I have health anxiety. For years my nights went the same way: notice a twinge, google it, read for an hour, feel worse, google again. I knew the checking fed the fear my GP told me, the books told me, half of Reddit told me. None of that knowledge was anywhere to be found at 2am with my thumb on the search bar. I tried the big blockers. I'd hit their wall mid-panic, feel trapped, and uninstall within the minute. A wall just gave me one more thing to fight. What actually worked was thirty seconds and a slow breath — so that's what I built. SymptomPause catches the search itself ("headache tumor", "am I dying") before the results load and shows a breathing screen instead. Most urges don't survive the wait. It counts every urge you ride out — turns out watching that number grow helps more than anything I've tried. And because I wouldn't want anyone reading my search history either: no account, no server, no tracking. Everything stays on your device. It's free. Some things I'd love feedback on: • Searches it catches that it shouldn't (or misses that it should) — tell me the exact query and I'll fix the matching for everyone • Whether the 30-second pause feels right, too short, or too long • What would make you keep it installed on the bad nights If your search history looks like mine used to, this is for you. Happy to answer anything — including questions about the health anxiety itself. It gets better. 🌿

Symptom Pause

Stop googling symptoms. Block Dr. Google. Free.

Stop googling symptoms. Block Dr. Google. Free.