Hourglass, Nemu, and Briefday don’t ask you to create an account. You download them, open them, and start. That’s a deliberate choice on our part, though it’s worth being clear that it’s a default and not a rule we apply everywhere no matter what.
Some products really do need an account, and we’re not going to promise every future app will skip one. What we can promise is that the principle behind the decision stays the same every time: start from privacy, then add only what the product truly requires.
Accounts are usually a shortcut, not a necessity
Most apps ask for an account by default, whether they need one or not. An account is how software identifies you, follows you across devices, emails you, and makes leaving feel expensive. For a debt list, an anime shelf, or a calendar digest, none of that is required. The data only needs to exist on the one device you’re using it from, so for those apps we leave accounts out entirely.
Skipping the account changes more than the first-run experience. With no server holding your data, there’s nothing to breach. With no server costs to pass along, there’s no reason to charge a recurring fee, which is part of why these apps are one-time purchases. There are no passwords to forget and no locked-out mornings. And because there are no analytics SDKs or ad networks in the build, there are no engagement metrics quietly shaping the design.
Where third-party data genuinely helps, we let it in on your terms. Nemu can optionally connect your AniList account for list sync. It uses OAuth, keeps the token on your device, and you can disconnect it any time.
When an account is the honest answer
Forecast Planner needs to remember your forecast between visits and across your devices, and it’s billed as a subscription. An account is the honest way to do both. Even there, the same instinct applies: no bank connections, no ad tracking, no selling your financial data. The account exists to make the product work, not to monetize you beyond the price you already agreed to.
The bigger bet
We think there’s a growing group of people who are done being the product. They’d rather pay once, or in the rare case where a subscription is genuinely warranted, pay for the product and nothing else, than be monetized indefinitely. Every app in this portfolio is built from that starting point, even when the shape of the product means the details differ.
If that resonates and you’re building something of your own, we take on client work with the same principles.