Blank Spaces: App Launcher 4+

Excellent Design + Room to Improve

The UX of the widgets is so clean and thoroughly considered that it feels totally native to my phone. Absolutely love the granular level of customization to type and backgrounds. There are a few areas with room for improvement. Number one being the need for shortcuts to be installed for some apps to integrate. The second, when searching the ‘Don’t see your app?’ nav, the shadow element around the search bar makes the first result untappable. I’m still in free trial but have already noticed a difference in how this app interrupts time wasting habits, and I’ll probably spring for the lifetime upgrade when it’s time.

UPDATE: After a few more days of use the experience is still overwhelmingly positive but a few more snags became apparent. 1 the ‘Add apps’ search would make more sense as an alphabetized list of apps already installed on a user’s device vs the current system of jumbled apps from the entire app store. 2 the experience of moving apps between widgets could be improved, possibly with a birds eye view UI or checkbox editing system. 3 a shortcut that automates changing the phone wallpaper to match the light/dark mode widgets would make for a much more integrated feeling with iOS (this used to be easy enough for users to setup natively but since iOS 16 wallpapers have become kind of a pain)

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your detailed feedback! We're thrilled to hear you appreciate the clean UX and customization options. Your suggestions are incredibly valuable, and we'll surely take them into consideration for future updates. We're glad to hear the app has positively impacted your habits, and we hope to make it even better with these updates. If you have more suggestions or need assistance, please reach out to us at ask@blankspaces.app.

Edited: Widgets are VERY clumsy

Initial review:
I typically don’t write reviews. But I purchased this app and now I can’t use it. When trying to add the apps to the BlankSpace widgets it only allows ten apps (which the app does not express initially). Which isn’t a big deal, I just had not added the most important apps and wanted to edit them. Blank Space will not allow me to edit them. No matter what I do to alter the apps on the widget (adding a second or third widget, even deleting the app, it’s data, and the iCloud data and reloading the app) and it still has the same locked in apps that I can’t change. And now the widget says it is full, but is typically without text. Because my most necessary apps are not there this was a waste.

Additional comments: Sometime after writing this initial review, the app’s widgets did start to function properly.
Now that everything works I have been enjoying the app that performs the way it should.
It doesn’t entirely stonewall me from the apps I blocked, but it has enough road blocks to keep me accountable and on track.
I am editing my stars to 4 out of 5. The initial setup was very frustrating but now I am grateful that app is on my phone.

Developer Response ,

I’m sorry to hear about this experience—it shouldn’t be how Blank is working. Please reach out to us at ask@blankspaces.app, and we’ll be happy to guide you through resolving this. Thank you for your feedback, and we’re committed to making sure Blank meets your needs!

An app that cares about our digital wellbeing

This might be my first ever app review. This app is amazing. It uses the “out of sight, out of mind” approach by offering a minimalist layout that is functional and effective. I set this up to turn my phone into more of a utility phone and it almost makes me wonder why I bought an iPhone 15 since my screen time has drastically dropped. I have been using this app since my iPhone SE days. Which brings me to the point about how awesome the developer(s) are! When I set up this app on my brand new iPhone 15, I noticed there was a glitch with setting up my Google Tasks Blank. I was pretty bummed and emailed the developer thinking it might take months until it gets resolved, however I got a reply within the next hour and the issue was fixed almost instantly. That dedication and professionalism is top tier! Since that interaction I paid for the full service and am a huge fan. The only con of this app is there’s still plenty apps that need some support, but the most popular are already optimized for blank and the library has been expanding. Do not sleep on this app!