FocusMe
Android · app blocker
Turning it off costs more than turning it on
A Digital Wellbeing limit comes off with one tap. Here it takes 5 minutes of waiting, a reason in your own words and your fingerprint. That asymmetry is the whole mechanism.
Free tier with no time limit · premium $9.99 a year · 14-day refund
This is what changing your mind costs
10 sec
Gentle mode
A countdown before the override. Long enough to interrupt a hand moving on autopilot.
5 min
Commitment mode
Wait it out, then type a reason of at least 20 characters, then confirm with biometrics.
0
Third-party trackers
No analytics, no ad SDKs, no pixels. Your data never leaves the phone.
Rules
Every app is one of three things
You set it once. The rule holds until you cancel it yourself, and it does not reset the next day.
- FREE No restrictions. Phone, messages and maps live here by default.
- LIMIT A daily time cap. Five-minute warning, counter resets at midnight.
- BLOCK The app does not open at all.
Modes
You set the exit price in advance
The mode decides one thing: what it costs to change your mind. You pick it in a calm moment — and you pay in the moment of relapse, when there is nobody left to negotiate with.
- GENTLE A 10-second countdown before the override. Awareness without a hard block.
- COMMITMENT 5 minutes of waiting, a reason of 20+ characters and biometrics. Premium.
Sessions
Shut the door right now
Pick a duration and a list of apps — they stay unavailable until the timer runs out. Leaving early costs exactly what your current mode costs.
- DURATION 15 minutes, an hour, two hours or your own value.
- EXCEPTIONS Phone, messages and maps stay reachable for the whole session.
- REBOOT The session restores itself — a restart does not reset the timer.
Comparison
Against built-in Digital Wellbeing
| Digital Wellbeing | FocusMe | |
|---|---|---|
| Removing a daily limit | An "Ignore limit" button — one tap | 10 seconds, or in commitment mode 5 minutes, a reason in your own words and biometrics |
| What can be restricted | The whole app | The whole app, or just Shorts, Reels and 18+ content in browsers |
| Emergency apps | One shared exceptions list | Phone, messages and maps allowed by default, the list is editable |
| Leaving a session early | No such concept | Costs exactly what your current mode costs |
Privacy
An app that sees what you open owes you total honesty about where that goes
Data never leaves the phone
Usage history and sessions sit in a local database encrypted with SQLCipher. We do not upload them and we cannot see them.
Not one third-party tracker
No analytics, advertising or attribution SDKs, no pixels, no fingerprinting. We do not read the advertising ID.
We do not read your messages
Accessibility sees the package name of the active app — and the page address in your browser if 18+ blocking is on. Nothing else.
Honestly
We build friction, not a prison
A determined user can still uninstall FocusMe through Android system settings — that is an operating-system level protection and we respect it.
We use no Device Admin tricks, we do not intercept uninstalls and we do not promise "unremovable". We make it hard enough that an impulsive quit does not happen — and nine times out of ten that is all it takes.
Price
$9.99
a year. One plan, no monthly upsell.
Install for free14-day refund, no questions asked.
Free
- Up to three restricted apps
- Gentle mode — a 10-second countdown
- One focus session a day
- Today's stats
Premium
- Commitment mode with biometrics
- No cap on the number of apps
- Unlimited focus sessions
- Shorts, Reels and 18+ blockers
- Settings export and import
Frequently asked
- How is this different from Digital Wellbeing?
- There, a limit comes off with one tap on "Ignore". Here, turning it off costs more than turning it on: 10 seconds in gentle mode, 5 minutes with a written reason and biometrics in commitment mode.
- Can I block Shorts and Reels without blocking the whole app?
- Yes. They are separate switches: the app itself stays available, only the infinite feed disappears. Both are premium features.
- What data do you collect?
- Usage history and sessions are stored on the device only, in a database encrypted with SQLCipher. The server receives only what an account needs: email, password hash and name.
- Why does it need the Accessibility permission?
- On modern Android it is the only reliable way to know which app came to the foreground in time to show the blocking screen. The service does not read your messages and sends nothing over the network.
- Can I uninstall the app while a block is active?
- Yes — through Android system settings. That is an OS-level protection and we do not work around it.
- What about iOS?
- Android only for now. An iOS version requires a separate Family Controls entitlement from Apple.
Take back hours in your day
Installing is free, and the free tier never expires.