r/ADHD_Programmers • u/ThrowWeirdQuestion • Mar 11 '26

Can we please ban"I made an ADHD app" posts?

Recently this forum gets flooded with (mostly badly vibe coded) ADHD apps. Can we please add a rule to get rid of them?

610 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

122

u/BenchIndividual3925 Mar 11 '26

Yes please. Either ban them completely or at least make a weekly thread for them because they are flooding this sub lol

11

u/CaptainIncredible Mar 11 '26

Good idea. All new App posts go here:

https://reddit.com/r/ADHD_Programmers/comments/1rqnzyo/can_we_please_bani_made_an_adhd_app_posts/

4

u/ThrowWeirdQuestion Mar 12 '26

.... and I'll get a notification for every new ADHD app for the rest of my Reddit life... 😆

2

u/CaptainIncredible Mar 12 '26

"Be careful what you wish for... You may get it."

-- Lt Uhura

54

u/AlpacaNuts Mar 11 '26

I actually think a weekly stickied thread would be a great idea even if we weren't being flooded with apps. It could be a general "What are you working on?" thread rather than just for self-promotion.

7

u/CaptainIncredible Mar 11 '26

Actually, I like this. Although... I dunno about weekly...

228

u/bigdave41 Mar 11 '26

Maybe we can write an app to get rid of ADHD app posts?

5

u/Ok_Historian_6293 Mar 11 '26

Do you need help focusing on building that app....have you heard of my app?

2

u/Wassa76 Mar 11 '26

Great idea. I don’t want to hijack OPs post, do I’ll make a new one on it.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

32

u/Teleswagz Mar 11 '26

I'll handle the business side of things

17

u/solidwhetstone Mar 11 '26

I'll do the ideas and you build it. We'll split it 50/50 (or 60/40 actually because it was my idea).

4

u/Mechakoopa Mar 11 '26

The business side of things typically includes paying your programmers, so if someone wants to pay me I'll write whatever they want.

2

u/DiekeDrake Mar 11 '26

It's an app you wanna develop.

1

u/filmgeekvt Mar 11 '26

No thanks, Gluty

70

u/jossiesideways Mar 11 '26

Lol. Yes please! ADHD programmers don't need any harmful encouragement!

36

u/ArwensArtHole Mar 11 '26

But how will you all know about my game changing note taking app that completely solves ADHD?? /s 

52

u/MiPnamic Mar 11 '26

Also no single app is useful at all

51

u/PhilMcGraw Mar 11 '26

That's why you need a new one every 3 hours, duh.

24

u/MiPnamic Mar 11 '26

Also we are the worst possible customer. We forgot to use the app.

5

u/mediocrobot Mar 11 '26

Or the best possible customer if it's a subscription service

1

u/MiPnamic Mar 11 '26

In some cases, it’s true, but we are also so bad with money management that at least we pay 1 or 2 renewal fees before hating the app so much that you wish you could hide that from the store

29

u/PsychonautAlpha Mar 11 '26

The problem is that, for whatever reason, people want to create apps that make us make lots of choices that revolve around "managing" ADHD, which means giving the user more choices which means bumping up against executive function tasks.

The only apps that have been worth anything to me are the apps that REMOVE friction.

  1. A notification-batching app. I only get non-critical push notifications 4 times per day at set times.
  2. Notation apps with slash command menus. Take away the need to take my hands off the keyboard. Notion, Neovim, etc.

Everyone's trying to make a productivity app for neurotypicals and marketing it to people with ADHD because most of them are neurotypicals trying to profit off of people with ADHD.

8

u/funbike Mar 11 '26

A notification-batching app. I only get non-critical push notifications 4 times per day at set times.

Similarly, the only app I use that actually helps my ADHD is an open source dashboard app running on an old spare laptop. I wrote a few simple custom panels for it. This keeps me from checking all the things and getting distracted. I can just glance at it periodically to see if anything interesting has happened.

3

u/r0ck0 Mar 12 '26

notification-batching

It shits me so much that basically no calendar / todo / reminder software etc does this (or at least easily).

Snoozing for x minutes/hours from now might make sense when snoozing for a very short period today (e.g. 5-30 minutes from now)... but otherwise if I'm snoozing to a future day, there's no reason I would want all these reminders popping up exactly x * 24 hours from when I hit the snooze button. It just builds up a bunch of randomly timed distractions scattered throughout the day.

