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ScreenFine
Blow your limit, earn your apps back with pushups
10 followers
Blow your limit, earn your apps back with pushups
10 followers
ScreenFine is the iOS screen time app that locks your apps at the OS level when you go over your daily limit. Earn them back with pushups. $1/week.
Locking apps at the OS level is exactly what I wanted from a screen time tool, love that angle. One thing I'd add: a way to schedule a "doom block" where certain apps stay locked during specific hours of the day, like work hours or after 9pm, so I don't have to manually trigger the limit every time.
@sleyman544815 Scheduled blocks are a great idea, and you're not the first to ask. Something like recurring lock windows (work hours, after 9pm) is on my list, the FamilyControls API supports it so it's very doable. Curious, would you want one schedule for all locked apps or different schedules per app?
love the pushups to unlock idea, that's such a clever way to make limits feel rewarding instead of punishing. one thing though, it would be great if you could set different pushup counts per app category, like maybe 5 for social media but 15 for something more addictive. right now I'm guessing it's a flat amount which feels a bit unfair for the harder ones to break away from.
@nuranerciygu5u You guessed right, it's currently a flat cost: 25 pushups, or 1,000 steps, a workout, or 10 mindful minutes if you'd rather not drop and do reps. Per-app daily limits are already configurable, but the cost of earning access back isn't, and I think your critique is correct. Five minutes over on a work tool and five minutes over on the app you genuinely can't put down shouldn't cost the same thing. Putting this on the list. One question, since it changes the design: would you want to set the number manually per app, or have it scale on its own based on how often you actually blow that app's limit?
the pushup redemption idea is genuinely fun, one thing i'd love though is some kind of grace period like a 5 minute buffer before the lock kicks in so you're not punished for going like 30 seconds over while finishing something quick
@ilan1017353 This is the request I'm most torn on, so let me actually think out loud instead of just saying yes. The case you describe is real: finishing a message or closing something out shouldn't cost you 25 pushups. But a grace period is also the exact mechanism that quietly kills these tools. Five minutes becomes the new limit, then you want a buffer on the buffer. Apple's Screen Time is essentially one giant grace period, which is a big part of why it doesn't work. Where I think you're right is that the lock currently can't tell the difference between finishing a thought and starting another scroll. A single short buffer per day, rather than one on every limit, might thread that needle without turning into a loophole. Does one daily grace window cover your case, or are you hitting that moment more often than once a day?
honestly the pushup tradeoff is kind of genius, like it actually makes me think twice before mindlessly scrolling. the OS level lock works exactly like you'd hope, no easy bypass by deleting and reinstalling like other apps i tried.
@yeimatavotpe Thank you, that "think twice" moment is the entire design goal, so it's genuinely useful to hear it lands that way in practice. The OS-level part is why: it's built on Apple's FamilyControls, so the block happens at the system level rather than as a prompt inside my app politely asking you to stop. One honest caveat though, I wouldn't want to oversell it: no screen time tool is truly un-bypassable, and someone sufficiently determined will always find a route around any of them. The goal isn't to make it impossible, it's to make the impulsive path slower than the deliberate one. How's it holding up for you after a few days? That's the part that actually matters and the part launch-day reactions never tell me.
Love how the lock actually holds at the OS level instead of just nagging me to close the app, and pushups to earn time back is a clever twist. Going to see if I can actually stick with it this week.
@glah24980 Thank you! Making the lock hold at the OS level was the whole point, apps that just nag you are too easy to ignore. Would love to hear how the week goes, honest feedback after real use is worth more to me than launch day comments.