Present vs Pausible

Present helps you break the reflex to open distracting apps. Set daily open limits, let Present enforce them with Apple’s Screen Time controls, and stay focused on what matters. Choose the apps that derail your day, cap how many times you can launch them, and get a gentle intervention when you’re done. Limits reset automatically at midnight, so every day starts fresh. Limit app opens, not just minutes: cap daily launches for each app Per-app blocking: only the app that hits its limit is paused, others stay available Temporary access: request short extra time when you truly need it Simple tracking: see usage and limit status at a glance Automatic resets: clean slate every night at midnight Private by design: picks are made with Apple’s Family Controls; app names stay on-device How it works: select apps with Apple’s FamilyActivityPicker, set daily open counts, and let Present block the specific app once the limit is reached. You’ll get interventions that keep you honest without shutting down your whole phone. Works on iPhone and iPad (Screen Time permission required).

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.