ChessUnlock: Forces you to solve a chess puzzle to access your Mac
I'm a 2nd year CS student and this is the first thing I've ever actually shipped. What I'm more interested in is the feedback (look at end). Problem: I was stuck around 1100 elo at chess for too long. I knew the part of the answer was to do more puzzles but I could never stay consistent. It's not even about lack of motivation or discipline, I'd straight up forget about it for a while or just be too busy to stay active. Solution: I built an app to remove the decision: every time I wake my Mac, a fullscreen puzzle appears and I have to solve it to reach my desktop. Five days in, I'd done 41 puzzles. Testing with a friend for a month now, we both feel a (slight) improvement through pattern recognition simply from this passive drill. Privacy: Fully local. No server calls, puzzles bundled in the app from 5M+ Lichess database. No account, no signup, no email, no tracking. App doesn't see or transmit anything (logs are local in a txt file that you can choose to send when reporting an issue). Comparison: Lichess and chess.com puzzle pages: closest since puzzles, but I have yet to see any similar implementation stacking a habit on computer unlock. Browser extensions that gate sites until you solve a puzzle: only work in the browser. ChessUnlock catches you at the OS level (and fully local). Pricing: Free 7-day trial, full features, no card, no signup. $6.99 lifetime after that. Unlimited devices, free lifetime updates. macOS 14+. Notarized by Apple. Menu bar app, no dock icon. Website: chessunlock.app About + LinkedIn: chessunlock.app/about You: Would you use it? Would you pay for it? If yes, what's a fair price? I want to generalize the idea (stack micro-habit at unlock) to things beyond chess. What habit would you want to see next? Language flashcards, a code snippet, journaling prompts, typing speed, something else? TLDR: You can't access your mac until you solve a chess puzzle. [edit] ESCAPE MECHANISMS: In case you get stuck or need urgent access to your mac: Reroll: to get a fresh puzzle. Hints: 1 to show which piece to move, 2 to show where to move it. Skip: as a last resort, must hold skip button for added friction and to avoid reflexive skipping.
Collected discussion
My dumbass would've been locked out for hours
Hilarious app! Imo would do better as an open source app (u can still make prebuilt binaries paid)
I know you have called it ChessUnlock but it would be cool to add other shorter puzzles too!
Yeah, I'm planning to implement the same concept on other type of quick learning things. Any suggestions?
It would be fun to do it when I have an incident on the work
I imagine this is sarcasm and I feel like I might not have mentioned in the post that there are escape routes in cases of emergency. you will be able to tend to your incident without trouble : )
what if I do ⌥⌘⎋ ? Can I force quit it and access anyway?
No the shortcut does nothing since I really wanted to make it so you can't escape with muscle-memory shortcuts. Do you think I should add a shortcut for skipping?
This is a really fun idea. I guess I’d have to use the Skip button every time
I believe in you, just give it a couple days and it should adjust to your level : )
how did you get the idea to build such an app in the first place hahaha
I was sitting there doing puzzles, and I realized how not consistent I was, then I grabbed my phone and the idea just hit me: what if every time I unlock my phone, I'm forced to solve a chess puzzle to access my phone? So I built this for my phone and tried it for a week. Turned out it was to annoying, so I thought, what about my mac? And turns out computer strikes the perfect balance.
I'd never be able to unlock my computer. Not necessarily saying that's a bad thing. Great job!
Thank you! : )
Nooooo - I don’t know how to play!
DM me I'll teach you : )
you should make this into an alarm clock
Add an optional "Pay to unlock" feature. Infinite money glitch
A little fresh brain training everyday, very cool.
If I were you, I would approach Mission Impossible or James Bond directors to make it part of the movie plot :D
looks really fun! personally, i am terrible at chess, but i love your expansion ideas!
thanks : ), any habit you'd like to see next?
This is great! Imagine making an alarm clock version that won't disable the alarm until you solve the puzzle. Another angle is a 'vault' type app where the password is the ability to solve a puzzle which then unlocks the vault. Hide things from your kids or people who don't know how to play chess.
Habit stacking on a high-frequency trigger is the smart move here. Waking your Mac is one of the most consistent actions in a knowledge worker's day, which makes it a strong anchor for a new habit. 41 puzzles in five days is solid training volume - serious tactics trainers aim for 5 to 10 puzzles per session so you are hitting that mark without even trying. On the generalization question, vocabulary flashcards would probably have the widest appeal outside chess. The pattern recognition mechanics are similar and the demand is enormous. Typing speed is a close second since it has an immediate productivity payoff that most Mac users would feel within a few weeks.
Not into chess so it is a pass for me Fair price for games like this is usually $3-$5 one time, so you might be overpriced. Best way to know is look at your page views vs conversions. Good luck