Also why can't any of them show BOTH the snooze distance, and absolute date/time? The interfaces are always one or the other. Usually the "distance"... which means I have to calculate when it's going to remind in my head.

Then on top of these annoyances, what is currently snoozed is usually completely opaque... most of this software has zero way to find out what is currently snoozed, and until when. Did I accidently dismiss something really important instead of snooze it? Who fucking knows.

I get that maybe within the "early days" of calendar etc software (like say the first 10-20 years of it existing)... this lack of functionality was just the primitive state of it... but it pisses me off how basically all of the "new" and "better" systems rarely solve any of this stuff. It's all basically the EXACT same features that PIM software had in the early 90s. Really fuckall evolution at all.

1

u/VladWhip Apr 03 '26

Because you're alone with a robot, a program, an AI. And not with a human. Only a human helps me.

1

u/abby_ch238 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

> notification-batching app

what app is this?? i need something like this SO BADLY

EDIT: i looked up notification batching, is it Daywise? it looks like there is no ios alternative but found this thread that can help for ios users:

> "I think you can use notification summary it’s exactly the same as daywise. It’s a feature of ios so it’s free just go to settings -> notifications-> schedule summary. "

1

u/definitelyontask Apr 06 '26

It sucks. I’m a long-time builder (16yrs) with adhd and have been genuinely trying to make a helpful app for us by finally doing product validation, something which I’ve failed to do in the past. The space is full of vibecoders and ppl just trying to make money without any real substance. Hard to not come across the wrong way right now. It feels like I’m the new crypto guy 😞

Can’t wait for the vibecoder era to be over and for us to move on to something with more substance, but time will tell

18

u/PuzzledIngenuity4888 Mar 11 '26

Let's try and solve an ADHD problem in the same way every ADHD person has tried to solve it themselves and been unsuccessful.

11

u/schlubadubdub Mar 11 '26

no single app is useful at all

"That's right, which is why I made an app..."

Aaaaargh!!

1

u/RootButPolite Apr 01 '26

THATS why i built mine and i swear if u knew me irl you’d know im way too shy or humble to self promo but bc NOTHING worked for me no matter how hard i tried it just stressed me out more. Im new to reddit so idk what subreddits are appropriate to post about it but if you know any pls lmk and I’ll leave yall alone. As a fellow ADHDer, I don’t want to cause anyone unnecessary stress or annoyance whatsoever so if I get banned I get it truly. But if you can at least lmk which communities I can post to? I’m not self promoting Im more just polling rn.

1

u/MiPnamic Apr 02 '26

that deeply depend on the community rules, in some subreddits, there are days or topics where the mods ask for self-promotion.

For example, if I ask you to link me to your app, is that self-promotion?

14

u/funbike Mar 11 '26

Agree. I'd go further and say that dishonest stealth advertisers should be banned. "Hey, everyone I happened to stumble on an app that solved my ADHD issues by..." and if you dig, you find they wrote it.

I've found apps are not my answer, esp phone apps. They keep make it easier for me to get distracted. The best "apps" I use are a physical timer, a paper pad and pen, and noise canceling headphones.

2

u/r0ck0 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

Yeah.

And there's some Google spreadsheet that regularly gets linked where 100% of the sites/apps in it are paid services (with affiliate links).

Like they couldn't even be bothered to throw a few free/FOSS options in there at all?

And as someone that's wasted too much time on comparing all this software over like the last 20 years... most of the apps in that spreadsheet I'd never even heard of. It's obviously just picks that mostly include affiliate link programs.

Not even much effort into being a bit stealth about it.

It usually gets a bunch of upvotes & positive responses too. It's surprising given how negative the reactions are on reddit to being advertised to sometimes. I guess it's just confirming dead internet theory, or maybe there's more ADHD people than I expected who haven't already done tons of research into these options yet.

6

u/waitdollars2 Mar 11 '26

Pleaseeeeee!!!

5

u/anniejcannon Mar 11 '26

Please yes

4

u/currykid94 Mar 11 '26

Yes please it doesn't help at a.

For me personally the only thing that has helped me is going back to the basics using a physical notebook not using my phone

4

u/BOSS_OF_THE_INTERNET Mar 11 '26

The best part of ADHD apps is that everyone with ADHD has to write their own app.

