Blank Spaces Launcher (-‪)‬ 4+

An app that cares about our digital wellbeing

This might be my first ever app review. This app is amazing. It uses the “out of sight, out of mind” approach by offering a minimalist layout that is functional and effective. I set this up to turn my phone into more of a utility phone and it almost makes me wonder why I bought an iPhone 15 since my screen time has drastically dropped. I have been using this app since my iPhone SE days. Which brings me to the point about how awesome the developer(s) are! When I set up this app on my brand new iPhone 15, I noticed there was a glitch with setting up my Google Tasks Blank. I was pretty bummed and emailed the developer thinking it might take months until it gets resolved, however I got a reply within the next hour and the issue was fixed almost instantly. That dedication and professionalism is top tier! Since that interaction I paid for the full service and am a huge fan. The only con of this app is there’s still plenty apps that need some support, but the most popular are already optimized for blank and the library has been expanding. Do not sleep on this app!

Excellent Design + Room to Improve

The UX of the widgets is so clean and thoroughly considered that it feels totally native to my phone. Absolutely love the granular level of customization to type and backgrounds. There are a few areas with room for improvement. Number one being the need for shortcuts to be installed for some apps to integrate. The second, when searching the ‘Don’t see your app?’ nav, the shadow element around the search bar makes the first result untappable. I’m still in free trial but have already noticed a difference in how this app interrupts time wasting habits, and I’ll probably spring for the lifetime upgrade when it’s time.

UPDATE: After a few more days of use the experience is still overwhelmingly positive but a few more snags became apparent. 1 the ‘Add apps’ search would make more sense as an alphabetized list of apps already installed on a user’s device vs the current system of jumbled apps from the entire app store. 2 the experience of moving apps between widgets could be improved, possibly with a birds eye view UI or checkbox editing system. 3 a shortcut that automates changing the phone wallpaper to match the light/dark mode widgets would make for a much more integrated feeling with iOS (this used to be easy enough for users to setup natively but since iOS 16 wallpapers have become kind of a pain)

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your detailed feedback! We're thrilled to hear you appreciate the clean UX and customization options. Your suggestions are incredibly valuable, and we'll surely take them into consideration for future updates. We're glad to hear the app has positively impacted your habits, and we hope to make it even better with these updates. If you have more suggestions or need assistance, please reach out to us at ask@blankspaces.app.

Best app for digital minimalism.

This app is everything I’ve been looking for and it’s working great! Anything that makes my phone less distracting is ideal. The shortcuts work well and it looks fantastic.

Previously, I had used this app while still keeping all my distracting apps (social media, shopping, etc) downloaded on my phone and just out-of-sight in my App Library. That worked well for a bit to reduce distractions, but the app alone wasn’t enough to reduce how addicting my phone can be. Since realizing that, I’ve deleted all shopping, entertainment, and non-work related social media apps from phone. I’ve turned on the “reduce motion”, “greyscale”, and “reduced white point” settings on my phone and it’s made a massive difference! I just ordered a matte tempered glass screen protector to help with the overall glare/intensity of the phone screen. I hope that’ll be the final piece to my “setup”!

This app has been incredibly helpful in turning my phone back into a device that works as a tool, not an entertainment device. I can’t recommend it enough.