One small thing, two minutes
Most apps that want to help you do more start by adding things: goals, streaks, charts, a number that goes up. On a day when getting out of bed is already the project, every one of those is a small weight. Orange Lantern starts from the other end. It gives you one thing, and makes it small enough that there is nothing to negotiate with.
Sized to the day
The first question the app asks is not what you want to do but how charged you are. One bar, two bars, three. The answer decides what you get. One-bar things can be done lying down: guess whether it is sunny before you open the curtains, then open them and see. Two-bar things need you on your feet: carry something hot to the window and watch the street for two minutes. Three-bar things take you outside: walk to the corner and find the best-looking streetlight. You can always drop a bar. You cannot be talked into a higher one.
Two minutes, and a little silly
Every small thing is about two minutes long. That is not a rounding of "a few minutes"; it is the rule we wrote the library against. Two minutes is short enough that the thought "I could do that" arrives before the thought "not today". Some of the things are sensible, like filling a glass to the brim and guessing how many gulps it takes. Some are silly, like finding the ugliest object in the room and paying it one sincere compliment. The silly ones matter: they are the ones that get done on the days nothing sensible would.
Each one is written so that it is finished at a clear moment, needs nothing you have to buy and nobody else's cooperation, and has a fallback if the obvious version is not available to you today. We do not explain the benefits. The benefit is in the doing.
Done means a lantern
When the thing is done, you press and hold the painting. A little light gathers under your finger and flies to the lantern in the picture; the lantern lights, and the cat in the painting notices. That is the whole reward. There is no points screen and no confetti, just a picture that changed because of something you did.
No streak
There is no streak to protect. A rest day is a choice in the app, and it counts as a day. If you lit the lantern by mistake, you can undo it the same day. Looking back, the review page shows the lanterns you lit and the days you rested, and it does not add them up. We decided early on that the app would never make you feel you owe it something, and most of its design follows from that.