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How does the one-minute method actually work?

The method is built around the Craving-to-Dose Interval (CDI) — the gap between when a craving fires (the body's prediction signal) and when nicotine actually arrives. This interval exists for every smoker, in every craving event, and has never previously been used as a protocol variable.

The 60-second protocol works by adding a delay at a precise moment: after the full preparation sequence is complete — cigarette in hand, physically ready to light — the smoker waits sixty seconds. Then lights and smokes normally. No deprivation. No resistance. The delivery arrives. The body recalibrates its delivery schedule based on the new timing.

Each 60-second delay is a sub-threshold perturbation applied at the exact structural point where the addiction was formed. Below the bifurcation threshold, the homeostatic system absorbs the perturbation and shifts. Above it — which is what cold turkey does — the system mobilizes maximum compensatory resistance. The 60-second protocol stays below that threshold, always, which is why there is no withdrawal and no pain.

What happens in the first week?

The first week is the baseline phase. There is no delay yet. You open the app every time you feel a craving, go through the session steps, and close it when you're done. The app records your natural inter-dose interval — how long between cravings, where they happen, when they happen.

You are installing one new conscious step into a process that has been running on autopilot for years. That step is the act of lighting the cigarette. The first week is about owning the moment before the lighter flick.

What changes on day eight?

Starting day eight, the app adds the first 60-second delay. The truck is still in the bay — the driver just takes sixty seconds before opening the door. You sit with the craving for one minute, not fighting it, just waiting. Then you smoke normally.

After 7–10 days, the homeostatic system will have recalibrated to the new delivery schedule. The craving interval shifts. When that recalibration is complete, the app adds another 60 seconds. Then another, at the same interval. The process continues — one 60-second increment at a time — until the inter-dose interval extends past 24 hours for three consecutive days. That is the cessation criterion: objective, timestamp-based, requiring no self-report.

You don't stop smoking until the very end. That's not a flaw. That's the mechanism.

Why doesn't it hurt?

Cold turkey removes external supply entirely — a single massive perturbation far above the homeostatic resistance threshold. The body cannot follow that. It mobilizes maximum compensatory response. The endogenous nicotinamide factory has been idled for years and cannot restart fast enough to fill the gap. Withdrawal arrives before the factory comes online. That wall is not a failure of willpower. It is the predictable consequence of an above-threshold perturbation to a nonlinear system.

NRT replaces one supply with another and applies a net perturbation of zero. The homeostatic attractor does not move. When NRT eventually stops, the system is dynamically unchanged from day one of treatment.

The 60-second protocol applies a sub-threshold perturbation every cycle. The delivery still arrives. The factory notices a consistent trend of slightly reduced delivery frequency and calls a gradual restart — one shift, then two, then full production — in exact proportion to the reduction in external supply. Total nicotinamide levels stay within homeostatic tolerance throughout. No gap opens. No withdrawal fires. When external supply reaches zero, the factory is already running at full capacity.

What's the scientific basis?

The method is grounded in cascade dynamics — the universal behavior of nonlinear homeostatic systems described by May (1976) and formalized by Feigenbaum (1978–79). Nicotine homeostasis is a homeostatic attractor subject to exactly these dynamics. The CDI paper formalizes the variable and the protocol: Randolph (2026), Craving-to-Dose Interval: A Cascade Dynamics Framework for Objective Measurement and Protocol Design in Nicotine Cessation.

The biochemical mechanism is also specific: nicotine's primary pharmacological action is as an exogenous substitute for nicotinamide (NAD+ precursor), the molecule the body produces endogenously through the kynurenine pathway. Chronic external supply progressively downregulates endogenous production. The 60-second protocol generates the downward amplitude trajectory in the nicotine spike that signals the endogenous pathway to resume production. This is the mechanism. The book covers it in detail the app does not need to explain.

What does the app actually do?

The app is a CDI timer and IDI logger. When you feel a craving, you open it and press Ready. The app records the timestamp. During the baseline week there is no delay — you proceed immediately to the lighter. Starting week two, the app holds you at a 60-second countdown with the cigarette physically prepared. When the timer clears, you light and smoke normally. You close the app when the session ends.

Each session records six timestamps — craving start, Ready pressed, timer start, timer end, lighter flick, session close. The time between sessions is the inter-dose interval (IDI), the primary objective measure of homeostatic recalibration. The app collects this data without self-report, rating scales, or questionnaires. The measurement is the behavior.

Gerald — your body's logistics manager — explains the supply chain metaphor during onboarding and does not reappear once you are through it. The app stays out of your way.

Why do I need to close the app between sessions?

Each craving is a complete event — a truck delivery with a clear beginning and end. The app measures from the moment a craving starts to the moment you close it. Leaving the app open between sessions breaks the measurement. The dock cameras only run while the truck is in the bay.

This isn't a timer running in the background. It's a protocol with a beginning and an end. Closing the app is part of the protocol.

Why does the app ask for location permission?

Your smoking habit has a geography. The app records where you are at the start of each session to help map your actual pattern — the specific places where the craving clock runs. This data is stored anonymously and is only collected while the app is open.

You can decline location permission and the app will still work; sessions will be recorded without location data. You can also change this at any time in iOS Settings → Just a Minute → Location.

Does the app run in the background?

No. The app does not run in the background, does not send notifications, and does not track you between sessions. Location access is "When In Use" only — meaning it stops the moment you leave the app.

Is an account required?

No. The app assigns you an anonymous session ID automatically on first launch. No email address, no password, no account creation. Your session data is stored against that anonymous ID only.

Who is Gerald?

Gerald is the body's logistics manager. He runs the nicotine supply chain — every delivery, on time, unasked, for years. He appears in the onboarding to explain the CDI method through the lens of supply chain management: cravings as delivery windows, the lighter flick as the driver opening the back door, the one-minute delay as the driver waiting before unloading.

Gerald is deadpan, professional, and not particularly impressed by any of this. He is illustrated in a Disney Classic animation style. He will not follow you around the app once onboarding is complete — he has a logistics operation to run.