Latch vs Ahem Ahem

Latch blocks the apps that steal your time — and puts the unlock button somewhere you have to walk to. Pick the apps, categories and websites that pull you in, then slide the latch to lock them. To unlock, scan your key: a few-cent NFC sticker or a QR code you print at home. Keep it on the fridge, in the car or at your desk at work, and the few steps it takes to go get it are usually enough to change your mind. Latch uses Apple's Screen Time (Family Controls) to block apps on your own iPhone. Your choices stay on your iPhone. YOUR KEY, NO GADGET • Use any NTAG213, NTAG215 or NTAG216 NFC sticker — a few cents each — or a QR code you print at home (the camera scans it) • Tap the sticker with Latch closed, or scan it in the app • Stickers are locked with a password after writing, so no one can write over them. Save the password in Apple's Passwords app • Share one key with family or roommates — one sticker on the fridge for the whole house • Tell Latch where each key lives, and the lock screen tells you where to walk • One key works with all your iPhones • A steps key (Pro): walk 500 to 20,000 steps to unlock, counted with Motion & Fitness • On iPad, use a QR key. NFC stickers, the steps key and lock while driving need an iPhone LOCKS BEFORE YOU THINK TO • Built-in profiles — Work, Social and Bedtime — ready with the usual suspects • Schedules (Pro): every weekday morning, or at bedtime until you scan your key • Places: lock when you arrive at the office or the gym, and unlock when you leave (uses your location) • Lock while driving (Pro): Latch notices a drive with your location and Motion & Fitness, locks the profile you choose, and unlocks after you park • A Control Center toggle (iOS 18): tap to lock, tap again to open the scanner • Siri: "Latch my phone", or "Latch my phone with Work". Also in Shortcuts and on the Action button BUILT FOR THE DAYS YOU'D RATHER NOT • Daily limits (Pro): give an app or category a few minutes a day while you're unlocked • Commitment mode (Pro): stay locked for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours • Hard lock: choose to block deleting apps, installing apps and in-app purchases while you're locked • Break glass: three times a month, open your apps for 5–15 minutes without your key; they lock again on their own • Block explicit websites with Apple's filter, per profile • Your own words on the block screen, like "Finish your work first" SEE THE TIME YOU GOT BACK • A daily locked-time goal and a streak to keep • Your last 7 days, how they compare with the week before, and a Sunday recap • How often you reached for a blocked app, and what broke your focus • Month and all-time views (Pro) • Lock Screen widgets and a Dynamic Island timer • iCloud sync between your iPhones PRIVATE BY DESIGN Latch has no accounts, no ads and no analytics. Apple's Screen Time keeps your app choices and usage on your iPhone, so we never see them. LATCH PRO — ONE-TIME PURCHASE Free includes one key, three profiles, two places and seven days of stats. Pro unlocks unlimited keys, profiles and places, schedules, daily limits, commitment mode, lock while driving, key hours, a steps key and full history. No subscription.

Ahem Ahem clears its throat when you've spent too long in the doom app. Pick the apps that eat your day. Use them for a few minutes and the nags begin: snarky, funny, slightly judgmental notifications that keep coming, on and off, for as long as you keep scrolling. "47 min of the doom app today. I see you." "Hope you're not reading this on the toilet. Your legs are going numb." "Press X to put phone down. Press X. PRESS X." Thousands of different nags, so they don't repeat for weeks. They arrive at irregular moments, so you can't tune them out, and they get more exasperated the longer you go. Ahem Ahem never blocks anything. It just won't let you pretend you didn't notice. Set up in four steps: allow Screen Time access, allow notifications, pick your apps, turn nagging on. Private by design. iOS never tells Ahem Ahem which apps you picked, so the nags make up a name for them: the doom app, the scroll machine, the pocket casino. Nothing leaves your iPhone. No account, no ads, no tracking.