Pet a dog to use social media — by Roots - the most wholesome app blocker on the internet
Our latest update forces you to pet your dog before you can scroll on social media. Turn a mindless habit into real world joy, and add a little friction to your doom scrolling.
This isn’t just cute — it’s behavioral science meets emotional design.
Replies
Roots
Hey everyone — Clint here, founder of Roots 🐾
Want to scroll? First, you have to literally pet your dog.
We thought about doing it as an April Fools joke, but once we tested it, we realized it actually works.
It brings a moment of real-world connection into a habit that’s usually unconscious and compulsive. Plus it’s way harder to mindlessly open TikTok when your pup is looking up at you for scratches. It’s camera-powered, privacy-safe, and designed to help you break the doomscrolling habit.
🐕 Works with any dog
📵 Block any app with custom rules
❤️ Built to help you be more present
Our goal with Roots is to help people build a balanced relationship with their phones — and change behavior in a fun, long-lasting way.
Would love to hear what you think. And if you don’t have a dog nearby… don’t worry, this is just the first in a series of new "speed bumps" we're releasing 😉
— Clint
minimalist phone: creating folders
One of the cutest apps I have seen today (and maybe in the whole week) 😃
I am also a part of the digital detox project and have to say that the incentive in this one is very strong :)
Who can resist pets? :)
Next feature: tracking walks with pets, each 1km with your dog = 1 minute you can spend on your phone :)
Roots
minimalist phone: creating folders
@wellgraf Oh, in that case you need to decrease the reward quota :D
Roots
@busmark_w_nika Haha yeah totally! 😬 I can see this being a good lever to adjust based on where you are in your journey towards less screen time and more intentional use. More minutes rewarded at first to make progress, but then adjusted if you really want to make a change. Endless of fun ideas, love it!
And oh, thanks so much for everything you have done with the Minimalist Phone! Truly incredible app right on this topic as well 🙏
minimalist phone: creating folders
@wellgraf Thank you, Pontus :)
Roots
Hey everyone! 👋
I’m Pontus, Co-founder and Head of Design at Roots, and I want to share a bit of the thinking behind this new (and maybe most charming) feature yet!
We’ve all been there as dog owners. You're sucked into your phone, scrolling that endless feed again… and your dog is just sitting there, eyes on you, waiting. That moment when you know you should put the phone down but don't, is exactly what we wanted to tackle.
This started as a playful idea, but as we explored it through the lens of behavioral design and emotional friction, it made perfect sense. By placing a real-world moment of connection between you and your phone, we interrupt the automatic habit loop in a way that felt human and relatable.
From a design perspective, we focused on creating a very simple experience with automatic detection of your dog, subtle delightful details when you complete it, and hints to actually rethink to unblock the apps and just keep enjoying the precious moment you now have in front of you instead.
As I was designing this, I find it funny how I ended up hunting down my dog to both test the feature but also create marketing materials and he was very confused why I kept doing it all of a sudden haha.
This is the first in a series of “speed bumps” we’re working on — small moments that help you pause, reflect, and make more intentional choices before diving back into your apps.
Would love to hear your thoughts or ideas for the next kind of “pause” we should build to keep you from scrolling.
Thanks for being here and for your support! 🙏
@wellgraf I really like the thoughtfulness of the way you have made this. Wonderful!!!!
Roots
UnInbox
As a serial screen addict this is the perfect thing to keep me locked in on the things that matter + my dog loves the extra petting she gets.
Roots
Roots is such a brilliant idea! Can users customize the rules or timing for blocking apps, or is it more of a set-it-and-forget-it system?
Roots
@evgenii_zaitsev1 Thank you so much and very happy to hear that! 🙏
Absolutely, Roots is fully customized to fit exactly what you want to block and when you want to block it!
Block apps based on time spent on them, block during certain times in the day, and a big favorite is to block apps at all times but set a limited amount of unblocks you can do each day..
My favorite setup is for example 5 unblocks allowed per day on all my social media apps so I really have to think and use those precious unblocks intentionally before going back in there!
Super curious to hear how what you think of it!
There's smart, then there's genius, then there's this feature.
I see you used @Webflow, did you also use @Relume?
Roots
Atlas
I'm personally a dog person. But what about cat owners? ...asking for a friend. 😇
Roots
Creative (and really cute!) solutions for modern problems 😁 One more app added to my stack! :=)
Roots
Flavored Resume
Hey guys - do you have any plans to expand other rewards options to unlock your phone? I don't have a dog myself so I'm curious what other plans you have.
Roots
@edward_g Absolutely! This is just one option for friction before you unblock your apps. Our default and very popular one is a time delay and soon we are also introducing a calm breathing exercise.
Many more in the making and you can also submit your own suggestions right in the app for us to consider!
I love how it blends behavioral science with emotional design in such a fun and heartwarming way. More of this kind of tech, please!
Roots
@supa_l Thanks a lot! Exactly what we were aiming for here, so we're super glad it resonates! 🙏
Atlas
Snap a picture of that pup while you are at it and get some content! Two birds and all that.
Atlas
Cat version when? 👀 😹
Roots
@kyle_anne All pet inclusion coming soon haha - But actually, try it already.. it should actually work 😺
Very creative and I really like the angle you played on here before using apps. Congrats on a great launch!
Roots
Is this feature live? I downloaded the app (really liked it, great design and configs) but couldn’t find how to activate this. Was excited to try it out.
Roots