Reminders plants can live with
A plant-care reminder app that waters less in winter, because the plants do too.
- Role
- Design lead, two-person team
- Year
- 2023
- Length
- 3 months
The problem
The app sent a watering reminder every few days, all year. In winter, people followed the reminders faithfully and overwatered their plants. Reviews said the app "killed my fern".
What we tried
We added a season setting. Almost nobody changed it. So the app now adjusts on its own, based on the time of year where the person lives, and says so in plain words: "Watering less often: it's winter."
What shipped
- Seasonal schedules that change by themselves, with a note explaining why.
- A one-tap "it was still damp" answer that pushes the next reminder back.
- A quieter app. Fewer notifications overall, and the ones that remain are worth reading.
What I'd keep
Explaining the app's decisions in one short sentence. People trusted the reminders once they understood them.