Punish

Live on Google Play. iPhone in beta.

Keep your goals, or your money goes. To a cause you hate.

Set a goal. Put money on it. Miss, and it goes to the organization you'd least want to have it.

Losing money to a cause you like is just a donation.

Get it on Google Play

The Punish home screen. $6 at stake across three goals: I will run 5k before work, checked by an AI-verified photo tomorrow at 9 AM; Keep whole phone under 3h a day, used 1 minute; each card shows $2 going to NRA Freedom Action Foundation if it is missed.

The deal, in plain words.

Every goal ends on this screen before it goes live.

Your goal
An app, a site, the phone, or a task
Checked
By Android, a photo, or where you are
You forfeit
An amount you pick
The money goes to
Someone you'd hate to fund
If you succeed
You keep it
The deal, in plain words. Your goal: keep YouTube under 30m a day. Checked: every day, from usage data. You forfeit: $2 per day you go over. The money goes to: NRA Freedom Action Foundation. If you succeed: 30m of YouTube, not four. Button: I agree, put $2 on the line.

Checked

By the phone, not by you.

Screen goals read Android's own usage data. Tasks are settled by a checked photo, where you are, or your word.

About to go over? Punish names your charity on screen.

Photo and GPS proof are part of Premium.

The screen Punish puts up with a minute left: One minute of whole phone before the goal breaks. NRA Freedom Action Foundation thanks you. Two buttons, stay and lose $2, or go back and save $2.

You forfeit

An amount that stings. You pick it.

Start small: $5 is plenty. You pay it yourself on every.org.

You can argue
Appeal any miss. The money waits.
You can stop
Free for the first 30 minutes.
You are asked first
Say no, and the stake is $0.
A question before the goal goes live: Will you pay the $2 if you miss? It goes to an organisation you would hate to fund, within a day of the miss. Buttons: Yes, I'll pay, and No, make it $0.

The money goes to

The anti-charity

Who would you hate to fund?

This is the part that does the work. The money goes to the one you'd hate to write a cheque to.

  • You stand for Animal rights Safari Club International FoundationHunting-advocacy fund
  • You stand for Hunting and game PETAAnimal-rights nonprofit

Paid on every.org, a US nonprofit. Punish takes no cut.

Listing an organization isn't our endorsement or criticism of it. Which one you'd hate to fund is your call.

The anti-charity picker: Who would you hate to fund? Filters for guns, climate and animals, with Guns selected, suggesting NRA Freedom Action Foundation because of where you stand. It is chosen: a gun-rights education fund, with Everytown for Gun Safety below it.

If you succeed

Nothing happens. That's the point.

The money stays yours. Thirty minutes of YouTube, not four hours.

Kept days build a streak and earn loops, for a skip, extra minutes or a streak freeze. No number of loops settles a forfeit.

The screen after a kept day: a KEPT stamp. You held the line. Your $2 is defended, nothing goes to the NRA Freedom Action Foundation.
Kept.
The screen after a missed day: an OWED stamp. You went over 30m on Instagram. $2 goes to NRA Freedom Action Foundation.
Missed.
Get it on Google Play

Why it works

Three studied ideas at once: your own money, a cause you'd hate, and someone watching. No study has tested all three together.

Money on the line

Out of every 100 goals, how many were kept.

Money on the line80 in 100
Nothing at stake10 in 100

Nearly 76,000 goals people set themselves. With money on the line, 8 in 10 were kept. With nothing at stake, 1 in 10.

A cause you hate

Out of every 100 goals with money on them, how many were kept.

Missing pays a cause you hate87 in 100
Missing pays a charity you like76 in 100

Money to a charity you like barely feels like losing. Money to the other side does.

Telling someone

Out of every 100 people, how many reached their goal or got at least halfway.

Told a friend, checked in weekly76 in 100
Kept it to themselves43 in 100

Wrote it down, told a friend and sent weekly updates, against only thinking about it.

None of this is a promise about you.

Sources
  1. Lee, Kim, Hong and Lee, “Sticky Goals”, CHI 2021: 75,828 goals on stickK. Results were reported by the people themselves or a friend they named, and people chose their own stakes, so this shows what goes together, not what causes what.
  2. Gail Matthews, Dominican University of California: 267 people; a conference presentation, not a journal paper.

Say the project. Get the deadlines.

One sentence in, dated promises out. Nothing is live until you put money on it.

The planner's chat: the user writes Launch my podcast by Oct 20, and the planner asks how often to split the work.
Say it in one line.
The plan it wrote: eight dated promises from Oct 2 to Oct 19, ten dollars on each, eighty dollars at stake.
Dated promises come back.

Prove it with one photo.

One photo, checked by AI in seconds. It proves you showed up, not how much you did.

One photo. Checked in seconds.
The goal form with AI photo chosen as the proof. It says: you'll photograph you on the workout floor inside the gym.
Told what to shoot before you commit.
  • Gym
  • Run
  • Swim
  • Yoga
  • Cycle
  • Walk
  • Hike
  • Climb
  • Boxing
  • Tennis
  • Football
  • Skiing
  • Breakfast
  • Salad
  • Meal prep
  • Fruit
  • Lunch box
  • Cooking
  • Sunrise
  • Early walk
  • Guitar
  • Piano
  • Violin
  • Drums

Somebody watching, if you want one.

Off until you turn it on. No email, no number.

Each buddy sees only the level you pick:

  1. How many goals you kept yesterday
  2. Your streak and last seven days
  3. Each goal by name, and its day
  4. What is riding on each goal
  5. Which charity each goal pays

No buddy sees the app, the minutes or your photos.

Three buddies' cards. Ben kept 2 of 3 goals yesterday: Instagram under 30 minutes kept, Run 5k on Saturday missed, 15 dollars riding today. Maya kept 1 of 1, twelve days in a row. Noa kept 0 of 2.
Your buddies' days.
The Buddies tab before an account exists: see how your buddies' days went, and choose how much of yours each one sees. Nobody can find you unless you switch that on.
Off until you turn it on.
Get it on Google Play

Goals set on Punish.

Questions

What if I don't pay?

No debt, no chasing. Until you pay or decline, a screen appears whenever you open what you went over on, and no new goal starts. Decline, and it goes on the record as unpaid.

Can I cheat?

Some. Screen time comes from Android, and deleting the app doesn't cancel a debt. An honesty task is as honest as you are. You'd only be cheating the person who set the goal.

What does Punish collect?

No sign-up. Goals and screen time stay on the phone. Proof photos are checked, not kept. A forfeit's title and device id go 30 days after it settles. Measurement is off by default. Privacy policy.

Where exactly does the money go?

To your pick, on every.org's checkout. every.org adds a tip of about 15% for itself; tap Edit and set it to zero.

Can I end a goal?

Free in the first 30 minutes. After that it stops tomorrow, and today still counts. A stake you can delete the moment it bites is not a stake.

Is there an iPhone version?

Yes, in beta. Ask for a place with the iPhone button and we send you a TestFlight invite. The App Store release waits on Apple's review.

Willpower is not a plan.

Pick one small goal. Put $2 on it.

Get it on Google Play

For enquiries: support@punishapp.com

Ask for a place.

The one your phone's Play Store uses.

Used only to let you in and to write to you about Punish. Privacy policy.