Updated?
Does this update include the newest cards? I know the blurb says it’s been updated. The fediverse bot seems to have a lot more cards I’ve never seen in the iOS app. Still the best logjam breaker that seems to be tilted towards musicians. Dunno if the knockoffs can say the same.
The gentlest push
The creative process is more fragile than people admit. Not dramatically fragile — not the romantic collapse of the tortured artist. Quietly fragile. A line that won't extend itself. A chord that knows something is wrong but won't say what. The white resistance of a canvas that has decided, for now, not to cooperate.
I've tried many things in those moments. Walking away. Forcing through. Asking someone. None of it feels quite right, because the problem isn't information — it's perspective. You're too close. You've been staring at the thing so long it has stopped being a thing and become a wall.
Oblique Strategies understands this at a level most creative tools don't bother with. It doesn't optimize you. It doesn't gamify your output or track your streaks or tell you that you've been 43% more productive this week. It gives you a card. One sentence. Sometimes cryptic, sometimes uncomfortably obvious, occasionally so precise it feels like someone has been watching over your shoulder for the past two hours.
Eno and Schmidt built the original deck in 1975 for exactly these moments — for the studio, for the deadlock, for the 3am session where everything sounds like furniture. The iOS version carries that spirit without diluting it. No noise. No dashboard. Just the card, and the silence around it.
You don't have to do what it says. That's almost the point. The value isn't in the instruction — it's in the sudden awareness that there was another direction all along. The push is so gentle you barely feel it. But the room shifts.
Worth every cent for anyone who makes things and occasionally, inevitably, gets stuck.
I've tried many things in those moments. Walking away. Forcing through. Asking someone. None of it feels quite right, because the problem isn't information — it's perspective. You're too close. You've been staring at the thing so long it has stopped being a thing and become a wall.
Oblique Strategies understands this at a level most creative tools don't bother with. It doesn't optimize you. It doesn't gamify your output or track your streaks or tell you that you've been 43% more productive this week. It gives you a card. One sentence. Sometimes cryptic, sometimes uncomfortably obvious, occasionally so precise it feels like someone has been watching over your shoulder for the past two hours.
Eno and Schmidt built the original deck in 1975 for exactly these moments — for the studio, for the deadlock, for the 3am session where everything sounds like furniture. The iOS version carries that spirit without diluting it. No noise. No dashboard. Just the card, and the silence around it.
You don't have to do what it says. That's almost the point. The value isn't in the instruction — it's in the sudden awareness that there was another direction all along. The push is so gentle you barely feel it. But the room shifts.
Worth every cent for anyone who makes things and occasionally, inevitably, gets stuck.
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Great to kickstart a stuck mind
Any card you see will cause you to have a new perspective on whatever difficulty you perceive.
OS
It's Oblique Strategies for the iPhone
Thanks, DB and BE
Essential.
Needs customization
You’re missing the blank card. That’s the most important. Please add a feature for adding cards of our own.
Support Black Background Widget!
Please support black background widgets! Ive had this app as a big widget on my home screen for years. Just wish it could be white text on black. It seems that’s only supported when entering the app, but not for widgets.
love the widgets
would love to see a smaller widget option tho
Improved widget
The app is great and functional - and I love that there’s a widget! Just wish it was more functional. It doesn’t seem to rotate strategies or give you an option to refresh it. Only deleting the widget and then re-adding is what seems to switch it up, which is cumbersome.
This would be the most useful widget in the App Store if it was a little more dynamic, I want to shuffle it easily as I flick thru my home screens between other tasks….please fix!!
This would be the most useful widget in the App Store if it was a little more dynamic, I want to shuffle it easily as I flick thru my home screens between other tasks….please fix!!
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💯🧠🪄💽
Ways to think ..🧐
need a widget for this 🥹
would be really nice
A good app with one complaint
The app is good though I do wish there was an option to turn off shuffle when coming back to the main menu from the settings and the information, basically being able to lock the same card in place or having a history/undo feature would be great.
Ily
No seriously
Applicable app
An applicable app for those who may need a little swipe, tap, or shake to inspiration.
OS
if eno, eno
Very cool, very useful, almost 5 stars
I love the idea of this app but I feel like it really needs user cards added.
I’d love to have a custom deck, one of my own strategies, that can be mixed in with the others.
This would be huge as it allows my older self, full of creative ideas, to give my future self little barrier breaking advice. Please add custom decks!!!! Thanks :)
I’d love to have a custom deck, one of my own strategies, that can be mixed in with the others.
This would be huge as it allows my older self, full of creative ideas, to give my future self little barrier breaking advice. Please add custom decks!!!! Thanks :)
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Better late than never
I wish I'd known about this years ago! I formerly toured in a metalcore band and now compose & produce ambient/psytrance electronic music. I came across Oblique Strategies while reading up on Brian Eno's process. I've often used constraints to attempt to get unstuck. However, these cards offer many more methods. I once read a book called "One great insight is worth a thousand ideas". These cards will lead to many great insights.
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Would like to read all the cards
I like the app but it would be good if it shuffled the whole deck of cards and then selected each card from the top down so you would eventually get to read all the cards in the entire deck. If this option was available I would give it 5 stars. As it is, the random selection tends to repeat cards and that can be frustrating at times.
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Response from developer
Thank you for review and suggestions. Regarding the cards repetition, this is happening because some statements exists in all the editions. You can solve that by selecting only one or two editions in Settings.
The widget is blank- finally fixed with latest update
Love the paper product. The app is nice. Very clean. Minimalist. But the daily widget on the home screen has never worked for me. It just gives a blank box.
None of the suggestions to fix the widget worked.
But the new version fixed the problem
None of the suggestions to fix the widget worked.
But the new version fixed the problem
Great! Widget needs auto light/dark option.
Simple and minimal; exactly as it should be. The only thing lacking is an option for the widget to switch from light to dark automatically with iOS system setting. Add this and it’s perfect!
