$2 to Commit, Zero Mercy If You Fail: The Habit App I Wish Existed 2 Years Ago
Two years ago I was stuck in the same loop most of us know too well:
Download a habit tracker → feel motivated for 3 days
Miss one day → “I’ll just reset the streak”
Repeat forever, never actually changing
Free apps made it too easy to lie to myself. Streaks felt good but meant nothing. I needed skin in the game.
So I built Abstenence — a dead-simple pay-to-commit abstinence tracker.
How it works (no fluff):
Pick something you want to stop (or start). Examples: no scrolling, no nail-biting, no alcohol, no gossip, no cursing… or use the “double negative” trick to force positive habits (e.g. “abstain from NOT exercising” = you must exercise every day or you fail).
Pay $2 as a commitment fee.
Choose 2, 3, or 5 days.
A+ Mode is on by default and cannot be turned off. This is the brutal part that actually works:
Close the tab → you’re logged out. No leaving it open in the background.
You have only 30 minutes to submit your daily check-in or it clears.
After the challenge ends you have a short grace period to record Pass/Fail — miss it and the record disappears.
After 21 records, the oldest one auto-deletes (no cherry-picking your history).
No resets. No edits. No bullshit.
Succeed → you keep the momentum and earn a clean “PASS”. Fail → you lose the $2 and get a “FAIL” on your record. No do-overs.
That $2 stings just enough to make you actually care.
Progress lives only in your browser (private, no cloud, no tracking). You can even run multiple challenges at the same time on different devices.
I also made an offline Abstenence Activity Book for people who want the system without the strict A+ Mode.
Why I built it this way
Because most habit apps optimize for retention, not results. They want you to feel good and keep coming back. I wanted an app that forces real discipline even when motivation dies.
The short challenges (2–5 days) make it doable. The money makes it real. A+ Mode removes every escape hatch I used to use on myself.
Early users are already reporting small but consistent wins:
“Finally building momentum instead of endless resets”
“Short journeys feel actually finishable”
“The accountability hits different when money is on the line”
Indie Hacker angle
This is a solo project. Revenue comes purely from the $2 commitment fees (lost on failure). No subscriptions, no upsells, no data selling — just pure commitment mechanics.
It’s not trying to be another long-term sobriety or habit monster. It’s high-intensity discipline sprints for people who are tired of lying to themselves.
If you’ve ever wished a habit app would actually hold you accountable instead of coddling you, give it a spin: https://www.abstenence.com/
Would love your honest feedback — especially from fellow makers who’ve struggled with the same “free app → zero change” cycle.
What’s one habit you’ve been failing to kill with normal trackers? Drop it below.
Also open to thoughts on pricing, A+ Mode rules, or ways to make the whole thing even more brutal (in a good way).
Let’s build better discipline tools.
