Circles
A circle is 2 to 8 friends whose phones share one charging dock. When the dock overheats, everyone's chosen apps lock together.
The dock
Phones on one dock. The load counts from two.
The load at which the fuse blows and everyone's chosen apps lock.
The longest a lock lasts.
A berth for each phone
A resting phone sits in its berth; a phone in use floats over it.
The load
The load on the dock is the average of everyone's heat. A phone that has not been heard from for 24 hours is away and does not count.
An old reading never holds you
A phone that loses its connection stops following the dock after 30 minutes without news of it.
Resting together
Twice as fast
While a friend's phone rests when yours does, both cool twice as fast. Nobody starts anything: it is noticed.
What counts
Two phones lying still at the same time, on a table or on the charger. A rest in common shorter than 5 minutes does not count.
A friend decides
The question
Write why you need a locked app. Your circle gets the question, and whoever answers first decides; if nobody does in two minutes, a model decides. A yes opens the app for a few minutes.
Your choice
The switch "Friends judge my reasons" in Settings keeps your reasons away from your circle. A model decides instead.
Reminders
When a friend overheats
The circle hears of it and can send a reminder to put the phone down.
Never at night
Nothing arrives between 23:00 and 07:00 on the clock of the phone that would receive it. The switches "Friends can nudge me" and "Tell me when a friend overheats" are in Settings.
The week
Each phone's week
How long each phone on the dock rested and how long it was in the hand, with the most rested first.
The sign over the dock
It lights a letter for each day in a row on which every phone gets its three rests.
Join or leave
Starting one
In the app: Circle, then "Start a circle". Share the link it gives you, or its six-character code.
Joining
Open the link on your iPhone, or in the app: Circle, then "Have a code?".
Leaving
In the app: Settings, then "Leave the circle and delete my data". Your phone comes off the dock: your friends stop seeing its heat, and theirs stops locking your apps.
What your circle sees
Your name and sticker, your heat, whether the phone is resting and when it rested today, and your week's rest and time in the hand. Nothing leaves the phone until you start or join one. The details are under Privacy.