The Trail
Won Best Use of ElevenLabs at Hacklahoma 2026, built in 24 hours.
Best Use of ElevenLabs, Hacklahoma 2026
At a glance
- Role
- Hackathon team: mobile and integrations
- Timeline
- Feb 2026
- Status
- Hackathon build
- Stack
- Best Use of ElevenLabs
- 1st
- concept to demo
- 24h
- data sources unified
- 3
Overview
A behavioral nudging app that fights phone distraction by turning your real obligations into timed interventions.
Screen-time apps fail because they punish you with a blank wall. The bet here was that a nudge lands better when it knows what you are actually avoiding: a specific assignment due Thursday, not "you've used Instagram for 40 minutes."
The problem
Focus apps block apps. They do not know why you picked up the phone. Without context about your actual workload, a blocker is just an obstacle you learn to route around.
What I built
- Apple Screen Time framework (Family Controls, Device Activity, Managed Settings) to detect usage thresholds and render custom shield overlays over distracting apps.
- Gemini API decomposing an overwhelming workload into prioritized, small action steps delivered as in-app nudges.
- ElevenLabs voice synthesis delivering spoken encouragement on goal completion. That was the piece the judges recognized.
- Aggregation of Canvas assignments, Google Calendar, and fitness data into a single context model.
Notes
Things that surprised me, or that I got wrong first.
Context is the whole product
The intervention is only persuasive because it can name the assignment you are avoiding. Pulling Canvas, Calendar, and activity data into one model before generating a nudge is what separates this from a timer.
Shipping against Apple's guardrails
Screen Time APIs are deliberately restrictive about what an app may observe and block. Working inside Family Controls and Managed Settings, rather than fighting them, was most of the 24 hours.
Say hi
If you want to talk about The Trail, or anything on this page, I'd love to hear from you. Email me or use the contact page.