Why I Ask Users to Set an Intention First

The moment we nearly shipped without it

We built Intentr around a simple idea: people should know why they're consuming media before they start. But in the first prototype, we skipped the intention step. We thought the bounded session timer would be enough. Users would open the app, get a 20-minute window, and the natural brake would kick in.

It didn't. We watched early testers scroll through channels the same way they scrolled through their feed on other platforms. Faster. More distracted. The timer was just a gadget. There was no difference between opening Intentr for a specific reason and opening it out of habit.

I remember sitting with the team at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday, reviewing session recordings. One tester opened the app four times in an hour. No intention stated. Each time, the session felt empty. Just the muscle memory of reach for the phone, satisfied nowhere.

That night, we added the intention step. Not as friction. As permission.

What happens when you actually name your purpose

The intention field is three words on your screen. 'Learn about sourdough.' 'Check news once.' 'Find three recipes for this weekend.' You type it. Then the session begins.

I expected people to game it. Write nonsense. Move on. Some did. But most didn't. The field forces you to be honest with yourself. You can't pretend you're checking the news if you've written 'doom scroll for 15 minutes.' The lie becomes visible.

That visibility changes behaviour in ways the timer alone never could. When you've named your intention, you notice when you drift from it. You can feel the gap between what you said and what you're doing. You become the judge of your own attention, not the app.

The second thing that happens is quieter but more important. You start to want fewer, better sessions. Because each one requires you to know what you want. After two weeks, most users cut their daily sessions in half. Not because the app forced them. Because they stopped pretending they were opening it for no reason.

Why this matters more than the features we're proud of

Intentr has things I think are clever. The attention ledger that shows you exactly where your time went. The fact that creators get 85% of the subscription revenue, so you know your pound is funding real work. No algorithm deciding what you should see. User-curated channels, all of them.

But the intention field is the feature that actually works. It's the moment the app talks back to you. It asks: What are you here for? Not rhetorically. Literally. Answer first. Then you get access to the channels you've chosen to follow.

When we added the field, the average session quality changed. Not length. Quality. People lingered longer on specific creators. They actually watched things instead of flicking past them. Engagement went up because intention went up. Not because we tricked the algorithm into showing them engaging things, but because they'd already decided what they wanted to engage with.

I've spent most of my career building apps. I know what usually drives retention: notifications, dark patterns, algorithmic surprise. The things that make your app sticky. Intentr does the opposite. We make it easier to leave. Once your intention is satisfied, the session ends. You go back to your life.

The ledger remembers what you intended

One feature works hand-in-hand with the intention. The attention ledger. It logs every session: what you intended, how long you spent, which channels you visited. Free users see seven days of history. Plus users see the full picture back as far as they care to scroll.

The ledger isn't there to shame you. It's there so you can see the pattern. Are you usually opening Intentr to 'catch up on tech news' but ending up in lifestyle channels? The ledger shows that. Are certain creators consistently pulling you into deeper sessions than you intended? You'll see it.

I've had users tell me the ledger is the most useful part. Not the timer. Not the app itself. The fact that their attention behaviour is visible, tracked, and theirs to review. One person said she'd finally understood why she felt drained after certain types of sessions. The ledger didn't judge. It just showed her what she'd already chosen to do.

What happens when intention becomes a habit

After six weeks of using Intentr, something shifts. Users stop thinking of the intention field as a requirement. They start thinking of it as a tool they want to use. A few have told us they've started applying the same logic to other parts of their day. Before opening email. Before calling someone. Naming the reason first.

That's when I know the app is working. Not because engagement is high or retention is climbing, but because the habit is spreading beyond the app. People are thinking about their attention differently. They're pausing before consuming.

One creator told us she used Intentr to structure her own content consumption, then started using the same pattern with her audience. On her podcast, she began asking listeners to name their intention for listening. 'Are you here to learn something new? To be company for your commute? To fall asleep?' Just naming it changed how people engaged with her work.

That's the thing about intention. It's contagious. It doesn't feel like a limitation. It feels like permission to actually want something.