\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a gentle touch on the shoulder, like, no, it\u2019s time to snap out of it. Ultimately, it gets us out of that trance [of constant doomscrolling],\u201d Lavoie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, once it\u2019s in what\u2019s called the cool down, the user has a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Lavoie noted, this isn\u2019t just a standard screen-time assistant. She included a unique way to reduce the time you have before the app unlocks: steps.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/paced-app-screenshots-1.png\")
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Image credit: Paced<\/p>\n
Paced users can reduce the hour lockout by three minutes for every 100 steps they walk. This could be especially useful on a nice Saturday, encouraging users to go for a walk, or if you have a workspace you can walk around in.<\/p>\n
But why steps? Lavoie says she got the idea to add an extra way to reduce time from her personal goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, well, wouldn\u2019t it be neat if you wanted to get in faster? Or if you wanted to get past that one hour, you could just go get your steps in\u2014because at that point I was working hard to get my steps in,\u201d Lavoie notes. \u201cI was like, well, that would be extra motivation for me to do so, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Paced also has a pro mode, which unlocks additional capabilities. These include limits for additional apps, custom app groups, customizable timers, schedules for different rules (such as for work or home), statistics, and more.<\/p>\n
Development assistance from Google Gemini<\/p>\n
Lavoie is a realtor by trade and only went into development because of her idea for the Paced app. With that in mind, she took up the assistance of what she described as \u201cevery expert you could ever want at your fingertips,\u201d in the form of Google\u2019s Gemini<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lavoie explained that she used the AI assistant (which she already pays for) more as a guiding tool than as a shortcut to get the work done faster.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, when I originally started doing this, I literally sat down with it and said, \u2018Okay, this is my idea. I have no idea where to start. Tell me where to start,\u2019 and then I went down the path, and it became my expertise in Business Development, and like, how do I open this type of business? What things should I be considering, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom an app perspective, I used it to do market analysis, like what types of apps are out there like this? How are they doing? Is there an appetite for this?\u201d<\/p>\n While all this sounds like a great idea, Lavoie did find one downside to using Gemini to learn app development.<\/p>\n Image credit: Paced<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to know how to use it, which I do in a very small capacity in my real estate career,\u201d Lavoie said about using Gemini. However, she warned that not knowing how to use the chatbot could result in it leading you down the wrong path.<\/p>\n \u201cGemini can be very positive and tell you everything you want to hear. If I didn\u2019t have the mindset of asking it not to do that, I think I probably could end up in a place where I\u2019d spent more money than I needed to, or added things that I didn\u2019t need to.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/paced-app-screenshots-2.png\")
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