# Intention: Focus & Screen Time — Use your phone on purpose. > Use your phone on purpose. (iPhone/iPad app by Ariana Xu.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/intention-focus-and-screen-time/id6788454578 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Ariana Xu](https://appshunter.io/developer/6788454580) - Category: Productivity, Lifestyle - Price: Free - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 8 MB - Languages: American English, Chinese (Simplified, China), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan) - Released: 2026-07-21 - Data updated: 2026-08-05 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/intention-focus-and-screen-time/id6788454578/reviews.md ## What is Intention? The apps you lose the most time to, kept behind a short pause. Intention keeps your most distracting apps closed until you choose to open them. There's no hard block. Instead, you pause for a moment: take a breath, write down what you're opening the app for, choose how long you need, and it unlocks. When the time is up, it closes again automatically. No account. No streaks. No guilt. Just a small pause between the impulse to open an app and actually opening it. Behind the scenes, Intention uses Apple's built-in Screen Time controls, the same technology used for parental controls, but here you're the one deciding the rules. HOW IT WORKS • Choose the apps and websites you want to be more intentional about. This is your Managed Set. Everything else on your phone works normally. • Those apps stay shielded until you decide to open one. • To unlock an app, declare an Intention: pause for a moment, write why you're opening it, choose a time limit, and continue. • When your time is up, the shield returns automatically. • Every day, your Managed Set shares a Daily Budget — 30 minutes by default. You can also give individual apps their own limits. When the budget is used up, the apps stay closed until midnight. • Need more time? You can Override a limit, but it asks you to wait briefly and explain why. Sometimes that's enough to decide you don't actually need it. • With At Ease, you can schedule times when apps open normally — during lunch, after work, or on a quiet Sunday afternoon. You decide these in advance, so they stay part of your routine instead of becoming an excuse in the moment. REFLECTION Every Intention you write is saved exactly as you wrote it. Reflection is a simple history of what you opened, how long you spent, and why you said you were there. Over time, it becomes a record of your habits and the promises you keep to yourself. There are no scores, achievements, or streaks — just your own words. MAKE IT STICK Intention works because you choose to use it. If you want a little extra friction for moments of temptation, you can turn on a Screen Time passcode in iOS. Once it's enabled, deleting Intention or disabling its protections requires that passcode. The passcode is managed entirely by Apple. Intention never knows it, stores it, or has access to it. YOUR WORDS STAY ON YOUR PHONE Everything stays on your device. There are no accounts, no servers storing your data, no analytics, and no internet connection required. The reasons you write are yours alone. They never leave your phone, and Intention has no way to read them. WHO IT'S FOR Intention is for anyone who wants a more deliberate relationship with their phone. It isn't parental controls, and it isn't designed to lock you out. It's simply a pause that helps you decide whether opening an app is really what you want to do. Use your phone the way you meant to. ## Version history (last 4 releases) ### 1.1.1 — 2026-07-31 Review before you shield — When you choose apps and websites to manage, Intention now shows you exactly what you picked before it takes effect, so you can't accidentally shield everything at once. Easier to remove things — Swipe left on any app or website in your Managed Set to take it out. ### 1.1.0 — 2026-07-28 New in 1.1.0 At Ease — Schedule recurring times when your managed apps open normally, without declaring an Intention or using any of your daily budget. Great for things like a lunch break or a quiet Sunday morning. Changes always take effect the next time that window comes around, never immediately, so they can't be used to get around a limit in the moment. Complete Commitments from the Home Screen — If you've set a Commitment like "go for a run," you can now mark it complete directly from the Home Screen. Your app budget unlocks immediately—no need to open Intention first. Plus a handful of smaller improvements and refinements throughout the app. ### 1.0.1 — 2026-07-23 Use your phone on purpose. Intention shields your most distracting apps and opens them only for a declared, time-boxed reason — a pause, an honest word, a time limit. • Commitments: unlock an app only after you keep real-world promises first • Per-app Daily Budgets that reset at midnight • A home-screen widget to start an Intention in one tap • Website limits that hold across every browser • Now available in English, 简体中文, and 繁體中文 Everything stays on your device. No account, no network — ever. ### 1.0 — 2026-07-22 No release notes. --- *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 2026-08-05.*