Trap ned

*Cut Down* is designed to help you reduce unwanted habits. Maybe you just want to cut back a bit, maybe you want to quit entirely. The app supports both approaches, with inspiration from psychological research.

Bad habits are typically automatic. When you smoke, for example, you rarely make a conscious decision about each cigarette - many of them just happen. The first step in the app is about getting used to pressing the button every time you want to smoke, for instance. That action alone can reduce your consumption, because you're forced to be a bit more conscious.

The main function in *Cut Down* is to extend the pauses between your habit. Take smoking as an example: If you ensure there's at least an hour between each cigarette, it becomes difficult to smoke more than 14 a day, and maybe you can work up to a 2-hour pause? Think of all the money you'll save! Think of your health!

When the button is green, it's ready to press. You press it when you perform your habit, then the button turns red and a timer starts. Red button means you need to wait before your next habit action...

The pause can be fixed, or it can increase automatically - depending on your settings. If you set the pause to a realistic value and let it increase slowly, you'll reduce your consumption gradually. You can also let the pause increase so much that you end up quitting entirely.

It's an important part of *Cut Down* that you don't need to be perfect. Far too many attempts to reduce bad habits are abandoned when "you slip up," because "then it doesn't matter anyway." But it actually does matter. The important thing is to stay engaged, and a setback can absolutely be part of a successful reduction.

Below the large button is a smaller button. **Skip** when the button is green, and **Cheat** when the button is red. As you know, "you're not allowed" when the button is red. But you might not be able to resist. Then you shouldn't drop the project (or the app), but just press **Cheat**. *Cut Down* understands that it's human, looks the other way, and restarts the timer.

Conversely, if you've completed your waiting time and the button is green, you might not feel the need to press it. Maybe you can handle another pause. In that situation, you press **Skip**, the timer starts again, and *Cut Down* thinks you're really doing well.

The app keeps statistics of your presses, which you can view in various graphical displays. You can see your progress, and for example see the length of your abstinence periods and how they're distributed throughout the day."