Creating Saalo
I’m Tommy, and I am Creating Saalo.
Saalo is an app that tracks the time you spend away from your phone. I’m also building a Saalo box that automatically logs that time.
The idea is simple. Unlike screentime, which tracks the amount of time you’re looking at your phone, Saalo tracks the time you create the intention to put your phone away, and actually do it.
Like many people, I’ve struggled with this, and I’m looking for a solution. So now I’m creating one.
I’m not a developer and I’ve never built hardware. So I’m learning as I go, using Claude as a helper. Whether it’s building an iOS app, designing a printed circuit board, or filing for patents, I’m stumbling my way through it and want to share some of the practical lessons I’m learning.
The publication is called Creating Saalo for two reasons. I want to learn how to create the time and space away from my phone. And I want to learn how to create a product to help with that. Both are acts that don’t happen on their own. Both reward patience and presence.
So there are two sections to this: Life and Work.
Life is reflections on intention, attention, technology, presence. It’s the territory Saalo is made for. Some posts expand the answers on /questions at saalo.co. Some arise from my own experience. I want to explore how to be more present in a world constantly filled with more distractions, so I can focus on what matters most.
Work is a notebook of what and how I’m building. Mainly lessons learned around how to prioritize, how to learn, what Claude is good at, and what it isn’t. There are too many blogs out there on how to set up AI. I haven’t found many on how to put it into practice. This is about practical ways I’m using it, and what’s working. If you’ve wondered what someone without an engineering background, and without much spare time, can actually build with modern AI tools, this is my attempt at an honest answer, week by week.
If you want only Work or only Life, you can pick which. If you want both, welcome aboard.
Thanks for being here.
Tommy