# Cairn: Screen Time Blocker — Be where you are. Pay once.

> Be where you are. Pay once. (iPhone/iPad app by Dennis Hodgson.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cairn-screen-time-blocker/id6790536467 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Dennis Hodgson](https://appshunter.io/developer/6776312396)
- Category: Productivity, Health & Fitness
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 22 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-08-21
- Data updated: 2026-09-01
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cairn-screen-time-blocker/id6790536467/reviews.md

## What is Cairn?

You make the promise. Cairn helps you keep it.

Cairn blocks the apps that pull you away, and you decide in advance how hard it
is to get back in. Not a dashboard, not a report on how bad last week was. A
commitment device.

THE UNLOCK LADDER

Every block has a price you set when you're clear-headed, and pay when you're
not:

• Confirm — one tap to say you mean it.
• Cooldown — wait it out, then a short window.
• Effort — a puzzle, a long passphrase, or ten pushups.
• In stone — no way through. It opens when it was always going to open.

The top rung is only offered where a block ends on its own: a schedule that
closes, a daily limit that resets, a place you can walk out of. A hard block
that never lifts isn't a commitment, it's a trap with app deletion as the only
key, so Cairn won't offer it.

The same price applies to every way out. Turning a block off, deleting it, and
editing it all cost what opening it costs. A lock you can undo by flipping a
switch isn't a lock.

FOUR WAYS TO BLOCK

• Hard block — on until you turn it off.
• Scheduled — a window on the days you choose.
• Daily limit — after 30 minutes, it closes for the day.
• At a place — holds while you're at the gym, the office, the dinner table.

Plus Focus sessions and a Vacation mode that stands everything down.

THE TRAIL

One stone for each day you keep every block. Seven stones make a week.

Cairn counts the day you resisted, not just the day you slipped, and a day it
can't be sure about stays blank rather than being awarded to you. A quiet day
under your limit earns its stone like any other.

WE CAN'T SEE A THING

Cairn has no account, no servers, and no analytics. Not "we don't sell your
data" — there is no data. You pick apps in Apple's own Screen Time picker, and
Cairn only ever receives an anonymous token. It can't read which apps you chose.
Neither can we.

If you set a daily limit, iOS counts the minutes on your device and tells Cairn
only that a limit was crossed. Never how long, never which app.

PAY ONCE

One payment. No subscription, no ads, no upsell. Free for a month first, and
when the month ends nothing is held hostage: every block you made is still
there, and nothing on your phone stays blocked because you didn't pay.

WHAT CAIRN WON'T DO

It won't stop you deleting it. That's deliberate. iOS lets you remove any app,
and a blocker that pretended otherwise would be lying. Cairn is a commitment
device, not a cage — pair it with iOS Screen Time restrictions if you want that
door closed too.

Be where you are.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cairn Unlock | $19.99 | one-time |



## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0 — 2026-08-21

No release notes.

## More apps by Dennis Hodgson

- [Anticipāt: Countdown App](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/anticipat-countdown-app/id6776312394)
- [Trāce: Countries Visited Map](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/trace-countries-visited-map/id6778085966)
- [Rōute: Trip Itinerary Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/route-trip-itinerary-planner/id6780113557)

All apps by Dennis Hodgson: https://appshunter.io/developer/6776312396

---

*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*