Apps you're meant to close.
counterbits is a counterpoint to what's on your home screen. Everything out there is built to hold you; we build software that finishes the job and gets out of the way, so the time goes back where it belongs — outside. We haven't shipped ours yet. While the first one takes shape, we build for other people too.
Zero is a starting position.
Most studio sites open with a wall of client logos. We can't do that yet, so here's the honest version: counterbits is new. The first app we release will be one we use ourselves every day, because that's the only way to feel where a product starts taking more than it gives.
Until that counter moves, we build other people's software — with the same standards and the same opinions.
Counterpoint, not counterproductive.
The name is the position. Almost every app you own is measured by how long it can hold you there, and it is very good at its job. We think that's a bad target, so we build against it.
What most apps optimize for
- Time spent in app
- Daily active users
- Streaks and guilt
- One more notification
What we optimize for
- Task done, app closed
- Fewer sessions, shorter ones
- Hours handed back to your day
A good tool is quiet. You pick it up, it does the thing, you put it down. That's the whole target.
Three bits we don't trade away.
Not a process diagram. The three things that settle every argument we have — about our own apps and about yours.
No over-engineering
We don't add AI because it's expected of us. It goes in when it makes the thing measurably better for the person using it, and stays out when it's decoration. Same rule for frameworks, dashboards, microservices and any feature nobody asked for.
Built to give time back
Our apps are judged on whether they end. No streaks, no infinite feed, no engineered guilt, nothing designed to win a competition for your attention. If it does its job and you leave for something happening in the real world, that's the win condition.
The engineering is not decoration
Under every interface: well-structured services, clear boundaries, real tests and boring, reliable infrastructure. Clients get a codebase the next developer can read and extend — not a demo held together with tape.
Our own apps
Nothing released yet · 01 in buildProducts with our name on them. We pick problems we actually have, build the smallest thing that solves them properly, and release it when it earns the space on a home screen. This grid fills in as we go — and stays empty until it's real.
Compass
An app that helps you get where you want to be in life.
Files, Rebuilt
We're reimagining the way you handle files and documents online.
Classroom
A brand new presentation app, focused on the classroom.
Client work
Open · taking projects nowSeparate from our own products, and never a testing ground for them. You get the studio's full attention, a system built to last, and the same three bits above applied to your product.
Design and build
Your app from first sketch to store listing: product thinking, interface design and the code underneath. Or we drop into a project already in motion and help it land.
Full projectServices and systems
The part users never see and always feel. APIs, data models, integrations and infrastructure — structured, documented and tested so your team can build on top without fear.
Backend engagementA blunt review
A short, honest read of an app you already run: where people get stuck, what to cut, what to fix first. You get a list you can act on this month, not a slide deck.
Fixed scopeTell us what you're building.
Plain language is fine. A half-formed idea is fine. If we're not the right studio, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.
[email protected]