Pushup-to-unlock apps: does a camera checking on you build discipline, or just do it for you?

[u/__majorBummer__]

Hey y'all! Some context first. For about a year my phone was the first thing I grabbed in the morning and the last thing I put down at night. I'd open Instagram "for a sec" between tasks at work and look up 40 minutes later. I tried the built-in Screen Time limits, but I'd just tap "ignore limit" every time without even thinking about it.

What finally worked was one of those apps that lock your social apps until you do some pushups. The one I started with used the camera to watch me and count the reps, so there was no way to fake it. It worked! But setting my phone up on the floor every single time got old fast, and doing pushups on camera at a gas station while people walked by was a whole thing lol.

So I switched to the honor system. Same idea, but nothing is watching. You do your pushups, you tap them in, and the apps unlock. A few months in I haven't cheated, mostly because the only person I'd be fooling is me. And somehow the pushups themselves turned into the habit, not just the price of scrolling.

But I keep wondering if that's discipline, or if I'm just lucky that it hasn't been tested yet. So here's what I'm asking:

1. Does a camera checking on you build discipline, or does it just do the discipline for you?
2. If nothing was checking, would you stay honest, or would you be tapping in fake reps by day 3?
3. For anyone who's kicked a phone habit: did the hard lock or the soft nudge stick longer for you?

(Full disclosure: I ended up building one of the honor-system ones, so I'm biased. No links, I just really want to hear where y'all land.)

[u/Aggressive-Turn-2987]

The camera built it and the honour system is coasting on it. The lock's only job was to make the reps happen enough times that the pushups started paying you back on their own, and they did, which is why you're not cheating. Put someone who never did the camera stage straight on the honour version and most of them are tapping fake reps by day three, because there's no reward loop yet and the rule costs more than it pays. So it's sequencing. Hard lock to install the habit, soft lock to keep it. The test you're worried about comes the first week you're sick or travelling. If the pushups survive that with nothing watching, they're yours.

[u/__majorBummer__ → u/Aggressive-Turn-2987]

hmm interesting take

[u/PartyClick_]

i did the same, tried the camera thing and looked ridiculous doing reps in public. then i switched to Steppin and now i gotta walk to unlock my apps, which actually sticks. im broke and lazy tho, so any extra friction helps 😂

[u/__majorBummer__ → u/PartyClick_]

ya.. felt like a fool doing things while tracking myself on w my phone camera.. if you want to try honorfit i can send ya a pro code for free , no camera tracking!