Pancake Pals

Inspiration

We wanted to make screen time fun instead of guilty. Everyone has tried to “use their phone less” and failed — so we thought, why not turn it into a game? Breakfast characters, competition with friends, and a cozy vibe felt like the perfect mix to motivate people without pressure.

What it does

Pancake Pals tracks your screen time and turns it into a daily challenge. The less time you spend on your phone, the more breakfast points you earn. You can level up your pancake buddy, check your friends’ progress, and compete to stay off your phone the longest.

How we built it

We built the app using Flutter + Dart so it could run cross-platform. We used Android Usage Stats to read screen time, and Firebase for storing user progress and friend leaderboard data. All UI assets and icons were custom-designed to match the breakfast theme.

Challenges we ran into

It was our first time working with flutter and dart, so it took us longer than expected to get set up with it. Screen time permissions were way harder than expected — dealing with Android SDK versions, NDK errors, and manifest permissions took a long time. Syncing friend data without lag and getting the emulator to cooperate were also big battles.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We got real screen-time tracking working and fully connected it with the reward system and characters. The UI turned out super cozy and satisfying, and people who tested the app said it actually motivated them to stay off their phones.

What we learned

We learned a ton about Android permission APIs, Flutter build configurations, and debugging emulator chaos. We also learned that small UI details make a huge difference in user motivation — a cute pancake really does make you use your phone less.

What's next for Pancake Pals

We want to add more breakfast characters, weekly tournaments, and streak bonuses. Long term, we’d love to launch on both Android and iOS and maybe bring in features like calming mini-games or phone-free quests.