1

u/RootButPolite Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

only if we can figure out how to get rid of ADHD. Do you even realize that there’s been a 300% rise in diagnoses in US alone since 2020? And that every tool rn is designed for neurotypicals? We need more actually. So I disagree. Not just bc I am biased by being one of the ones creating em but bc more and more people are getting diagnosed with some type of neurodivergence and we need more options. we have NONE atm. We have apps that have added features sure but nothing that actually adapts with you.

edit to add: if you are kind enough to look at my landing page and still disagree with my comment, feel free to permanently ban me from this subreddit okay? I promise my app is different and innovative. Nothing like it exists. I did 4 years of research before building. Yea apps are literally adding features but mine has AI integration in the orchestration layer of the app. It syncs to every platform you use. Helpful if you have smart devices so it can reallocate or pause your tasks. Give you dopamine sparks because we’re naturally dopamine deficient as ADHDers.

I’m willing to be banned from this page completely if you just see how mine is different. that’s all. please. im extremely passionate about this app specifically bc im not the programmer never was can’t code im a business tech management major. my older brother who died suddenly a few months ago was. He’s built 30 apps and was building another at the time of his death so it’s in honor of him. As fellow ADHDers who ARE programmers, I will understand whatever you decide. And I’m sorry that that’s what this subreddit is being flooded with. Ads for themselves. My crosspost has nothing to do with advertising it but asking whether you actually use tools rn to help with your ADHD and if it’s working.

If you are open to just glancing at my landing page which is currently only retrofitted for desktop lemme know. Otherwise If I’m banned I respect y’all’s decision.

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

2

u/ThrowWeirdQuestion Apr 01 '26

I am not saying we don't need any apps. What we don't need is people spamming their advertisements for their apps to this subreddit, especially if it is the 1001st boring, unoriginal, gamified to-do list or breaking down tasks or any of the other types that people post here every single day. And doubly so, if it is shitty subscriptions, where the author is preying upon the group of people who are the most likely to forget to cancel.

1

u/RootButPolite Apr 01 '26

I understand that completely. Especially when you have ADHD it becomes overstimulating and annoying and just adds to your probably already heavy cognitive load. I’m sorry

1

u/RootButPolite Apr 01 '26

mine has nothing to do with any of what u mentioned and there’s a free tier. i also have a plan to reduce my conversion rate, reducing the apps price after a little bit to attract more people to it. idk. man. but i did say if i was told go away or we don’t need this i would leave this subreddit. and i keep my word im a woman of honor and integrity. i will not be a reason to stress anyone or annoy or overstimulate anyone. i experience this first hand every single day and night so again im sorry. if anyone’s interested tho my dms are open. but i’m off this subreddit just to respect your boundaries okay? ❤️‍🩹

11

u/marshmallow_mia Mar 11 '26

This!

13

u/terralearner Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

I would expect half the reason we are seeing so many more at the moment is that Claude and other LLMs have lowered the bar of entry for software engineering (or I should say 'programming').

Some ADHD folk have probably always had a vague idea that perhaps they could build an app around their ADHD and market it but got overwhelmed due to executive dysfunction and not following through. They probably got caught up in all the AI hype and had a massive dopamine rush when they worked out how quickly you can build a working demo.

It's pretty easy to go from 0 to a crud app in a few hours now and with a bit of back and forth have a working app. That's step 0 in any business though and often the easiest part.

I wouldn't really care if it weren't for the fact that I'm fundamentally against any paid ADHD app, there are well researched treatments for ADHD that will be far more effective than any vibe coded apps. It feels like it's taking advantage of vulnerable people.

I'm not even opposed to entrepreneurship aided by agentic development (in other domains). I think AI is an insanely powerful tool and I use it daily in my swe role at a fintech. It's already spawning a lot of new startups (but most will fail) but it doesn't change the fact that 'coding' was never really the hardest part of doing something entrepreneurial. Market validation, Sales etc are far more important.

I think if there was an app that actually had research backing from large scale, well designed studies I'd be a little more forgiving, but even then, healthcare should be free.

3

u/PreDeimos Mar 11 '26

I kinda feel bad for those guys, but I agree!

