Every screen time app we tried counted the same thing: the hours you lose. Presence counts the hours you get back. That isn't just a nicer way to say it. It changes how people feel about their day, and how likely they are to keep going.
Look at almost any screen time report and you'll find a number that only goes up, a red warning when you pass a goal, and a weekly summary that reads like a verdict. The message underneath is always the same: here is how much of your day you wasted.
That never sat right with us. The point was never the phone. It was the walk, the dinner, the book, the hour with your kids. Those are the moments people actually want more of, and no one was counting them.
So we flipped the number. Presence counts the time you're present, celebrates it as it grows, and shows you where that pace leads over a whole year. The research below is why we think that matters.
"Use my phone less" is an avoidance goal: success means something not happening. "Spend more time present" is an approach goal. In studies of people's personal goals, those pursuing avoidance goals were less satisfied with their progress and saw their well-being drop over time.
In Presence: your ring fills with time away, toward a daily intention you choose.
Elliot & Sheldon, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997
In a study of nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from 238 people, the single biggest lift to motivation and mood was simply making progress, even small progress, and being able to see it.
In Presence: a live ring, your longest stretches, and a year of squares that fills in day by day.
Coffee-shop customers with a loyalty card bought more often the closer they got to their free drink. This "goal gradient" means a goal you can see approaching pulls you forward.
In Presence: the ring shows how far along you are, right on the line, as the day goes on.
Kivetz, Urminsky & Zheng, Journal of Marketing Research, 2006
A study of more than 25,000 people across 89 countries found that shaming, controlling messages led to more pushback and weaker follow-through, while messages that offered a choice did the opposite.
In Presence: no scolding and no red numbers. You pick your hours, your intention and your pace.
When a single lapse is framed as total failure, people often give up altogether, a pattern researchers call the abstinence violation effect. Mondays and new months, on the other hand, act as "fresh starts" that make people more likely to begin again.
In Presence: every hour away still counts, days off never break your progress, and every Monday and month is a clean page.
Marlatt & Gordon, Relapse Prevention, 1985 · Dai, Milkman & Riis, Management Science, 2014
Across 94 studies, people who made simple "when this happens, I'll do that" plans were considerably more likely to reach their goals than people who relied on good intentions alone.
In Presence: Phone Time windows let you plan when you'll scroll, so the rest of the day is free to be present.
Gollwitzer & Sheeran, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2006
In a randomized experiment, students who cut social media to about 30 minutes a day for three weeks reported significantly less loneliness and depression than those who carried on as usual.
That's what Presence is for: not a smaller number on a report, but more of the hours that make a day feel like yours.
Hunt et al., Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2018
Today counts up with every stretch away, toward an intention you set.
Today's rhythm, your longest stretches and your year as a grid.
Badges you can earn again and again, never lost for a slow day.
Days off that don't count against you, and a fresh start every week.
Phone Time windows and focus sessions do the deciding ahead of time.
Two gentle notes a day at most, and never a warning.
Presence isn't a medical or clinical tool, and these studies didn't test Presence itself. They're the ideas we designed it around.
Free to start, with 7 days of Presence Plus on us.