For iPhone
Key Please
You choose what to block. Someone you trust decides when it opens.
Not in the App Store yet. It is being reviewed by Apple.
How it looks
Two phones,
one key.
Yours says whose name is on it. Theirs asks one question and takes five seconds to answer.
The bit nobody expects
Most nights you
just close it.
The block is not the point. Seeing whose name is on the screen and deciding it is not worth the message is.
So there is a quiet line under the ask button: Not worth it. Tapping it is the only thing this app counts.
How it works
Three things, then
you forget about it.
-
First
Pick what to block
Apps and the websites behind them, because blocking one and leaving the other open blocks nothing.
-
Then
Pick who holds the key
One person. Nothing is blocked until they have read what they are agreeing to and tapped yes.
-
After that
Ask them when you want it
They tap yes or no. If nobody answers, it opens on its own after eight hours.
Your side
A few people, holding
a bit of your phone.
One block and one person is enough for most. If you want more, a different person can hold each.
What you can block
Everything on this list
leaves a receipt.
It is about the money and the hour, not screen time.
- Food delivery
- Alcohol
- Shopping
- Betting
- Crypto and trading
- Games
- Spending inside games
- Social
- Video
- Dating
- Adult sites
Being straight about it
You cannot get
past it quietly.
Anybody can delete an app, and deleting this one takes the block with it. What we promise is that the other person finds out, about a day and a half after your phone stops checking in.
- Stand your keyholder down
- 24 hours
- The escape hatch
- 18 hours
- Emergency unlock
- Now, once a month
- Locked out for good
- Never
Every one of them tells your keyholder what happened, and none of them says what it thinks you meant by it.
What reaches them
One short list, and
one much longer one.
They are shown
- What you asked for
- The reason you typed
- How long you asked for
- Whether your phone is still checking in
They are never shown
- Your messages
- Your browsing
- Where you are
- Which apps and sites you picked
- How long you spend on anything
The last one is not us being generous. Apple never tells the app which apps you picked, so there is nothing for us to pass on. The privacy policy writes it out in full.
Or hold the key on your child's phone.
Not ready yet. It will be the same app with kinder words: jobs instead of conditions, and no mention of money anywhere. Nothing about a child's phone is ever counted.
What it costs
The person holding
your key pays nothing.
Free for the first week, then a subscription on the phone being blocked. Cancel it in your iPhone's own settings.
- Holding a key
- Free, for ever
- Accounts or passwords
- None
- Adverts and trackers
- None
- The blocking, with no network
- Still works
- Every way out
- Never behind a payment
The figure is shown in the App Store and in the app before you buy anything.