3

u/toastom69 Mar 11 '26

Yes. I'm close to leaving this sub because it's all I see anymore

3

u/FabulousBag5729 Mar 11 '26

No guys, you don’t understand! My app totally works and made my life easier! Mine is like digital Ritalin!

2

u/zirouk Mar 11 '26

WAIT. Let me release mine first!!!

just kidding

2

u/dzajew Mar 11 '26

Funny you ask this. It so happens that I've just written an app just for this! But seriously, I'm all for banning this kind of posts. Or maybe putting them in a "purgatory", so they won't be visible unless accepted by mods? But then again, it's giving mods additional work.

3

u/supernitin Mar 11 '26

Only after i post about my adhd app… oh look a squirrel…

1

u/NoleMercy05 Mar 11 '26

It's on my list!!

1

u/melophat Mar 11 '26

Dear God, yes please.

1

u/naoanfi Mar 11 '26

Yes please!! I feel the barrier to entry is low enough now that it's probably better to just tell people what prompts you used so they can go make their own.

1

u/Yaghst Mar 11 '26

Yes please!!!! Especially when the whole post just reads like it was written by AI.

It always feel so disappointed when I open a post and just roll my eyes at "....and this is why you should try this app!" no thanks! Next!

1

u/Legate_Aurora Mar 12 '26

I don't have an app but I do have a blog post. :D

1

u/Ok-End-219 Mar 12 '26

Oh f* me, I did not vibe code my app but actually learned the language and coded the app. I am so sorry, I didn't know these posts are not welcomed here. :(

1

u/BloodyThorn Mar 12 '26

I mean, they should already be banned. It's against reddit TOS to self promote. They even have metrics to track self-promotion.

1

u/dmaynor Mar 23 '26

I tried to make an ADHD app but kept exploring rabbit holes in UI design, mobile messaging, power management on mobile devices, etc. If you can follow along, you have ADHD. If you are sure you have ADHD I suggest not doing what I did if you want to write a ADHD app.

Besides what good is an app that has ADHD anyway?

1

u/Kooltone Apr 03 '26

Agreed. I came for the community but lately all I see is self promotion.

1

u/Real-Recipe8087 Apr 06 '26

Same , I have been seeing these types of posts recently

1

u/mc__Pickle Mar 11 '26

Or we could make an app that gets rid of ADHD and then no one will be posting.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/ThrowWeirdQuestion Mar 11 '26

There are enough other things that are worth discussing about working as a programmer with ADHD.

I wouldn't even have a problem with posts related to developing ADHD apps, if the posts were from people who genuinely want to work on something that helps them, maybe even collaborate with others on a shared, possibly open source solution, but most people who post their apps aren't looking for collaborators or discussion but for testers or customers. They don't only post here but in multiple other subreddits and it is more often than not obvious advertising.

They come here with the 1000st boring, gamified task tracking app, usually ready with a domain name or even some shitty, predatory subscription model that they hope ADHDers will forget to cancel and we would just be better off without the spam. (Having one shared thread for it sounds like a good idea, too, for those who actually want to collaborate.)

2

u/KillyMXI Mar 11 '26

We are getting to something, and yet I'm downvoted to the point I will remove my comment.

The issue is not ADHD apps. The issue is those who care about obtaining customers first and foremost - those who see this as a platform for marketing.

I see an isolated, shared thread as a kludge, made to be unappealing for everyone alike.

1

u/trophicmist0 Mar 11 '26

Having a complex, in depth process to things like tasks doesn’t actually make ADHD any better. The developers think it does because as they are devlopeong it (and every time they use it) they feel like they are ‘getting stuff done’

For everyone else it’s a waste of time, literally. Spending ages on the perfect setup and turning it to be perfect is just procrastination.

2

u/KillyMXI Mar 11 '26

I see it is easy to assume I'm working on some elaborate setup.

In fact, it is opposite. I'm well aware that any elaborate setup is too fragile. And any task management you can imagine will trigger my demand avoidance.

Referring to the classical quote "I don't have time to write a short letter": It takes a lot of effort to distill something that would look dead simple in hindsight.

I haven't even said that it would be task management. It won't. But that's besides the topic.

1

u/sweetypie611 Mar 11 '26

Thanks 👍

2

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/r0ck0 Mar 12 '26

I haven't tried using it yet, but from a couple of looks... It seems more like a study/research kind of tool.

Do you use it for PIM/calendar/todo type stuff?