauseunlock
Or search for “pause unlock” on the google play store. And if you have any feedback or suggestion, I’d love to read it.
See you in the next one.