apptoken vs Pausible

Apptoken helps you create real friction before opening distracting apps. Instead of relying on willpower, Apptoken lets you create blocking profiles, choose the apps and websites you want to restrict, and start focused sessions using Apple's Screen Time controls. When you need access again, unlock using the method that fits your setup: NFC token, QR code, timer, schedule, widget, or manual control. Apptoken is free. There are no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no paywall, and no account required. HOW IT WORKS 1. Create a blocking profile 2. Select distracting apps and websites 3. Grant Screen Time permission 4. Start a blocking session 5. Unlock only when you choose to BUILT FOR PRACTICAL FOCUS Apptoken is designed for people who want a stronger boundary than a reminder, but still need controlled access when life happens. Use it to: - Reduce mindless scrolling - Protect work and study blocks - Build better phone habits - Keep social apps out of easy reach - Add physical friction with an NFC token - Use a QR code as a simple unlock method - Schedule recurring focus time - Control active sessions from widgets UNLOCK OPTIONS NFC unlock Pair blocking with a physical NFC tag or token so access requires a deliberate tap. QR unlock Use a QR code as a lightweight unlock method when you want separation without extra setup. Timers Start timed sessions and return to your selected restrictions when the session ends. Schedules Create recurring blocks for work, school, mornings, evenings, or any routine you want to protect. Widgets and Live Activities Control active sessions and keep track of focus time from the places you already use on iPhone. PRIVACY-FIRST BY DEFAULT Apptoken does not require an account. Your profiles, selected restrictions, NFC and QR identifiers, schedules, timers, and session history are stored locally on your device or in the app group container used by the app and its extensions. The app does not use third-party app analytics, advertising SDKs, behavioral tracking, subscriptions, or in-app purchases. REQUIREMENTS Apptoken uses Apple's Screen Time, Family Controls, Managed Settings, Device Activity, NFC, Camera, WidgetKit, Live Activities, and Background Tasks frameworks to provide blocking and unlock features. You can revoke app permissions at any time in iOS Settings. Apptoken is developed by Fokusbloks Oy. Support: benjam@fokusbloks.com Website: apptoken.co

Open a blocked app and Pausible puts a pause in front of it: a short wait, a breath, and a 2-minute activity you can do instead. And it holds at 2 AM: making blocking easier waits until morning; making it stricter is instant. Block unlimited apps free, forever — no account, no ads. Pro is one payment: no subscription, no trial. Instead of a wall you get a moment: a countdown, a breath, a one-line question about what you're actually opening it for — say why in one tap, or type it. Finish a 2-minute activity and you skip the wait. You still get in. You just get in on purpose. FREE, FOREVER • Block unlimited apps and categories, and optionally their websites (those get Apple's block page), with one off-limits time per profile • 2 levels — Nudge and Pause — with a wait that grows each open • One profile, one focus session a day • Breathe, Stretch and Reflect activities • Protection Status that tells you the truth when iOS drops the ball • No account, no email, no quiz, no ads. Set up in under two minutes. YOU SET HOW HARD IT IS 5 levels from a nudge to a lock. The wait grows with each open that day, so the fifth open of the afternoon costs more than the first. Everything is per profile, so your social apps and your news apps can have different rules. SOMETHING BETTER, RIGHT THEN Pick a 2-minute activity: Breathe (a 4-7-8 pace), Stretch, Reflect, Puzzle or Read (the last two are Pro). Tell a profile which activity you want first and the pause screen offers it in one tap. And the block screen remembers what you said last time: it quotes your last reason back to you. MAKE IT STICK In Pausible, making it stricter is instant and making it easier waits until the next morning — the cooling-off period — with a free undo, always. "5 more minutes" on the block screen (iOS 26.5 and later) works 3 times a week, not 30. Lock Pausible's settings with your own Screen Time passcode, ideally one someone else holds. Or hand a 6-digit code to someone you trust, and the hardest settings ask for it. With Pro, an NFC tag on the fridge can start or end a focus session, via an automation in Apple's Shortcuts app. "Stop apps being deleted" is opt-in. THE ONE THAT KEEPS WORKING iOS drops Screen Time permissions and expires app tokens more often than anyone admits. Pausible watches for it on every open, tells you plainly when it happens, and gets you back in two taps. A built-in "Test the block" confirms it is really up. Unlocked and done early? Lock it again from the home screen or the Lock Screen. PAUSIBLE PRO — ONE PAYMENT One payment, yours for good, Family Sharing included. No subscription, no weekly plan, no free trial, no "founder" pricing games. Pro adds the stricter levels — Deliberate, Firm and Strict — a daily time limit per profile (once it's used, the apps stay locked until 4 AM; Pausible counts the minutes it unlocked, not what you did with them), more profiles, unlimited off-limits times and focus sessions, the Puzzle and Read activities, full history (7 days are free), Siri, Control Center and the focus-session Live Activity card, automations, and Your week — three calm sentences about your week, written on your phone. Blocking never goes behind the paywall. WORKS ALONGSIDE APPLE'S SCREEN TIME Keep using Apple's Screen Time for limits and schedules across your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Pausible adds the part that happens at the moment you open an app: the pause, the 2-minute activity, and rules that hold until morning. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Pausible uses Apple's Screen Time framework, which never shows us which apps you use. Your history, the reasons you tap, the occasional suggestion Pausible makes from them and Your week are written on the phone from its own log, and none of it leaves the phone. There is no server, no analytics, no tracking. Pausible is for adults managing their own phone. It is not a parental-control app.