Touch Grass with Rhys Kentish
Our Engineer’s viral app is changing screen time and simultaneously breaking the internet.
Touch grass, literally! Rhys’ app isn’t even released yet but it’s going viral for good reason. We grabbed a few minutes with Rhys to chat about the inspiration behind this app and why we all need a little more nature in our lives.
Rhys, touch grass!? Brilliant, we are all obsessed. Tell us about it!
Okay, so basically, it's an app blocker with a twist. It stops you from using your most distracting apps until you actually go outside and, well, touch grass! You've got to snap a photo to prove it, and the app uses AI to check if you're legit. If the AI sees you're really touching grass then your apps are unblocked - it's all about getting people to step away from their screens and into the real world.
What sparked the idea for this app?
Honestly, it really began with building an app for myself. I realised that I was spending way too much time doom-scrolling, especially first thing in the morning when my first reflex was to reach for my phone. So I wanted to build something that would force me, and hopefully others, to break that cycle. The term “touch grass" is this huge meme online where it’s sort of an affectionate insult to tell someone who is spending too much time online to go take a break, so I thought why not make it a real thing? I also had a previous attempt with creating an app called "Pocket Guard" where it would move money out of my bank account every time I used a distracting app, but that wasn't really scalable. So, I wanted to revisit the idea with something that could actually work for everyone.
We are still two weeks away from release date and it’s gone viral! What kind of reaction are you hoping for when the app launches?
It has been crazy. I was aiming for a thousand pre-downloads, and we have tripled that in only a few days. I'm hoping when it officially launches, even more people will jump on board. I'd love to see people out and about, snapping photos of grass, actually using the app. Ultimately, I want it to make people more mindful of their screen time and encourage them to spend more time in the real world, maybe even improve their mental health a bit. Also, to make Touch Grass more than just an app blocker, I added a rewilding element. If you skip the "touching grass" requirement, you can set your own price to do so (from 99p to £10), and 50% of the profits go to UK rewilding projects. It's a way to connect the app's purpose with a positive environmental impact, letting users contribute to restoring nature even when they can't get outside. I aim to track this so that users can see the impact they’re making.
What’s been the most exciting part of the pre-order phase so far? Any surprises or early feedback that has stood out?
The most exciting part has definitely been the unexpected viral attention and the overwhelmingly positive feedback. One surprise was that some people, like my fiancé's sister, just stopped using the blocked apps altogether, which I hadn't even considered. The biggest complaint, which is totally understandable, was from people in snowy places like Canada, who were like, "How am I supposed to touch grass?" I'm working on a solution for that, letting people choose what they need to "touch” - maybe playing with their pet for example, or touching sand.
I’m sure everyone would love to know, what got you into coding?
I've been into tech since I was about 14, messing around with Tumblr layouts, which is pretty funny. I actually went to med school first, but hated it. I switched to computer science at Manchester and just fell in love with it. I've been professionally developing apps for about eight years now, including my work at Brightec. My first solo app was "BeatStride”, a smart running playlist generator which was a lot of fun. I've always loved creating things, especially stuff that's a bit whimsical and useful. But with touch grass in particular, I love that it serves the idea that devices are just tools to help us connect with the real world.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building the app?
I think the biggest challenge has definitely been dealing with the sudden surge in traffic this week; I went from a few visitors to thousands in a matter of hours. My bandwidth almost exploded! I had to scramble to upgrade and then migrate to a new hosting service. And then, there was the whole switch from Google Vision's API to Apple Vision's on-device AI for the grass detection. It was a couple of nights of very little sleep but we got there!
So glad to hear - sleep is paramount! Do you have any advice that you would give other developers who have an app idea but haven’t taken the leap yet?
Honestly just do it. I really like Tom Scott's advice on this. He says, just keep throwing stuff out there, and something will eventually stick. You never know what's going to resonate with people. Sometimes it's the app itself and sometimes it’s you and your story. So, don't be afraid to just try.
Thanks so much, Rhys, we are beyond excited to see where this app goes and the impact it has on people’s lives (and lawns!).
Click here to read more about Rhys' work at Brightec.
You can pre-download Touch Grass here and it launches officially on March 14th.
Looking for something else?
Search over 400 blog posts from our team
Want to hear more?
Subscribe to our monthly digest of blogs to stay in the loop and come with us on our journey to make things better!
