Pause is a screen-time iPhone app that stops mindless scrolling before it starts. Solve a quick puzzle to unlock Instagram, TikTok, or any app — and give yourself a real moment to choose.
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Maker
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It's late 2023, and I'm sick of wasting time on apps like Instagram and TikTok. The problem is these apps have molded our behavior, so you can't even check your phone without mindlessly opening them.
I chose to delete them off my phone, but that solution was only temporary, because as addicting as they are, they keep you informed of the world and connected to the people around you, and you to them.
So I ended up reinstalling them, only to fall back into the same mindless pattern.
But this isn't actually a willpower problem; it's a friction problem. iOS screen time limits are just too easy to bypass.
So I built Pause.
Pause uses Screen Time on iPhone to make you solve a puzzle before you open the app — that small bit of friction is enough to make you reconsider.
It's helped me come down from 9 hrs of Instagram a day to less than 1, and now each time I do scroll, it feels like meaningful time — 15-20 minutes, then I'm out again. I'm not missing anything, but I'm also not a slave to the scroll.
And the best thing: Pause just works in the background. Other than choosing your apps and the puzzles you'd like to solve, there's not much to keep track of — nothing to annotate, nothing to "complete." Set it up once and forget about it. There's no garden to tend, no streak to feel guilty about missing — if you want a streak, you earn it by staying away, not by opening the app and checking in.
It works with your Apple ID and stays on your device — I don't get access to anything, your email, your data, nothing. Everything stays with you.
There's a paid plan, of course, and a limited free plan that's helpful too sustained by ads.
At $4.99/month or $49.99/year and it has the potential to give you a handful of hours a week back.
Back to you. For productivity, for actual leisure, for hobbies, for the things and people you love.
Try Pause and let me know what you think!
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@carlituser such a smart way to hack human psychology and fix the muscle memory of opening apps.
@carlituser curious to learn any other creative ways users are using Pause to reduce overall screentime! LinkedIn is such a good idea… Ive been using it way more since blocking other social media apps.
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Maker
@azaret_leal I've been using it for Amazon too that way I dont get the urge to impulse browse-and-shop!
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It's tough to stand out in the screen-time space, but this actually looks different, too bad I'm an Android user. congrats for launch
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Maker
@deepaksingh09 thank you Deepka, if this concept proves out you will for sure see an Android version
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sometimes I open ChatGPT before even trying to think through the problem myself…how you decide when a pause is actually helpful versus when it would just get annoying?
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@harini_mukesh its helpful in the moments when scrolling really something you can be doing, it can be a bit annoying if you have the time and space to scroll, but then again is puzzle is solvable in less than 2 minutes so I am hoping that tiny friction is not THAT annoying
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Does it works with shopping applications? Like amazon, or even zillow? There is also a lot of doomscrolling happing in those, and with Amazon, it can help think twice before you spend.
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@carlituser such a smart way to hack human psychology and fix the muscle memory of opening apps.
@vikramp7470 I agree! Thank you for your support!
@carlituser I need this for LinkedIn too, ironically congrats fro shipping 🙌
@priya_kushwaha1 I use it for LinkedIn too!
@carlituser that's great.. when will the Android version be available?
@priya_kushwaha1 depending on how this launch and the demand for it proves over time
@priya_kushwaha1 I use it for LinkedIn too!
@carlituser curious to learn any other creative ways users are using Pause to reduce overall screentime! LinkedIn is such a good idea… Ive been using it way more since blocking other social media apps.
@azaret_leal I've been using it for Amazon too that way I dont get the urge to impulse browse-and-shop!
It's tough to stand out in the screen-time space, but this actually looks different, too bad I'm an Android user. congrats for launch
@deepaksingh09 thank you Deepka, if this concept proves out you will for sure see an Android version
@harini_mukesh its helpful in the moments when scrolling really something you can be doing, it can be a bit annoying if you have the time and space to scroll, but then again is puzzle is solvable in less than 2 minutes so I am hoping that tiny friction is not THAT annoying
Does it works with shopping applications? Like amazon, or even zillow? There is also a lot of doomscrolling happing in those, and with Amazon, it can help think twice before you spend.
@alejandro_velasquez_auza It does and you can add any app in your phone!